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Show What Is ihe Perfect Proposal of Marriage ? WOMEN TELL HOW BASHFUL YOUNG By Margaret Hubbard Ayer. WHAT is the perfect proposal? If your best beau were to offer you hand and heart, as, of course. It Ik expected that he will do, In what way should ho propose? How should he word that little speech which Is to make you happiest among women? Every girl dreams of what her first proposal will be like, and usually that pplsodo Is wreathed In all the poetic and romantic fancies of which her Imaglna-'tlon Imaglna-'tlon is capable. If you could have your choice, In just what setting, under Just what circumstances, circum-stances, and just how would He propose? Would it be a proposal a la Robort Chambers, the soothing and glowing kind, set In a. most expensive brocade and perfumed per-fumed environment, redolent of high society, soci-ety, or would it bo a simple Mary W'll-kins-llkc affair? Would It he a proposal over tho telephone, tele-phone, by tt'lreless or cablegram? To start off In the search and more or less to encourage tho bashful, I asked three well-known women what their Idea of the Ideal proposal would be. First, I went In search of Mrs Arthur A. Brooks, the president of the Gotham club and a member of scores of othor clubs. Mrs. Hrooks is n handsome brunette, bru-nette, with (laHhlng bluo eyes, and one can well believe that she's had much personal per-sonal experiencf and Ik an excellent judge of what a good proposal ought to sound like. "The ideal proposal." said Mrs. Brooks, "Is ono that's accepted, and where thoro Is never any regret. But you oughtn't ask mo such questions: I have a grownup grown-up son. you know, and It's a long time since 1 thought of anything like that. However. I heard the other day of an Interesllng proposal, which would appeal to those who like unique adventures. "A young man and a young woman had been friends for a number of years. He had never proposed to her directly, though It had been genorally understood that they woro well fitted to each othor and would probably marry. "Suddenly, out of tho clear sky he telegraphed tele-graphed her about ns follows: 'Let me .tnow, wnat da and ll0m" 'ou will bo at tho door of your hovel. The cavo man irom the woods will swoop down and carry you away by the haJr of your head.' Her "Hovel" a Mansion. "She wired back, 'Three o'clock 'on Tuesday.' and lo, and behold, exactly at 3 oclock ."he stood at tho door of her hovel, which wus really a magnificent Colonial mansion, with a garage that held three automobiles, and everything that could be desired. "Her suitor arrived In his automobile and they set out to find a clergyman. On their way, they met her grandmother out driving. 'Come on. grandmother, I'm going go-ing to he married to this cavo man from the woods." cried tho girl. "Of courso, the grandmother thought they were Joking, and said she had a very important call to make on a sick friend. " 'But we're really and truly going to bo married, said tho young couple. " 'Well children. If after all these years, you've at last gotten as far as that, T'll postpone my call and como along with you." said the grand mothor. "Eventually they found a clergyman and wcro married." Bride Still "Trousseauing-." "And did they live happily ever after, Mrs. Brooks?" T nKltfrf. "They haven't begun yet. I saw him a 'oouplo of weeks after tho wedding and asked him how his bride was. Ho said, , 'Oh. she's still 'trousseaulng,' as the proposal pro-posal and tho marriage were so nearly simultaneous that she had no time to attend at-tend to that very Important Item her trousseau." "However, they thought thoy were most romantic, because they alluded to their homo as hovel, and he felt that he had all the chivalry of an impetuous young Lochlnvar and somo of tho fascination of the cave man. "I remember a long timo ago a personal per-sonal experience with a millionaire who had made his fortune mining. He worded his proposals always in the same manner: 'When will Anita share 's hut?' "He wrote it in letters and sent It by wire, and for a long time he got no response at all, though Vie probably won- dered why a proposal that sounded so romantic should bo met with absolute silence. "A millionaire's proposal should not bo taken too seriously: he should be given plonty of time to change his mind: It's better that he should do it before than aftor marriage." While Mrs. Brooks's young suitor aimed to bo romantic. Miss Mabel Hin, artist and teacher, decried the man who tries to be chivalrous and only succeeds in being ridiculous. "Certainly we don't expoct a man to go down on one knee In offering his hand to a woman, though that was the accepted fashion years ago. Men who took this humblo position before the lady of their heart, were finite capable of being be-ing brutal and cruel to her after marriage, mar-riage, and modern times, which have brought a little los3 chivalry, havo opened .woman's eyes to the hypocrisy which it ho often concealed." The Question of Support Miss Eleanor Mullln, who Is a practical practi-cal young business woman, says: "The Ideal proposal should combine sentiment with a sense of practical responsibility. It is no longer sufficient to say, 'Oh, come with me and bo my bride.' The modern man must be able to add, 'I can support you.' Though, of course, this rather lordld element should be cloaked In the proper words and hinted at rather than expressed. "Most men dread proposing because they are afraid it makes them ridiculous. One man of my acquaintance Is so morbidly mor-bidly afraid of ridicule that he says, 'The only way I can ever propose is to lock myself up in a vault, for I should say so many ridiculous things that I won't want anybody to hear me " But how about the best girl? She wouldn't be able to hear, either. Anyhow, Any-how, this man is still a bachelor. Now I am anxious to know what the Evening J6urnal readers, tho men as well as the girls, consider an Ideal proposal of marriage- |