HINTS ON HUGGING.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1139, 14 February 1884, Page 3

HINTS ON HUGGING.

A queer case has just come to light in Chicago, and is duly reported in Peck’s Sun. A. young man spent an evening with his girl, and during the evening, while tbe family were present in the parlor, fie was as demure and bland and childlike as could be wished. The mother came into the room, after the family had retired to get a handkerchief she had left, and the young man was seated in a chair in the middle of the room, while the girl was seated on a sofa. ' After he had gone the girl complained of a pain in her side, and in the morning the doctor was called, and he found that two of the girl’s ribs were broken. How it was done nobody knew. The girl could not tell for thelife of her, (hough she blushed when asked about it, and the mother looked very wise as she looked at the doctor. The doctor made some enquiries, set the ribs, and went away, and the girl proceeded to recover. That evening the voung man called, and was astonished when informed of the extent of the young girl’s injuries, and wondered how it could have happened, though the mother watched his face closely as he spoke, and detected not only a blush, but a profuse perspiration on his face. The father was away on a trip to Wisconsin, and when he came home the matter had to be explained to him. He was told that the ribs just simply broke themselves, and that neither the mother, nor the girl, nor the young man could account for it. Tiie father patted his girl on the head, told her she would be better when she got over it and then called the young man into the library. The young man, when he sat down took out a handkerchief and mopped his brow, a n d wished he was dead. The father looked the young man over, and was sorry. He finally said: “Young man, I guess I can give you some points on hugging. You must first learn that a girl in not constructed on the same principle as an iron bridge or truss bridge. A girl is a delicate piece ot mechanism—like a fine watch, full of little springs, wheels, jewels, etc. The breaking of any one of these would necessitate her being taken to a jeweller for repairs. In hugging a girl, you don’t want to go at it as if you were raking and binding, or catching sturgeon. 1 know that where the family sit up late with a young couple, and spoil several precious hours hugging, unless the young man has a good head, when left alone with the object of his affection, he is liable to overdo the matter and try to make up for lose time. He seem to want to hug up a lot ahead, and grabs the girl as though be w anted to break her in two. This is wrong. He should go at it calmly and deliberately, even prayerfully, and be as gentle as though she was an ivory fan. You should not grub her as you would a bag of oats, and leave marks on her that will last a lifetime. A i loving woman should not be made to feel that her life is in danger unless she wears a corset made of boiler iron. I hope this will be a lesson to you, and hereafter, if you cannot coutrol your feelings, I will provide a wooden Indian for you to practice on at first, until you have de veloped your muscle and feel tired, and then we can turn our daughter loose in a room with you and not feel it necessary to keep a surgeon handy. In allowing you to keep company with ray daughter, I do not provide you with a human gymnasium, dressed in a Mother Hubbard wrapper and wearing bangs. You can readily see that the girl would not last a season through if she had to have iter ribs set once a week.” The young man took a long breath and withdrew.