TO BEGUILE HIM.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 84, 28 March 1908, Page 3

TO BEGUILE HIM.

Why should any woman want to ask a man. to marry her? No nice woman ever does. Words are so blatant, and in moments of strong emotion or excitement they are apt to lie unpoetic. Besides, there are manv other ways of putting the idea into his head. To say j bluntly to a man: " Will you marry me, I please'"—that is to say, Will you share | your income with me, with you halve J with me your joys and lighten my sor- j rows, will you kindly undertake to 'stand j lietween me and a world that 1 have found too hard, will you cherish me m I sickness, and will y'ou still give me I house-room should I. prove totally in- I capable as a cook-»thut is lieyond the powers of most women.

On the other hand, there are occasions when a woman may be loved by a man of smaller income than herself. And every man is not a self-seeker—some are even self-sacrificing, and such a man mi'ght find it difficult to speak. Kven in a case like 1 should say to the |

woman: Though you l>e as rich us I Croesus and beautiful as Aphrodite. d» | not make the first advance. And 1 is she to lob him pass out cf her life, seeing happiness slip with limi into that sad land of "might-have-been"? She is not a true woman if she doe-:. Given opportunity and a little tact, any woman may marry the man of her

heart. The hero is not l>ovn vet who : earn resist the temptation of telling .1 woman that she is everything to hi >i when he knows that he is everyt'lii'i,; to her. Let her, then, drop the id"ii gently into his receptive brain, let luv advance by a feigned retreat, let li-r be charming and necessary to him, le; him be necessary to her. Such is' 11n story of a queen's wooing, and happiness has been known to circle even round a throne. But all women are not rich, and few are beautiful, and love iu abundance Ims been given to the plain. No girl need despair because she is less well dower'd than her sisters. The average man, though lie may faintly desire a goddess, is in reality far better suited with a human being like himself—one who will love him in sickness and health, iu good times and bad, and quarrel -with him and make it .up again. Every human being clamours to. lie loved for his own high intrinsic value; [ and great Man himself, giant of intellect and hero of the light for the daily bread, is not above this. Let a giri, then, be sympathetic, and—l whisper it —rather more silent than she is. If she would that the man she loves would look upon her as a rare and gifted creature—ono quite above the common round—let her be a good listener, for men have been talked out of love before now.

There is no occasion for any woman to propose to any man if she has subtly whispered—not in words, barely even in look—Hint his great qualities have not been properly appreciated until this happy moment, \vl»en he is sitting under the imitation palm-tree, well away from the other dancer*, and with her. Let a man once talk about his career to a woman—let him tell her his hopes, his failures, perhaps even his disappointments and regrets —and that man is inevitably hers. She need not trouble about being beautiful, she need not wi -ii to be rich; a man wants in a wife a refuge from the grim world that has nearly shattered him, but not unit:; he wants a retreat from himself. Ami so he sets.by his hearth the silent woman of the wistful eyes, who has been clever enough to see a hero in liiiu. Since the days' of Atalanta every woman has wanted to give a man a little run for his money; to reverse, the situation would be to destroy the charm.