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XII. On Engagements and on Being Engaged

Chalepon to mae philaesai
Chalepon de kai philaesai
--Anacreon.


Perhaps the pleasantest and most satisfactory period in a girl's life is
the time of her first youthful engagement:

Never is a girl more jubilant, never more buoyant, never so charming, so
blithesome, or so debonair, as when she is the gazetted about-to-be bride
of the man of her girlish choice. For

During her engagement, a girl is owned and petted; and
Ownership and petting are dear to women--whether young or old:

Ownership is proof, at all events, that she is of value to the man--else
the man would not sought to make her his; and

Petting is proof that the man properly appreciates the value. Yet
meanwhile, anomalous as it may sound,

The engaged girl is still her own property, and is practically free.
Besides,