LOVE AND MARRIAGE IN THE WEST.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 348, 6 March 1889, Page 6

LOVE AND MARRIAGE IN THE WEST.

y^^SiCS RECENT visitor to the .%MM%f t &\^ Western States writes \wMlXj! fW^f?- 10 following amusing W^&Stej^P''''' account of a visit he •V^rvv PP a "* to a Tennesse° -V settlement : One day I went over to Andrews's Fork, and was made heartily welcome at the largest of the three cabins. Andrews hart a daughtea about twenty years old, and I soon understood that ehe was to be married next day. Indeed the lucky young man was on the ground and waiting. He was a bix- footer, slim as a toothpick, awkward as a calf, and dead in love. The girl was moie shy, but not to bo bluffed by my presence. When I entered the front door, the young man, who answered to the name of Davy, ran out of the back. Re felt confused and embarrassed, and taking hie scab on a about thirty feet from tho house, he hid face as much a3 possible behind a sapling. Andrews called to him, then Mrs Andrew called, but he put his finger in his mounth and would not come. Then his Susan went out and said : 'Now, Davy, what's the scrimmage"? Hc'un hasn'tcomeycre to hurt we'uns.' ' t ain't scart.' ' Then come along in. All of us will be ashamed of ye.' ' Got a headache," said Davy, as he hung back. ' Honest ?' ' Yes, orful honest. Feels like it 'ud split.' ' Shucks. You's bashful ? You's afraid he'll poke fun at we'uns ! But he won't Davy. Pop's dun told him we're to jine, and he says it's right. He'un won't laff, Davy.' ' Fur shore ?' • Fur snake shore. Come in, Davy.' She came, leading him by the hand, and I did my best to put him at his ease. In this I succeeded so well that after dinner he took me into his confidence. We were lying under a tree, and I had given him the first cigar he ever saw, when he suddenly said : ' Would you— you — you run away ?' ' What ! From getting married ?' l Yes. ! ' No, sir-ece c ! You are a lucky man get such a girl as Sue.' 'Butfolks'lllaft.' ' Let 'em laugh.' ' And wink, and titter, and make fun !' 'Pooh! What of it?' ' It's just orful ; but mebbe, I kin do it, I've killed bars, and rattlers, and wildcats, and I've had fights and rows ; but this skeers me.' 1 got him braced up after an hour's talk, and then we took a cut through the \vood3 to &cc the new cabin which had been elected for the bridal couple. It was a humble structure made of poles, \vitli no door to the doorway, and no sash to the window. The ground was beaten down hard for a floor, there was a rude fireplace at one end, and a bedstead had been made of poles laid in crotches. Davy's mother'had given him a bear-skin, a kettle, a 1 skillet, and jug, and these were placed in a corner. Susan's patents had given her a' pan, a kettle, threetin plates, two spoons, two knives and fork and a bottle of vinegar, and these were placed in another corner. That ,was the whole outfit. The mountaineers were my friends. They had -gone to every trouble to oblige me, and here was an opportunity to requite their kindne&s. There was a genuine country store about a mile away, and I got rid of Davy, and went down there. I had a little talk with the storekeeper, and wrote uut. a n&t) or things crad tendered the pay, and his voice actually trembled as he said : ' Twelve hull dollars ! Stranger, ye can't mean it !' 'Oh, but I do.' ' And all a free gift to Dave and Sue ?' 'Yes.' ' Wai, it beats earpinte ? 'Deed it beats bars and wild cats ! Put it thar,' stranger ! I've seed strange thing 3 in my time, but this clutters me !' That evening Andrews and his wife had to go over to sit with a sick neighbour, leaving me alone with the lovers. After the ' sputter' had been lighted, Sue said to me : ' You won't keer, will you ?' 'About what?' c And Pop said you wouldn't laff nor titter.' ' At what ?' ' Dave an' me is goin' to court.' 'C4o right ahead, my dear girl. I am very near-sighted and hard of hearing, and you needn't be afraid of me.' They sat down on the door-sill, and after a minute Dave queried : ' Hain't nobody lookin' be thar ?' ' Guess not.' ' Then I'm goin to !' ' No, you hain't !' ' But I must, 'cause I orter !' He put his arm around her waist, and there was another long silence. Then he said : • Kin I squeeze yer hand ?' 'Noap.' 'But I orter.' ' Well, mebbe.' { And you hain't kissed me fur an hour.' ' David !' ' But I orter be kissed. And you orter be kissed.' ' I can't consider.' • But you orter. Nobody'll see.' ' Well, mebbe you know best.' 'Course I knew best. Haven't I killed bars and wild-cats ?' 1 Sartin, for I seed their hides.' ' Don't sot way off thar, Susan. Sob clnsser.' % But you orter. Yer pop would say yer orter. ' Hain't we most married ?' 'Well, mebbe I orter.' 'Yes.' ' Never git mad ?' ' Noap.' I went off to bed and left them there, and I shouldn't wonder if they put in most of the night at it. About ten o'clock next morning the people began to drop in, and at eleven o'clock the marriage took place. The groom had a weak spell, butl braced him up, and when the fatal noose was adjusted, and the trap sprung, his conduct was fair to the medium. After dinner we formed a procession, and escorted them to their new home. Almost everybody had come laden with a present of some sort. In the centre of the cabin was my surprise, and no crowd of people were over so dumbfounded. Mrs Andrews drew the articles out, and it took everyone's breath away as she shouted : ' Real tea and coffee and saleratus ! And' here's cotton, cloth, and pins, and thiead ! And here's sugar, molasses, and soap ! And here's crockery — real crockery — and knives and forks, and spoons, and ' But all the women were crying by that time, and all the men were trembling with excitement. They laid it on to me, and I had to own up, and then Andrews called out: ' Yere, Dave, Sue, get right down yere on yer knees, and ew'ar to the stranger that you'll pot-luck with him and his' nas long as grass grows and water runs, and may tho Lord never desert him !' And who could ask for a greater rev ard ?

two former mines promises to leave a good margin of profit which will go towards a dividend for shareholders. At the Newbery-Yimten Gold Extraction Company's works Dr Schiedel is still experimenting, bat it is an open secret that the process is a failure so far as trea l ,ing the tailings from the Thames foreshore- and the various mines is concerned. There seetns a poss.bility, however, that it will prove suitable for the tailings from the Reefton district. Asa proof of the improved feeling in mining, it may be mentioned that Mr Kobt. Comer has made a start with the erection of a building for a 20-stamper battery, which he intends putting up as quickly as possible. He owns the Kuranui No. 8 holding, and has decided to prosecute operations upon a large and systematic scale as soon as the battery is finished, viz , by crushing the whole of the large hill behind the Big Pump. It is ooHsidered that the stuff will prove highly remunerative, as the country is interlaced with innumerable gold-bearing stringers of quartz and several fair sized reefs. The ftheuben Parr tributers (Birch and party) have had a splendid crushing, 8 loads of quarts having produced 82ozs 4dwts melted gold.