WHEN SHOULD A WOMAN PROPOSE?

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16234, 20 May 1916, Page 6 (Supplement)

WHEN SHOULD A WOMAN PROPOSE?

From time immemorial too much has been made of the swashbuckling swain who sweeps a girl off her feet and hustles her into marriage before she has time to think, remarks a London writer. He is the kind of wooer who often makes an unsatisfactory husband, his moods being as variable as the tides, and fickle as moonshine, and his dislikes even more pronounced than his affections. On the other hand, the shy, retiring \ lover is just the type of man who is possessed of many of the characteristics which are destined to make some lucky woman supremely happy— the possessor but be induced to avow his desire for matrimony. To such a man the mere contemplation of courtship is sheer mental torture before which his shy temperament shrinks. Were it but possible for him to endure the ordeal of courtship and the matrimonial ceremony under the influence of an anesthetic he would welcome the wedded "state with enthusiasm; and because of • his infliction he finds himself totally unable to force his courage to the point where a more confident spirit would be squeezing toft fingers and laying heart and worldly possessions at a pair of dainty feet.'

Such a man is the despair of the maiden j in whose heart he has lighted the gentle j flame of affection ; but the day has passed! when the woman must wait for an avowal | or spend her youth and the best years of her life in silent single wretchedness. I: hold the view that any woman who is in love is fully justified in making known the state of her affections, if .circumstances are favourable. For the times are rapidly changing, and when it is an accepted rule for women to propose on the same footing as men, so much the better will it be for the roan who wants a wife and is afraid to ask her ; for she. seeing with sweet maidenly concern his trepidation, and reading his doubts and fears, will take his hand between her own slender palms. Then, with her eyes bent tenderly upon the face of the man who loves her yet fears " to pat his fortunes to the touch,' she will whisper the words he cannot himself utter.