se preparing for the more
contented days which seem so long in coming.

Once they are married, they no longer belong in a backwater, but find
themselves again sailing in midstream. It may be on a slow-moving current,
it may be on a swift,--but their barge sails in common with all other
craft on the river of life.

_Should a Long Engagement Be Announced?_

Whether to announce an engagement that must be of long duration is not a
matter of etiquette but of personal preference. On the general principle
that frankness is always better than secretiveness, the situation is
usually cleared by announcing it. On the other hand, as illustrated above,
the certain knowledge of two persons' absorption in each other always
creates a marooned situation. When it is only supposed, but not known,
that a man and girl particularly like each other, their segregation is not
nearly so marked.

=MEETING OF KINSMEN=

At some time before the wedding, it is customary for the two families to
meet each other. That is, the parents of the groom dine or lunch at the
house of the parents of the bride to meet the aunts, uncles and cousins.
And then the parents of the bride are asked with the same purpose to the
house of the groom-elect.

It is not necessary that any intimacy ensue, but it is considered fitting
and proper that all the members of the families which are to be allied
should be given an opportunity to know one another--at least by sight.

=THE ENGAGED COUPLE AND THE CHAPERON=

The question of a chaperon differs with locality. In Philadelphia and
Baltimore, custom permits any young girl to go alone with a young man
approved by her family to the theater, or to be seen home from a party. In
New York or Boston, Mrs. Grundy would hold up her hands and run to the
neighbors at once with the gossip.

It is perhaps sufficient to say that if a man is thought worthy to be
accepted by a father as his daughter's husband, he should also be
considered worthy of trust no matter where he finds himself alone with
her. It is not good form for an engaged couple to dine together in a
restaurant, but it is all right for them to lunch, or have afternoon tea;
and few people would criticize their being at the opera or the
theater--unless the performance at the latter was of questionable
propriety. They should take a chaperon if they motor to road-houses for
meals--and it goes without saying that they cannot go on a journey alone
that can possibly las