COURTING TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 2695, 19 October 1889, Page 6 (Supplement)

COURTING TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO.

A mono tho amusing reminiscences of 1 those days is the courtship of the Rev. Stephen Mix of Whithersfield. He made a journey to Northampton in 1G93 in search of a wife. He arrived at the llev. Solomon Stoddard's, informed him of the object of his visit, and that the pressure of business required the utmost dispatch. Mr Stoddard took him to the room where his daughters were, and introduced him to Mary, Esther, Christina, Sarah, Rebecca, and Hannah, and then retired. Mr Mix, addressing Mary, the eldest, said, he had lately settled at Whithers field, aud was desirous of obtaining a wife, and concluded by offering his heart and hand. She replied that so important a proposition required time for consideration. He replied that he was pleased that she Asked for suitable time for reflection, and in order to afford her the needed opportunity to think of his proposal, he would step into tho next room and smoke a pipe with her father, and she could report to him. Having smoked his pipe, and sent a message to Miss Mary that he was ready for her answer, she came in and asked for farther time for consideration. He replied that she could reflect »till longer on the subject, and send her answer by letter to Whithersfield. In a few weeks he received her reply, which is probably tho most laconic epistle ever penned. Here is the model letter, which was soon followed by a wedding : — "Northampton 1693. Rev. Stephen Mix : Yes."—Mary Stoddard.—N. Y. Independent.