Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1856-12-20

above checked aprons in those dsys,) and
black cotton stockings-that identical dKster,
perhaps, waving In thy ruby hand; / can
fancy thee, thus standing, sweet help, with
thy lover at thy feet, no all bepe and protest
| alton, thou all fear and hesitation; his face
glowing with affection, thine suffused with
| bushes; his eyes beaming with smiles, thine
| cushing with tears-love tears-that fall
drop, drop, slowly at first, like the frst drops
Of thunder storm, Increasing IN their fow,
| even as that storm increaseth, TIL, hnding il
no longer possible to dissembie thy weeping,
thou raisest the duster TO thy cheeks and
smesrest them with its pulverised impurities.
But Love knows best how to bring about his
desires that little incident simple, nay silly
as il may seem, has more quickly matured the
| project than hours Of sentiment could have
done; for the begrimed countenance Of the
maiden sets both the lovers TO laughing-she
, is anxious TO run away, to wash the filthy
l witliess" from her fsce-he will not suffer her
I, to d.part without a promise-s word Of hope
she faitsfs forth the soft syllable Of consent
snd the terrible task Of popping the ques-
| ton" is over.
Breakfast time at length arrived. But
| shall pass over the blunders committed du-
ring its progress; how 1 salted Mary Roses
muffin instead Of my own, poured the cream
| into the sugar basin, and took bite st the
teapot lid Pop the question" haunted me
continually; and 1 feared to speak, even on
| the most ordinary topics, lest should in some
| way betray myself Pop-pop-pop! every
| thing seemed TO 90 of with pop; and when
| at length Mr. Merton binted to Mary and her
mother that il was time for them 70 pop on
| their bonnets, / thought be laid particular
stre:, cn the horrible monosyl liable, and almost
| expected him TO accuse me OF some sinister
| design upon his daughter. 1t passed of, how.
| ever, and we set out for the church. Mary
Rose leaned upon my arm, and complained
| how dull was. L, of course, protested against
| il and tried to rally; vivaci,y, indeed, was
one of my chsTacte ristics, and was Just be-
ginning to make myself extremely agreeable,
when little urchIn, in the thick gloom Of a
dark entry, let off pop-gun close to my ear.
The sound, simple as il may seem, made me
start as if ghost had stood before me and
when Mary observed that was " very ner-
vouI this morning" felt as IL / could have
throttled the lad and inwardly cursed the
inventor of pop-guns, aud doomed him 70 the
lowest pit Of Acheron.
stroye against my fate, however, and made
several observatioDs. Look" cried Mary
Rose, as we gained the end Of the street,
what a beautiful child :"
turned nv head 20 the window, when the
first object that met my eyes was square
blue paper, edged with yellow, on which was
written in too, too legible characters, Pop"
L believe L wGs surprised into an exclamation
stronger than the occasion would seem to war
rant and the poor child came in for a share Of
nv anathema l didn't intend IL, however,
for am very fond of children; but IL served
Mary Rose TO sccld me about till We came to
the church door; and, if possible, bewildered
me more than ever. We had now arrived in
the middle aisle, when my tar companion
whispered me. " NV dear Mr.. -, won You
take of your hat 2' This was only prelude
TO still greater blunders. posted myself at
the head oe the seat sang part OF the hun
dredth psalm while the Organist was playing
tho symphony, sat down when L should have
stood up, kneit when L ought 10 have been
standing, and Just at the end Of the creed
found myself pointed due west the gsfe and
wonder of the whole congregation.
The sermon at length commenced, and the
quietness that ensued, broken only by the
perambulations Of the besdle and sub school
master. and the collision, ever and anon, Of
their official wands with the heads Of refrac-
tory students. guilty Of the enormous crime OF
gaping or twirling their thumbs, gave me an
opportunity Of ofcollectingm scattered thoughts
Just as the rest of the congregation were go
ing to sleep, began 70 awake from ny men
tai lethargy; and by the time the worthy
prelate had discussed three or four heads Of
his text, felt myself competent to make q
speech in parliament Just at this moment,
too, thought struck me, as beautiful as 1t
was suddeG-s plan by which L might make
an abundant share Of wit into the bargain.
To this end l seized Mary Roses prayer
book, and turning over the pages till came
to matrimony, marked the passage, Wit
thou have this man to be thy welded hus-
band?" with two emphatic dashesi and point
ing significantly and confidently to myself,
handed il TO her with bow. She took i'll
she read it she smiled! =. Was il q smile
of assent? Oh, how my heart beat in my
bosom at that instant-so loud, that feared
the people around us might hear It's pslpits-
tions; and looked at them TO see if they no
ticed me. She turned over few lsayes-she
took my pencil, which l had purposely In
closed in the book-and she marked passage
o We gods and demi-gods what were my sen
satiOns at that moment not Jove himself,
when he went swan-hopping TO the lovely
Leda-nor Pluto, when he perpetrated the
abduction Of the beautiful Pr9serpine-could
have experienced a greater turmoil Of pas
sions than at that moment / felt the score
felt it as if il had been across my very heart,
and grasped the book-and ! squeezed the
hand that presented it; and opening the page
tremblingly, and holding the volume close TO
my eyes (fOr the type was small, and my sight
not quite so good as il used TO be,) L read-O
Mary Rose o Mary Rose that should live
to relate it-"A woman may not marry her
grandfather"