HOW A GIRL SHOULD BEHAVE AFTER SHE IS ENGAGED.

Rodney and Otamatea Times, Waitemata and Kaipara Gazette, 15 May 1912, Page 2

HOW A GIRL SHOULD BEHAVE AFTER SHE IS ENGAGED.

Whenever a girl becomes engaged she finds things are a bit changed; for one thing, she finds she can no longer do as she pleases, and perhaps this accounts, in a measure, for many engaged girls saying at first that "being engaged" is tiresome, after all.

Before a girl becomes engaged she is, so far, her own mistress; after she is engaged she has to consider whether any action she meditates perfosrming -will please her lover; in a word, she has another's tastes to study.

Every girl thinking of becoming engaged must prepare for this. An engagement, in its own way, is a sacred vow, so a girl should as early as possible get into the habit of considering the likes and dislikes of the man with whom she is to spend her life.

From all time it has been a muchdebated question whether an engaged girl is justified in going to parties when her intended is absent. No definite answer can be given to this; circumstances might arise when an engaged girl could attend without her lover, but in general she has no right to do so; more especially, of course, if her lover objects to her going alone. If girls before marriage won't yield a little to lovers, what can be expected to follow in married life? Before becoming engaged a girl is perhaps in the habit of going to concerts and other entertainments with girl friends. This must cease, more or less, after she becomes engaged if she goes such things then it must be in the company of her fiance.

One thing an engaged girl should avoid— that of talking about her future husband. Many girls fall into fch'e error of supposing that their lovers are interesting to everyone. They forget that after a man becomes engaged he is a kind of nonenity to girls other than the one. An engaged girl, when with her fiance, should avoid praising, or even talking about other men. This can only have a bad effect.

An engaged girl has to be very careful. She is hedged in by "engagement" etiquette, and if she breaks any of the unwritten laws she will certainly hear about it, and not only from her lover. Her most valued girl friends will not be slow to criticise her acts.

One thing an engaged girl should always do—she should always try to please her intended's «women relations. She should ever be on her best behaviour before them. She must treat them with the greatest courtesy and kindness, for good opinions are of the utmost value if her wedded life is to be a success.