an bewail his fate on this score. He
said: "A fellow with only a hundred a year gets all the fun. He can
talk to any nice girl he likes as much as he likes, and nothing is
said, because people know he can't marry. But if you have a little
money (_his_ ran into thousands) {18} they say you're engaged the
second time you're seen with a lady!"

This may sound mercenary, but after all it is only practical. When it
is known that a man neither is nor is likely to be in a position to
marry, parents encourage his visits to the house, or permit his
attentions to their daughters, at their own risk. Not that lack of
means will prevent falling in love--far from it! When parents think
marriage impossible they sometimes give opportunities to an
_ineligible_, and then are aggrieved at his making good use of them.

There are many things to be considered at the beginning of courtship.
Much must depend upon the family of the lady.

Social Intercourse.

In a household where there is neither father nor brother on the scene
a man must walk warily. He is sure to be chaffed about any special
intimacy with such a family, and even well-meant chaff sometimes
spoils a situation. A woman who has no grown-up son, and has lost, or
is temporarily separated from, her husband, will do well to avoid any
undue eagerness in cultivating masculine society. She should exercise
her own intuition, and extend a cordial, unaffected welcome to such
men as she thinks suitable friends, or possible husbands, for her
daughters. She should be equally careful to eschew any sign of
match-making intrigue or narrow-minded suspicion. If she is the right
sort of mother the men will probably find in her a charming companion
and valuable friend.

It is most essential that girls who have been mainly brought up under
feminine influences should have ample and varied opportunities of
learning something about the other sex, by personal intercourse,
before there is any question of their marriage. If this is not done it
will be found that they generally fall a prey to the first suitor who
comes along. They have formed unreal, impossible, and often foolish
ideas about men, and are unable to distinguish the tares from the
wheat. A girl with brothers or men friends is far more likely to make
a wise choice than one who has formed her ideas from heroes of
fiction.

Where a man is introduced by the son of the house, his path is on
smoother ground. As "Charlie's chum" he has a {1