Peeps Into Paradise.

Te Aroha News, Volume II, Issue 59, 19 July 1884, Page 4

Peeps Into Paradise.

Ik a long engagement is apt to end badly for the betrothed, it is, while it Justs, an unmitigated nuisance to their relatives and friends. Of course, a modus vicendi is arranged when the young couple are not to be married for years. Life could not be carried on were everybody to be made as uncomfortable as they are when the course of true love runs smoothly and the wadding day is fixed for an early date. Then, indeed, the patience of those dwelling in the house with the bride-elect is severely taxed. There is not a sitting-room available, and one can never be sure of not interrupting the billing and cooing of the affianced pair. While they occupy the library, there is a lawyer with the settlements in the diningroom, and the drawing-room is held in readiness for an anticipated visit from the future bridegroom's rich aunt. When to this is added the incessant and nervedestroying encounters with Messrs Matchwell and Swellgrove's young man in the hall, and the frequent meetings upon the stairs with an obsequious French lady in black silk, presumably the dressmaker, it is not to be wondered at if we draw a sigh of relief when such a state of things is over. No doubt it is pleasant for those who have had their own day to renew their youth in contemplating the happiness of the lovers, but to others whose time i* vet to come— or at all events has not conio — the spectacle of so much rapture, while they are left out in the cold, is somewhat trying to the temper. Even when it is only a friend and not a relation who is engaged to be married, it is difficult to shake off the depression arising from the consciousness that a wedding present is expected of us. But if the interval proceding the marriage is a period of trial to outsiders, it is not one of unmixed felicity to the principal parties concerned. They are now bronght face to face with an infinity of harassing cares, to say nothing of the hard work of answering innumerable letters, receiving congratulation, and making acquaintance with a strange and perhaps hostile family. There are few engagements in the course of which somebody, on one side or the other, does not make himself or herself unpleasant, or does not, at all events, require exceedingly careful management. It must be admitted that under these circumstances, as with most affairs in this world, the man has the best of it. He can keep out of the way, and let the relations fight it out together ; he has no trousseau to get, and not many presents to receive. He is not kissed on both cheeks by cousins unto the fourth and fifth generation, and the martyrdom of " trying on, " and becoming a living block for milliners to experiment upon, is.unknown to him. All these advantages, however, are atoned for by the treatment which he receives upon the wedding-day. It is not sufficient that he is obliged to get up at an unearthly hour in |the morning,| that he feels it his duty to put on abnormally tight boots, and that he has had his hair cut for the occasion. He is absolutely of no consequence whatever ; nobody cries about him, his careful toilet is unnoticed, and the best man, far from supporting him at this juncture, is thinking over the speech which he is about to make at the breakfast, when he returns thanks for the bridesmaids. There are no sympathetic murmers from the crowd when he appears, but, on the contrary, any slight personal defect is freely commented upon. "Vs too short for ' er," and '* My, aint 'is collar tight !" these are the words which greet him as, pale but outwardly composed, he enters the church. It is surprising, considering all things, that the young man contemplating matrimony should keep up such alight heart as he does. He sometimes evinces a yearning for sympathy which is touching. For instanco, his friends receive little notes artlessly announcing that he is "so happy." If they do not respond with sufficent warmth to his efforts to make them share his bliss, he proceeds to inform them that " the cause of his happiness is Miss Mary Smith." This, he considers) should be enough to open their hearts at once. It is to be feared that • great deal of unfeeling chaff is hurled at

. the heads of those whom Eros has deprived t of their armour. How differently do Angelina's companions receive her con- . h'dences. Whatever feminine spite her ) rivalry may have called forth in former » days is now buried in oblivion. It seems to be agreed that an engaged girl is to be looked upon with tenderness and even respect. Angelina herself is very much softened by the influence of "love's young dream." Any little asperities of character have disappeared, or remain in abeyance. She holds out promises of future plans of amusement, in which her friends are to join. "J/is will do anything I like, of course," she remarks with serene contentment. " If I say that you are coming to stay for six weeks, that you want to go to all the theatres and balls, and to be on the river every Sunday, he will not dream of making any objection." To those blighted beings who have had a disappointment she is gentle and consolatory ; while to maidens still unsought her manner combines affability and condescension. The conversation is desultory, but eminently satisfactory to the speakers. " His eyes are blue, but the photograph doesn't give a good idea of his nose," murmurs Angelina pensively, gazing upon Edwin's portrait. ' ' Very nice, I'm sure," answers her confidant absently ; then, with animation, "You willl et the bridesmaids' dresses be pink, dearest, won't you ? Blue is so unbecoming to me, and his sisters will look positively frightful in it." "So they will," returns Angelina thoughtfully j " and he likes pink,"&c. There is another kind of engaged girl — she who is " fickle, coy, and hard to please " — and who bewilders her friends by being always about to be married to different men. It is difficult to keep pace with her erratic matrimonial intentions. One week she informs us that sKe has bestowed her hand and heart upon a Colonial Bishop, and is full of schemes of usefulness among the benighted natives. The next, she writes to say that she had misunderstood the esteem in which she held the worthy divine for a warmer feeling, and that she is now the promised wife of her cousin Charles— a foxhunting squire in the north of England. Soon we hear that another admirer has come upon the scene, of whom Charles is furiously jealous. Nor without reason, as Miss Fanny presently announces that Captain Jabberwock is the only man whom she could ever really love. Unfortunately, this warrior's affections are as unstable as her own. Ere a month has passed, he has loved and ridden away, leaving poor Fanny to lament the rupture of her third and last betrothal. For never again, although she tries hard, does she succeed in " hooking " an eligible young man. In the days of spinsterhood to come, she will often dilate upon her past triumphs, and it will give her a certain position amongthe ancient tabbies of some quiet watering-place, when she acknowledges that, although she was never married, she has been three times "engaged." Among the working-classes the affianced couple ' ' keep company " for years ; probably this unsettled state of affairs imparts a flavour to life which it would otherwise lack. As an omnibus conductor observed with reference to a bottle of cold tea, " It makes summit to look forward to." During the term of probation which precedes marrage Chloe assumes a haughty and overbearing demeanour, while Sterphon is hardly allowed to call his soul his own When the lovers take their walks abroad, he is silent and pensive ; Chloe, on the other hand, is extremely demonstrative. Her arm-encircles his waist, and even at times his nu-k. Should Strephon, however, be more than usually phlegmatic, she strives to rouse him to a sense of his duty by a series of coquettish displays of temper. "You might ask me to take a glass of port wine, or something ; I made a very poor breakfast," reproachfully exclamed a gentle maiden, as she guided the footsteps of her wavering swain in the direction of Jack Straw's Castle one fine Bank Holiday, when Hampstead Heath was crowded with pleasure-seekers. And there was a look in her eye which boded ill for that young man had be proved recalcitrant. Further on a bashful and timid youth was making himself agreeable after his manner to two girls, the elder of whom evidently considered him as her property. After some brilliant witticism on his part, the younger sister playfully remarked, "You keep him in order, Maria, for I can't." With this sad instance of the subjection of man, the veil which has deen raised for a few minutes drops again, and we stand, like the farfamed Peri, without the gates of Paradise. —"Standard."