The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-07-21

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the lady's name on this occasion was Knox, too;
but would not be certain. Her father, at all
events, was an officer in the army, and will
call him Col. Knox. Miss Knox was riding
out one day, when her horse ran off, and the
driver found it impossible to manage. A young
farmer in an adjoining field sprang over the
hedge, seized the animal by the head, and, leap
ing on his back, soon brought him up. She
thanked him, and offered him money, which he
declined, but with the greatest courtesy. Ever
after that, when she rode out, she went by that
field, and he contrived to be somewhere about
the place at the time she usually came by. At
hrst, 1T was but passing word afterwards, she
began to stop, and ask him questions about
farm work, wild flowers, and even his own his,
tory. Neither of them even thought it would
ever amount to anything more than a transient
acquaintance, for she was as far above him in
common esteem as a merchant prince is above
his colored hostler. Still they both found a
passing chat unaccountably pleasant. She had
many suitors, but they all belonged to the arts
tocratic class, in whom pride, fullness of
bread, and abundance of idleness," had in
duced dissipation, and destroyed that fresh glow
of vigorous friendship and that purity of virtue
| which may be found among those who earn
| their daily bread. / do not say that religion
and virtue are entirely wanting among the no
bility. | only say that their ideness and abun-
dance throws strong temptation i'll their way,
and, unless there be "a frnness of principle to
withstand that temptation, it destroys the virtue
and purity of nature. 1t is no wonder, then,
| that pride, as well as love, prompted Miss Knox
| to turn her back on flirting lords, for one who
lived only in her smile. With him, however,
| the struggle was even harder than with her. for
| he was too proud to marry one whose connec-
| tons would all despise him. However, they
were privately married. She went home imme-
diately, and told her father. He turned pale
| with rage. Had she stained her virtue, she
would, i'll his opinion, have brought less dis
grace on her family. He confined her to her
room, and threatened TO shoot him if he should
be seen about the house. A few anxious weeks
passed, and nothing turned up. Atlength, the
young man repaired to Col. Knox's. To the
servant he announced his name, and said he
wanted to see Col. Knox. Instead of having
| him ushered into his own ROOM the old man
took his pistol, and walked down to the door.
What do you want here?" he demanded. /
II am come" was the straightforward am
swcr, " to demand my wife,"
ado you say so to NE, said the Colonel, sur
veying him from head to foot.
u do"
He regarded him for few minutes with more
establishment than anger, and as much admra-
| ton as establishment. As an aristOcrat, he
| despised the low born rustic AS soldier, he
admired the fine form, the undaunted counte-
nance, and lofty bearing of the man. The con-
tending emotions wrought in his breast and
| glowed on his countenance, but his better nat
| ture prevailed.
" Do you say so to me ?" he added And by
my troth you must be a hero to do it. | inn
agined that You would come sneaking round
my house to steal my daughter away; but you
have acted like a man. Come IN, for you are.
my son-in law
| have heard another story, but | cannot
vouch for its truth, as ! only heard it once.
| However, there is nothing improbable about it,,
A young lady fell in love with her fathers gar
dener When she told him she would forsake
wealth and splendor for him, be expressed an
unwillngness TO take her from comfortable
home till she had made trial of what pinch
! ing poverty was, lest she might repent when
too late. Accordingly, she never came to the
table for three weeks, aud lived all that time
on nothing but potatoes and salt. She then
| told him she could be poor mans wife, If ne
cessary. She also advised him to go and con
suit her father, who was a counsellor at law,
| how he might run away with girl without III
| curing legal penalties. lie told him that If he
| got on horseback behind the girl, she ear
| rying him off, not he her, and they would be
safe. They went off in that way. His little
savings, and her pocket money, which she had
boarded up for long time special purpose,
brought them to America and bought them a
farm in the West, where they now reside.
With notice OF peculiar custom at wed
dings close this chapter. This was what they
called running for the broth. The next morn
ing after the marriage, the whole company as
semhled at the house Of the bride, and ran on
4 har lao, he. Of tha br,d
Whoever got in first received large pitcher of
punch TO treat the rest of the company as they
came up. This WAS called the broth. From
the top of every hill crowds of strangers watched
the contest cheering the victor, and laughing
heartily at those who Jagged behind. AS the
horses sometimes carried double, and the roads
were sometimes had, accidents not unfre9uent-
lY occurred, and they improved the custom by
running on foot. The last improvement was
aboishing it altogether.
MINING THE BABlEs.-The Weavervile (Cal. J
Journaf gives the following account of an affair,
which, however it may move the laughter of
our readers, we fancy to have made some of the
| parties concerned laugh on the wrong side of
| their mouths"
"SOme time ago, there was dancing party
| given 'up north; most Of the ladies present
had little babies, whose noisy perversity re-
| quired too much attention to permit the mothers
to enjoy the dance. number of gallant young
men volunteered to watch the young ones while
the parents INDUCED in break down. No
sooner had the women left the babies in charge
of the mischievous devils, than they stripped
the infants, changed their clothes, giving to
| one the apparel OF anather. The dance over,
it was time 10 go home, and the mothers hur-
riedly took each baby, in the dress OF her
own, and started, some to their homes, ten or
fifteen miles off, and were far on their way be
fore daylight. But the day following there
was a prodigious row in that settlement;
mothers discov red that "a single day had chan
ged the sex of their babies; observation dis
closed startling physiological phenomena, and
then commenced some of the tallast female pc
destrisnisE, LIVING miles apart, it required
two days to unmix the babies, and as many
months to restore the women to their naturally
sweet dispositions. To this day it is unsafe
for any Of the baby mixers TO venture within
the territory"
WISE THE ERoNAuT.-Mr Wise, now a man
over fifty years Of age, has been engaged in
aromatic experiments for some twenty-four
years. He is native of Lancaster, Pennsyl-
vania, and his manper, quiet aud thoughtful,
seems to accord but little with the general idea
of visionary enthusiast, many honest per
sons believe every eronaut to be: He has re-
Gently made what be claims TO be a great dis
eovery-the existence of a western aerial trade
wind, which he proposes to turn to account in
his projected trans Atlantic balloon voyage.
be has memoriali@ed Congress in vain, and
for lack of funds has until recently been unable
to buid q balloon sufficiently large to under
take such extensive Journeys. At a convention
of aronauts in this city, held last May, how