MR RUSKIN ON COURTSHIP.

Inangahua Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1296, 12 September 1883, Page 2

MR RUSKIN ON COURTSHIP.

_In v Fors- -.Clavigeva" Mr Rr-skin gives his opinions km the question ot* courtship H e denounces the de•gradiug taiftdm of what ho calls •f jnol^cpoi'tslnp,' i le Rliys arises •AJ-frhcn ra r lT;hiißera!>le confusion of caudle, light moonlight, and limelight — aud anything but daylight— in I i^lecentlx ,at.tmQtiyc and .insanely expensive dresses, in snatched moments, in. hidden corners, in accidental impulses' and dismal ignorances, young people smirk andj>gle and whisper and whimper and sneak aud stumble aud flutter and fumble, and blunder into what they call love — expect to geb whatever they like the moment they fancy it, aud are continually in the of losing all honour of li£6 for a folly, aud all the joy of it by an accident." Having thus charaoksrised the present custom with all its ..unmoral and absurd conditions, he, in his usual autocratic fashion; telis us how all this is to be remedied. 11l the first place, a girl's proper confidant in love matters is not the mother 'but the father. "What she is not iiielinad.to -tul.l her. father should bo told toJio one and in nine cases out of ten wot thought of by herself." And when the courtship is properly under way, the following is to be its course : — " When a youth is fully in love with a girl, and feels that he is wise in loving her, he should at once tell her so plainly, and take his chance bravely with other suitors. No lover should have the insolence to think of b^ing accepted ab once, nor should auy girl have the cruelty to rnfuse at ouch, without severe reasons. If she simply dosu't like lawn, she may sen 1 him aw iv for seven years or so — -ho vowing to live on cresses aiid weaV'&Mjkcloth meanwhile, or the like jpeujjnjpe. If she likes him a little, or thmlcs slie might come to like him in. tijnu, she may let him stay near her, puttingliim always on sharp. trial. to see what.stuif lie is made of, and requiring, figuratively, as many lionskius or giants' heads as she thinks herself AVOrth.'Tho wliole intiiiuing and power .of tins .courtship is probation, and it ought not. to be shorter than three years at least ; seven is to my mind the orthodox time. And these rotations between the you;ig people shojld l>3 openly and simply known, not to theii^ friends only, but to everybody who has the least interest in them ; and a. git'l worth anything ought always to lnivo half-a-dozan % or so suitors under love for Inn.'