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Show PORTIERES AND POPPING. Crfined Door.,,,. Ar srlmi, lu th Way or Matrimony. A few evening ag0 r t0 m fde d ! " v 'fiiqUeStlon abrupt, I admit, but the moment was most propi-Uous. propi-Uous. As we sat in the coziest corner of the club room testing a new and recom-pensmg recom-pensmg brand of cigars we talked awhile at random, and finally we, too, drifted to the subject of marriage in Buffalo We spoke of the apparent reluctance of certain cer-tain young me,, to do anything but dawdle about the objects of their adoration, adora-tion, 'and when Joseph said, "Do not blame them, perhaps it is not their fault M I put to him the startling question, Joseph, why don-t you marryr Joseph took several long pulls at iiis cigar before replying, but finally said, his eyes fixed on the ascending smoke: "If you wish to know what has kept me from matrimony I will tell you. It is the portiere." I stared. Joseph went on: "In other words, it is because parlors have no doors-because our modern houses are one vaat whispering whisper-ing gallery in which the slightest sound is heard from oue end to another. It is years since I have felt sure that I was absolutely alone with a girl an environment environ-ment necessary for sentimental demonstrations. demon-strations. But to particularize. It is not long since I became unusually interested in a young woman of my acquaintance. Perhaps I was in love with her. If not, I know that I might have become so. I paid her rather marked attention for nearly a year, but in my numerous visits to her house there was never an opportunity oppor-tunity for anything but the most formal conversation. Usually her father sat in the library across the hall in full hearing if not in view of us. No chance to shut a door. At the parlor door portierea; at the library door portieres; at the dininor rormi rionr nmioroo. on,i I -- - uiiu an opportunity for that sense of private tete-a-tete which gives a man inspiration for sentimental deeds. "Now, it is my idea that the time when mutual love is first acknowledged should be a supreme moment iu life one to be made the most of, and not to be thrown away by any such insensate proceeding as a proposal by letter, or oven to lie risked at unpropitious seasons, when interruption in-terruption is probable or possible. Therefore, There-fore, I did not tell my love with papa reading his paper in the adjoining room, or with the servant fumbling at the sideboard side-board iu tho dining room, with only a thickness of curtain between her and us. I did not tell my love while all tho doors were wide open and the sisters were active act-ive in the upper halls, and I could hear the brother in his room overhead dressing dress-ing to go out. No; I waited for some moment of assured privacy. It never came." There was a long silence. "Well?" I said at last. "That is all. Last Bummer the young woman in question made a visit to a provincial town, where she could shut the parlor door. While there she became engaged and was married last autumn," "And that is courtship as she is conducted con-ducted in Buffalo," I sighed. "That is th,e state of things in nine houses out of ten where I pay social visits," said Joseph Dareal. And as I recalled the homes of our wedable but un wedded maids I concluded con-cluded that Joseph was not wrong, and that what is most needed by our young men is hot courage, but "a chance." Buffalo Courier. |