Dating introductions
In the Victorian era, unmarried women were formally introduced to eligible bachelors by dating introductions that were done through the parents of the girl, rather than by a more direct approach. The dating introductions were always done in the daylight hours, and preferably after noon time. This was the time of day that the household staff took their afternoon naps, and would waken to serve people their afternoon tea at 3:00 p.m.
Unmarried women were a protected species and considered very fragile and well-regarded by all of the noble men that asked for an introduction. The dating introductions were quite elaborate, and required the woman to remain silent until all of the formalities of the introduction were over with. Then, and only then were the two people allowed to be alone together.
Gardens were typically used to provide privacy to the couple that had just gone through the dating introductions. In these floral environments, it was thought that thoughts of love and marriage would filter through the hearts and minds of the people who only a short time ago had undergone dating introductions.
In the modern world of today, dating introductions are much less formal. People have alleviated all of the dating formalities of yesteryear and are making dating introductions in parking lots, restaurants, and even bowling alleys. People seem to like this approach because there are a lot of people dating and enjoying life to the fullest.
The dating introductions could be accomplished by one friend introducing a girl to a boy through her boyfriend, who would get the guy to meet them in a particular place after school hours. A soda shop was an excellent place to conduct dating introductions. This gave daters a place where they could sit and talk to each other immediately, rather than wait for a nightly date that might take days to occur because dating was only allowed to be done on weekends.
Other dating introductions occur at churches, using the time directly after a service for quick dating introductions that might have included a quick exchange of home telephone numbers. Women typically held on to those numbers for a long time and waited for the boy to call them. They felt very frustrated about the situation , because a girl could not call a boy. It was not considered the proper thing to do. That concept seems to still be a lingering thorn from the Victorian era.
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