Tag: how to find a mate

129 ways to get a husband

rodarters


McCall’s Magazine was a monthly American women’s magazine that enjoyed great popularity through much of the 20th century, peaking at a readership of 8.4 million in the early 1960s.

In one of their monthly prints, they published an article titled “129 ways to get a husband” and given how different the single/dating world is today, I thought it was worth a re-print. ENJOY!

“In the United States today there are sixteen million women over the age of seventeen who are not married. Presumably the vast majority of them would like to be.”

  1. Get a dog and walk it.
  2. Have your car break down at strategic places.
  3. Attend night school – take courses men like.
  4. Join a hiking club.
  5. Look in the census reports for places with the most single men. Nevada has 125 males for every 100 females.
  6. Read the obituaries to find eligible widowers.
  7. Take up golf and go to different golf courses.
  8. Take several short vacations at different places rather than one long one at one place.
  9. Sit on a park bench and feed the pigeons.
  10. Take a bicycle trip through Europe.
  11. Get a job in a medical, dental or law school.
  12. Become a nurse or an airline stewardess – they have very high marriage rates.
  13. Ask your friends’ husbands who the eligible men are in their offices.
  14. Be nice to everybody – they may have an eligible brother or son.
  15. Get a government job overseas.
  16. Volunteer for jury duty.
  17. Be friendly to ugly men – handsome is as handsome does.
  18. Tell your friends that you are interested in getting married. Don’t keep it a secret.
  19. Get lost at football games.
  20. Don’t take a job in a company run largely by women.
  21. Get a job demonstrating fishing tackle in a sporting goods store.
  22. On a plane, train or bus don’t sit next to a woman – sit next to a man.
  23. Go to all reunions of your high school or college class. There may be widowers there.
  24. Don’t be afraid to associate with more attractive girls; they may have some leftovers.
  25. Go back to your hometown for a visit – the wild kid next door may have become a very eligible bachelor while you were away.
  26. Don’t room with a girl who is a sad sack and let her pull you down to her level.
  27. Get a part-time job in a convention bureau.
  28. Change apartments from time to time.
  29. When traveling, stay at small hotels where it is easier to meet strangers.
  30. Learn to paint. Set up easel outside engineering school.
  31. Stumble when you walk into a room that he’s in.
  32. Forget discretion every once in a while and call him up.
  33. Carry a hatbox.
  34. Wear a Band-Aid. People always ask what happened.
  35. Make a lot of money.
  36. Learn several funny stories and learn to tell them well – but make sure you don’t tell them to him more than once.
  37. Walk up to him and tell him you need some advice.
  38. Dropping the handkerchief still works.
  39. Have your father buy some theater tickets that have to be got rid of.
  40. Stand in a corner and cry softly. Chances are good that he’ll come over to find out what’s wrong.
  41. Don’t let him fish for your name the next time you meet. None of this “guess who” stuff.
  42. If you’re at a resort, have the bell-boy page you.
  43. Buy a convertible. Men like to ride in them.
  44. Learn how to bake tasty apple pies. Bring one in to the office and let the eligible bachelors taste it.
  45. Laugh at his jokes.
  46. If there’s a wallflower among the men you know, why not cultivate him? For all you know, he may be a diamond in the rough.
  47. “Accidentally” have your purse fly open, scattering its contents all over the street.
  48. Men like to think they’re the authorities on perfume. Ask his advice on what kind you should wear.
  49. Get better-looking glasses – men still make passes at girls who wear glasses – or try contact lenses.
  50. Practice your drinking with your women friends first.
  51. If you dye your hair, pick a shade and stick to it.
  52. Wear high heels most of the time – they’re sexier!
  53. Unless he happens to be shorter than you are!
  54. Tell him he’s handsome.
  55. Take good care of your health. Men don’t like girls who are ill.
  56. If you look good in sweaters, wear one on every third date.
  57. Dress differently from the other girls in the office.
  58. Get a sunburn.
  59. Watch your vocabulary.
  60. Go on a diet if you need to.
  61. When you are with him, order your steak rare.
  62. Don’t tell him about your allergies.
  63. European women use their eyes to good advantage. Practice in front of a mirror.
  64. Buy a full-length mirror and take a good look before you go to greet him.
  65. Change the shade of your stockings and be sure to keep the seams straight!
  66. Get that fresh-scrubbed look by scrubbing!
  67. If he has bought you any trinket or accessory, wear it.
  68. Use the ashtray; don’t crush out cigarettes in coffee cups!
  69. Polish up on making introductions; learn to do them gracefully.
  70. Don’t be too fussy.
  71. Stick to your moral standards.
  72. Don’t whine – girls who whine stay on the vine!
  73. Show him you can have fun on a cheap date – but don’t overdo it!
  74. Don’t let your parents treat him like a potential husband.
  75. Ask your parents to disappear when you’re entertaining!
  76. Double-date with a happily married couple – let him see what it’s like!
  77. Tell his friends nice things about him.
  78. Send his mother a birthday card.
  79. Ask his mother for her recipes.
  80. Talk to his father about business and agree that taxes are too high!
  81. Buy his sister’s children an occasional present.
  82. On the first date tell him you aren’t thinking of getting married!
  83. Don’t talk about how many children you want.
  84. If he’s a fisherman, learn to scale and clean fish.
  85. Don’t tell him everything about yourself at the start. Hold something in reserve.
  86. When you’re out strolling with him, don’t insist on stopping at every shop window.
  87. Don’t tell him how much your clothes cost.
  88. Learn to sew and wear something you have made yourself.
  89. Don’t gossip about him.
  90. Never let him know he’s the only one, even if you have to stay home one or two nights a week!
  91. Don’t be a pushover when he’s trying to make a date.
  92. Very early in your dating, why not get a favorite song that you both regard as your own?
  93. Find out about the girls he hasn’t married. Don’t repeat the mistakes they made.
  94. Don’t discuss your former boyfriends.
  95. If you are widowed or divorced, don’t constantly discuss your former husband.
  96. Be flexible. If he decides to skip the dance and go rowing on the lake, go – even if you are wearing your best evening gown.
  97. Hide your Phi Beta Kappa key if you own one – later on junior can play with it.
  98. Turn wolves into husband material by assuming they have honor.
  99. Resist the urge to make him over – before marriage, that is!
  100. Learn where to draw the line – but do it gracefully.
  101. Remain innocent but not ignorant.
  102. Make your home comfortable when he calls – large ashtrays, comfortable chairs.
  103. Learn to play poker.
  104. If he’s rich, tell him you like his money – the honesty will intrigue him!
  105. Never let him believe your career is more important to him than marriage.
  106. Buy him an amusing or particularly appropriate present everyone once in a while. But don’t make it too expensive.
  107. Clip and mail him a funny cartoon that means something to both of you.
  108. Don’t tell dirty stories.
  109. Stop being a mama’s girl – don’t let him think he’ll have in-law trouble, even if you know he will!
  110. Point out to him that the death rate of single men is twice that of married men.
  111. Go to Yale.
  112. Get a hunting license.
  113. If your mother is fat, tell him you take after your father. If he’s fat too, tell him you’re adopted!
  114. Stow away on a battleship.
  115. Rent a billboard and post your picture and telephone number on it.
  116. Paint your name and number on your roof and say, “Give me a buzz, pilots.”
  117. Start a whispering campaign on how sought-after you are.
  118. Sink at a fashionable beach at high noon!
  119. Ride the airport bus back and forth from the airport.
  120. Bribe Ferris-wheel operator to get you stuck on the top of a Ferris wheel.
  121. Stand on a busy street corner with a lasso.
  122. Carry a camera and ask strange, handsome men if they would mind snapping your picture.
  123. Ask your mother to take in male boarders.
  124. Make and sell toupees – bald men are easy catches!
  125. Advertise for male co-owner of a boat.
  126. If you see a man with a flat, offer to fix it.
  127. Carry a tow chain in the trunk of your automobile.
  128. Let it be known in your office that you have a button box and will sew on bachelors’ loose buttons.
  129. Don’t marry him if he has too many loose buttons!

If this list does not work for you, consider some of the options found here: http://rodarters.com/find-a-mate

Single? 10 creative ways to find a mate

rodarters

It is estimated that there are over 54 million single people in the United States.  Most of my single friends say the same thing about finding love, “It’s so hard to meet someone decent.”   Many of them have exhausted the traditional places one searches for their next date (the church, the bar, the office, the gym – to name a few).   Beyond those places, where else can you go?   Before they allow their parents to pre-arrange anything, many today go online.

According to StatisticBrain.com, 40 million American singles have tried online dating sites like eHarmony or Match.com.  With the average dater spending over $200 per year for such sites, the industry rakes in over 1 billion dollars annually.  The Beatles claimed that “You can’t buy me love.”   Apparently, they were wrong.  Love can be purchased and it has a steep price tag.  Interestingly, (according to the same website) the typical online marriage lasts just over 18 months long.   Love is expensive!

But what if you do not live in a technological area?  What if, for example, you are Amish?  Would you attend the local barn raising event or enter a butter churning contest to find a suitable mate?  What if you did not grow up in a technological era?   Where would you find love if you grew up in a Biblical town during the Biblical days?  After a brief survey of the Bible, I have compiled a list of how folks in the Bible found their mate.  After reading the below segment, it should make online dating (OR letting your parents choose for you) much more attractive.   If you are single, perhaps one of the methods below will work for you?

10 CREATIVE WAYS TO FIND A MATE – ACCORDING TO THE BIBLE:

1.  Have God create a wife for you while you are asleep. 

“The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”  But for Adam  no suitable helper was found.  So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribsand then closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.” (Genesis 2:18-24). 

2.  Marry your sister.   (Where do you think Cain’s wife came from??   Prior to the passage below, the only people mentioned on earth are Adam & Eve.)

“Cain made love to his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was then building a city,   and he named it after his son Enoch. To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael was the father of Methushael, and Methushael was the father of Lamech.  Lamech married  two women,  one named Adah and the other Zillah.” (Genesis 4:17-19)

3.  Find a man who owns a farm that has lots of daughters.  Impress him by watering his flock.

“Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father’s flock. Some shepherds came along and drove them away, but Moses got up and came to their rescue  and watered their flock.  When the girls returned to Reuel  their father, he asked them, “Why have you returned so early today?”  They answered, “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock.”   “And where is he?” Reuel asked his daughters. “Why did you leave him? Invite him to have something to eat.”  Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah  to Moses in marriage.”  (Exodus 2:16-21)

4.  Find an attractive prisoner of war, bring her home, shave her head, trim her nails, and give her new clothes. Then she’s yours.

“When you go to war against your enemies and the Lord your God delivers them into your hands and you take captives, if you notice among the captives a beautiful woman and are attracted to her, you may take her as your wife.   Bring her into your home and have her shave her head, trim her nails and put aside the clothes she was wearing when captured.”  (Deuteronomy 21:11-13)

5.  Find a prostitute and marry her.

“When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, “Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord.”  So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.” (Hosea 1:2-3)

A prophet marrying a prostitute?  Now there’s a headline!

6.  Purchase a piece of property.  Make sure a woman is part of the deal. 

“Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, “Today you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelek, Kilion and Mahlon. I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite, Mahlon’s widow, as my wife, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so that his name will not disappear from among his family or from his hometown.   Today you are witnesses! ”  (Ruth 4:9-10)

7.  Go to a party and hide. When the women come out to dance, grab one and carry her off to be your wife.

“And the elders of the assembly said, “With the women of Benjamin destroyed, how shall we provide wives for the men who are left?  The Benjamite survivors must have heirs,” they said, “so that a tribe of Israel will not be wiped out.  We can’t give them our daughters as wives, since we Israelites have taken this oath: ‘Cursed be anyone who gives a wife to a Benjamite.’ But look, there is the annual festival of the Lord in Shiloh,  which lies north of Bethel, east of the road that goes from Bethel to Shechem,  and south of Lebonah.”  So they instructed the Benjamites, saying, “Go and hide in the vineyards and watch. When the young women of Shiloh come out to join in the dancing, rush from the vineyards and each of you seize one of them to be your wife. Then return to the land of Benjamin. When their fathers or brothers complain to us, we will say to them, ‘Do us the favor of helping them, because we did not get wives for them during the war. You will not be guilty of breaking your oath because you did not give your daughters to them.’”  So that is what the Benjamites did. While the young women were dancing,  each man caught one and carried her off to be his wife.”  (Judges 21:16-25)

(Warning: I have a feeling that this option would carry some serious legal ramifications if tried today.  Just sayin’.)

8.  Cut 200 foreskins off of your future father-in-law’s enemies and get his daughter for a wife.

“Then Saul ordered his attendants: “Speak to David privately and say, ‘Look, the king likes you, and his attendants all love you; now become his son-in-law.’”  They repeated these words to David. But David said, “Do you think it is a small matter to become the king’s son-in-law?  I’m only a poor man and little known.”  When Saul’s servants told him what David had said, Saul replied, “Say to David, ‘The king wants no other price for the bride than a hundred Philistine foreskins, to take revenge on his enemies.’” Saul’s plan was to have David fall by the hands of the Philistines.  When the attendants told David these things, he was pleased to become the king’s son-in-law. So before the allotted time elapsed, David took his men with him and went out and killed two hundred Philistines and brought back their foreskins. They counted out the full number to the king so that David might become the king’s son-in-law. Then Saul gave him his daughter Michal  in marriage.” (I Samuel 18:22-27)

(A word of caution here: Think twice before you use this method to obtain a wife, as this option is life-threatening.  If this is what your future father-in-law requires you to do before he gives you his daughter’s hand in marriage, ask yourself if this is really the kind of family you want to get involved with?   Lastly, if you thought admitting that you met your mate online was embarrassing, try this one.)

9.  Grab someone else’s wife and kill her husband.  

(Warning: It’s a very bad idea, breaks two major commandments and will not end well for you or the husband.  II Samuel 11 covers the entire story.)

10.  Don’t be so picky. Make up for quality with quantity.

“King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love.  He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray.”  (1 Kings 11:1-3)

(For those of you who are married, you know how hard it is to please one wife.  Can you imagine 700 or more?   This option really is not wise at all.  Interestingly, Solomon was considered to be the wisest man to ever have lived.   Apparently even the wisest among us have lapses of judgment from time to time.)

Final note…

If you are reading this and are married, thank God that He has provided you with a spouse.  Do what YOU can to strengthen that marriage TODAY since we know that a strong marriage is wonderful for both the family and the country.  Remember, “God hates divorce” (Malachi 2:16) and NO ONE wins when that option is chosen, except maybe a lawyer.

If you are reading this and are single, thank God as well.  Perhaps you are not called to be married (I Corinthians 7:24) or that God is saving you from severe heartache?  If you think you are lonely now, it pales in comparison to being lonely in a marriage.  Or maybe you are not ready for a relationship yet and God is still working on your relationship with Him (Matthew 6:33).  Regardless of the reason, embrace and enjoy your singlehood.  There are many who jumped too quickly into marriage (for all the wrong reasons) and would love to trade places with you now.

Personally, I’d choose option #1.   How cool would that be?   You drift off asleep – dreaming about the perfect spouse and when you wake up – there he/she is – ready for you!   Humorously, an evangelist (Ray Comfort) once remarked that “God put man into a deep sleep and nowhere in the Bible does it say he ever came out of it.”  

(Forward this to all your single friends.  They need as much help as they can get!)