WHY ENGAGEMENTS SHOULD BE SHORT.

Taranaki Herald, Volume L, Issue 12167, 16 January 1903, Page 2

WHY ENGAGEMENTS SHOULD BE SHORT.

The usual, plea in favour of leng.en-, gagements. says Mas. \ O'Reli- is , that young -couples should kjwrw ftsch.othtr thoroughly before taking -j lie final ir- \ retraceable step of matrimony.-^ i |, Poor, dear couples! Whii do they, learn, of each Other while bstog ' /engaged ? What has" an engagement to do with, matrimony ? < Absolutely nothing: You. might as well tell them' to learn horse riding on a. wooden horse, or swimming by practising the movement lying on the > carpet of your drawing-room. There is no learning matrimony without being married. * I have met who have been engaged ten years and who wore apparently still trying- toVknow each, other. They might be' T engaged fifty years without the slightest. chance of success. - Sweethearts may see each, other every day, but every day .is; not ail* day. It -is the thousand and one., little 'drawbacks and miseries of conjugal life that often kill joy and hajpd piness .in matrimony^' - and none of them are ' confronted during the engagement. 7 - "After all, wha*t Is^life during , an en.gagement? jThe repetition" of an' story, f sentimental , walks/ sweet pro- 1 fessions of love, billets doux. Both man and woman are on their best be-: haviour. They' are, careful of their jwords, careful' of their appearance. In fait, the whole , time, the sky is clear, serene, the ' sea is absplutely, calm., WelL/let me ask you: , How do they, kaow, how can they^knoW, \yihat theyare, good sailor^ ; ,unt^l have been, together on board *the' same boat in a gooa big" storm ?' \ ' " An engagement is -no rehearsal of ■matrimony, however long- -it /may last. XlaSj happiness in married life, is 1 a mjere' lottery ticket. ■ You rjiust draw, your lot and take your chance. The" warmest lovers have turned out the VQry worst husbands, and there is" a very' great danger" in entering- the holy matrimonial ' when all v +he pro-> visions, of- sweet words^^and. kind -avctsare exhausted. , » The fewer kisses have befn .indulged '\n~ before~;t]ie 'wedding " fceremony, the more kisses will be administered afterward. Woe to the husband who- lias -not 1 - to." courts his wife and 'win her ! Matrimony to ,him will be fearfully flat. 'T* both' lovers really" Tovn'" devotedly,^ if, both are of strong che racier, they have a chance. \ But tlie others have ' not« Let- misfortunes cdme* to Kay ndthing of tJhe price of buttor, and" the whole thing is <*;oue. : If T" had my own, way, I would never' allow a daughter to engage her«elf before 1 was that the man shiJl'.ved., or imagined sfie was ready to look .after her ; not before I Had ascertained, to the very /best of my ability;, '.that the man was likely to make a, woman happy." Th^n I would say /feo,?her : " I 'think - "everything is right, as -well- as I can judge. And now, tio nonsense, no love walks for years, no liberties of any sort ? jev-' en- more or less -innocent, to betaken with -you by that" man— to 'the altar by the first train/*' ' ' '' • ' -** I*l admire the Way Mn ■ which the Catholic clergy <\ o|' 'iihe province of Quebec, Canada," deal with young- people jamong the lower classes. .Ifvthey suspect that tfa&quW and*Marie : ' aro in love, if they have seen them waJ&n'g together in rather secluded spots, they ask "them if, it is true that they axe in love. If they say' yss the - priest takes them "■%& >cnurch marries them right away.", ' Ir r : This may goj >S'"^reat'4ehgH,hJ; toward explaining why the French Canadians are the- Jmo&fr people in the