Show courte Cour tg L abr rf w 75 w k A k f f w where engagements are S I 1 cays longest and shortest st wa A in cussia long are not relished by betrothed oung although the ladies usury are not at all averse to them indeed these utter not infrequently use all sets ol 01 artifices in order to stave off dayto aa distant a date aa it a ung aUant suggestion but gustora which decrees that mhd bridegroom bride groom elect must send his present every day no matter whet liep the last tor ten days or ten or ten year may liae something to do with this anomalous 0 affairs tha regularly recognized length si a siamese engagement id one month for the bride to ask for an extension beyond that limit is held io savor of reprehensible prudery moreover in siam old maid are unknown as all girla marry the reason for this is probably to bo found in the low estimation in which unmarried women are held they ara not merely looked down upon they arc absolutely of no account whatever As soon as the marriage ceremony 13 performed however the hitherto neglected and despi aed little female atom becomes distinctly a somebody people who would not chave designed to even recognize their existence while in a state of single blessedness now admit her willingly to their houses and even go out of their way to seek her friendship still it is not until she has become a mother that she lg held to have readied her highest estate then she has attained te pinnacle ot honor can claim as a right presentation at court and ia addressed by the coveted title of the matronly one in the argentine republic an engaged man who dallies beyond a reasonable time ere leading his fiancee to the is heavily fined that is ir ho is twenty moreover he is not permitted by tiro after attaining that aap to enjoy free the pleasures of bachelorhood even though he may not have committed himself so tar asto have promised marriage to any maiden in other words every argentina bacr must choose chis jill as soon aa ho arrives at years of discretion if he fails to do 60 the penalty is the payment by the defaulter of 1 pound a month to the national treasury and this is increased as the years go by up to no fewer than 6 pounds per month only alion ho celebrates his eightieth birthday if he ever doc po h ho exempt the legislature probably regarding him then as a hopeless case eo far as the matrimonial market is concerned there h however even as R dounar man a loophole of escape provided tor him it he approve that he has proposed and been refused three times in one year he islic ld to have as it were done his best and to have earned immunity the result Is theft there lias sprung up in the couric cour sc a number of lady thea accommodating damsch arc ready for a consideration to permit themselves iff bv any to coquette hi ih and finally to cast him oil and what Is more to the point to swear to the same before the local aicale among the Kolar lans of benga flie engagement ga i a matter of minutes only A lad the lass of his choice carev ing a full picture from the well he behind her as she trots along and lefa hy ancarrow between the crock and the arm that midi it it ia aa if lie should say go on beloved without fear my bow shall protect thee and clear for thee a road life it the lass thinks ill of alte lads suit she continues her journey and takes no notice but it on the other hand she ltd favorably disposed alien she reaches aho arrow she gently raises it between iier groat and second toe toes s and boners it with a low bow to her husband as he is rom that moment on the other hand in no country in be world are anch abnormally long courtships court ships the rule as in bohemia among the peasantry especially cn lasting fifteen and twenty years are so common as to call for no remark whatever occasionally this national eccentricity i carried to the verge of tragedy i aa for instance in a aso reported the othar day from which involved ich at is almost certainly the very longest courtship on record the names of alie gocr and wood were respectively franz hochner and anna nenner and they had been continuously for avo years but had deferred taic bridal day at last franz become fatally ill and wa married on aiss deathbed on alie eve of his one hundredth birthday the age t the bride and widow being ninety alno |