SHOULD A MAN PROPOSE TWICE?

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 59, 3 April 1909, Page 3

SHOULD A MAN PROPOSE TWICE?

TO TUE SAME 01KL, 01- COIUSE. When a man iTas asked a woman to marry him ajd has been refused, the question whctlier he shall ask li-T again is one which only he himself can answer. In the lirst place, it is of the utmost importance that he should be certain of mS own wishes in the matter; whether he truly is in love, or merely swept along by the wind of a passing fancy; whether the woman who has said "No" is so desirable in his eyes that he cannot b* happy unU'fis he gets her. Nor is this phase of the question altogether easy to decide oft'hand. Men, as well'as women, often mistake a passing fancy for a deep and abiding love, and later on find that their affection, being without root, withers away. MEN ARE NOT CONSTANT.

Every woman by whom a man Is strongly attracted is, for the moment, to him the "one ami only" in alt the world, but time passes, tin sTfele in the magic lantern of h's heart is filled with another image, then another, and lie is equally sure that each in turn is loved with the one love ot his life. Constancy, where it serves no good purpose, ceases to be a virtue, and becomes a misfortune, if not a vice. So far as is publicly known, no statistics have yet been compiled upon the ! subject, but observation and evidence go i to prove that the average man marries somewhere about the fifth, or sixth girl with whom he falls in love. There have been four or five young women, each, of whom, for a longer or shorter period, ho has regarded as the paragon of her sex; but he has already got over his infatuation and has married another, and probably congratulates himself upon the fact that he has done so—it would be most unfortunate for him and for his wlte if he had not. The manner of the refusal should weigh in the reception thereof. Any man with his fair share of common sense ought to know whether he is snubbed or the contrary; whether his suit is. peremptorily declined or merely tentatively set aside. KEEP AWAY FROM RIDICULE.

Andflicr tiling wffleh the wooer should tftko inlo consideration is that women from their voutli up are taught to repress their feelings, aticl often arc stifl' and cold because of the effort at repression. Almost all wifc,en are more or less nervous, and mirth, wliicli is hysterical rather than merry, is ofteTi resented as ridicule by a sensitive wooer. An attack of the kind may dash the cup of happiness from a woman's lips and incense her suitor past forgiveness. An involuntary smile will be taken for hcarllcssness by the man who is desperately in earnest. A word will Ira an insult, a jest, a prooi of scorn. No man can bear to bo laughed at, and his vanity, IT not his heart, will receive a wound wh?cT\ is Tiot easily to be healed. It is a pity, but women sometimes lose tlio men whom tlicy love by a lack of self-control which is misconstrued into ridicule.