ASK PAPA!

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 48, 15 February 1908, Page 3

ASK PAPA!

INSTITUTION. J Illy AnnesleyHi™raly ) , 'J'he dutiful daughter ot tlie>rSL a -young man popped the question?" bi'i',.|,d and answered. "Ask papa!" Hut the rising generation of girls do ii"! .dream of consulting their parents in i,he choice of a husband.

Tiio stern father of byogonc novelettew!|o iimilc trouble of the "deepest dungeon." broad-and-watcr typo, when a rliiiijililex- (lemurvoil at a rich seventy year old suitor of his own selection, U as oxf.inct as the dodo. Modern parents may venture a mild protest ngainst a prospective sou-in-law, tn.it that lawful "Ask papa!" which used to strike terror into two young hearts, has become a ,'iiere formula, like nodding a "How do -you do?" to a passing actjuaintanee. . The tweutjVth-cenlury girl plays the g-.i'.s'e on her own responsibilily. Papavnay in a sense act as referee and pruinoiiix,- "goal" when the proposal is scoredf~a/s4, the engagement already ordered, but, ii not fit in with thnt of tlie yoKmrlady most interested, she assumes a and independent attitude as to the sttporlluousness of a lather's blessing. " 1011 must please yourself, dear," says the well-trained meek parent when a daughter announces her intention to marry a man of whom the family disapproves. Fifty years ago she would have been locked in the bedroom untiL,she "eanie to lier aenses," which meant in reality until her "senses ' agreed with those of her father.

Elopements are extinct. It is no lunger necessary to " ask papa." Therefore, it is no longer necessary to run away. .Moreover, many a modern father oilers to pay a salary—that i- to say. he suggests an allowance to a son-in-law who takes his daughter without so much as a preliminary "by your leave. 1 " Young men used to dread that interview "in the study'' when searching ami awkward questions were put by a hnrdeyod. businesslike parent as to way. am! mean- for the support of a wife. ' Nowadays, the cross-examination i-: conducted with amiable leniency by a papa whose cun-ent was not even asked. The "liduratc am! tlimy-hearted fath-T who dragged a weeping daughter from the anil- of an adoring and' handsome ineligible, and forced her („ tl„. altar to marry a man of his choice, nourished for many centuries, am! was a living reality sixiy or seventy years ago. Why. and how did lie disapi>oar so suddenly off the face of the family life? And are marriages more or less hnppv since the fashion to "ask papa" went Continental parents s_l_|il exerciser]*--prerogative of the lirely couln.! 'he matrimonial affairs of both suns and daughters. And the marriages of all girls under the sun. save I ho-e of the up-to-date Kuglish speaking races, are arranged for them by their parents.

Throughout the East, papa not millhas to lie asked, lmt lie takes good ~,„-,. In claim a substantial coimiiinsioii cm Ihe courtship and marriage of caili of his daughters. lint the Tir tish girl follows iicr own sweet will in the matter of suitors. She has her latchkey ami the lover of h<'r choice. Mamma bometimes has a small say in the linal selection of a sweetheart, lmt poor papa is quite out of it. I he engagement is announced, the liauns published, the wedding-cards sent on!. He conducts the bride tu tim altar, and gives her away. But (somehow even--liody forgets to "ask papa." how Im feels in the matter.