Leaves from a Madeira Garden 



— of such accessories of courtship these young 

 people can know little. The man in the street 

 commonly has an air of being rather bored ; 

 but this may be " manners," and a mask to 

 conceal the fierce tumult of his southern blood. 

 When the affair has been officially brought to 

 the notice of the lady's parents by some friend 

 of the gentleman's family, and terms have been 

 satisfactorily arranged, the lover is at length 

 admitted to the house, an engagement is ratified, 

 and marriage follows at no distant date. But 

 here as elsewhere, following the American and 

 English mode, the manners and customs of the 

 jeune fille are becoming more free and easy, and 

 probably before long the fashion of craning 

 necks at windows will be a thing of the past. 

 No doubt the ladies formerly led very secluded 

 lives ; there is an old Portuguese saying that a 

 woman should only leave home three times in 

 her life — to be christened, to be married, and to 

 be buried. If this is the correct form of it, the 

 Portuguese would seem to own some affinity 

 to the Irish. 



Although the young lover does not make 

 music to soften his lady's heart, the machete^ 

 a small guitar of four strings peculiar to the 



244 



