Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1862-11-27
coURTsHIP.

81 .a COURTSHIP.
!, Falling in love is an old fashion, an
: one that viii yet endure. Cobbett.
|. good sound Englishmsn, twitted Ma
; thus, the auti-population writer, Wit
j the fact that. do all be could, and a
that Government could. sy. an fhi
| twenty thousand governments couls
he could not prevent courting and fal
ing In love. "Between fifteen an
twenty-five" said he. "all people wi
fall in love-" Shakespeare pushes on
this season to the age offorty-6ve. OIL
Burton. writing on oye-melancholy
gives US still further extension OF th
leasey and certainly "there be old fool
as well as young fools" But no one !
absolutely free from the universal pas
sion. The Greek epIgram en- a slatu
of Cupid. which Voltsire, amongst
hundred Of others, has happily repro
duced. is perfectly true:
Whoe'er thou art, thy master seel
Who was, or is, or Is to be.
Probably no one escapes from the pas
sion. We find in trials and in crilnina
history that the quaintest, quietest o.
men. the most outwardly sanity, cold
stone-like beings, have had their mo.
ments ofintense love-madness. Lucki-
ly, love'is as lawful as eating, when
properly INDUCED in.
So much happiness depends upon
courtship, that it is a really serious mat.
ter, the most important save one in
life; and that one is marriage itself.
In ninety cases out of hundred. peo-
pie do not fall over head in love all OF
a sudden. There Is the commence
ment, the middle, and the end TO that,
as there is to everything in life. Com
panionship, small attentions, thousand
little niceties precede the passion; and
it is then that young people should be
on the lookout. Cobbett, with bis
plain English sense, gives us a list of
eight qualities in a wife which man
should look out for; and in Great Britain
no man need look far for them. These
are; 1. Chastity; 9, Sobriety; 8. Indus
try; 4, Frugality; 5. Cleanliness; 6,
knowledge Of Domestic Affairs; Z,
Good Temper; and 8, Beauty.
Cobbett tells us how an English yeo-
man loved and courted, and how he
was loved in return; and prettier little
episode does not exist in the English
language. Talk Of private memoirs OF
courts, the gossip Of this cottage is
worth it all. Cobbett, who was SER
geant-major in a regiment Of foot. fell
in love with the daughter of a sergeant
of artillery, then in the same province
Of New Brunswick. He had not passed
more than an hour in her company,
when, noting her modesty. her quietude.
and her sobriety, be said, "that is the
girl for me-" The next morning be
was up early, and almost before it was
light passed the sergesnt's house.
There she was on the snow, scrubbing
out a wash h-tub.-"That's the girl for
me-" again cried Cobbett. although
she was not more than fourteen, and he
nearly twenty-one.-"From the day /
first spoke to her," he writes, 81 had
no more thought Of her being the wife
Of any other man than l had thought
of her becoming a chest of drawers.
He paid every attention to her, and,
young as she was, treated her with sll
confidence. He spoke to her as bis
friend, his second self. But in six
months the artillery were ordered to
England, and her father with them.
Here was indeed blow. Cobbett
knew what Woolwich was, and what
temptations a young and pretty girl
would be sure to undergo. He there
fore took to her his whole fortune, one
hundred and fifty guineas, the savings
of his pay and over work, and wrote to
tell her that If she did not find her
place comfortable to take lodgings; and
put herself to school, and not to work
too hard, for be would be home in two
years. But, as he says, "as the ma
lignity of the devil would have it. we
were kept abroad two years longer than
our time, Mr. Pitt having knocked up
dust with Spain about Nootka Sound.
Oh, how cursed Nootks Sound. and
poor bawling Pitt, tool"-But at the
end Of four years Cobbett got his dis
charge. He found his little girl ser
want OF all work, at FIVE pounds year,
in the house of a Captain Brisac; and
without saying word about the matter,
she put into his hands the whole Of the
hundred and fifty guineas unbrokenl .
What pretty tender picture is that!
the young sergeant, and the little
girl of eighteen, who had kept for four
years the treasure untouched, waiting
with patience her lovers returnl What
kindly, pure trust on both sides! The
historical painters Of our Royal Acad.
emy give us scenes from English his
tory Of intrigue aud bloodshed. Why
can they not give us a scene Of true
English courtship like that? Cobbett,
who knew how to write sterling Eng
lish better than many men Of his own
days, and most men Of ours, does not
forget to enlarge upon the scene, and
dearly he loved his wife for her share
of il; but he does not forget TO add, that
with this love there was mixed "self-
graduation on this indubitsble proof of
the soundness of his own Judgment"
1t is more than probable that eight
o;rl. ont of ten vouId he as nrudent and
as good iftheir lovers would be as high
minded.