The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1871-10-12
~ COUNTING IN NEBRASKA.
Effect Of Scarcity Of Single Women.
A Nebraska correspondent of the
Syracuse Standard writes as follows !:
"There 10 lack OF woman's nursinR,

A Nebraska correspondent Of the
Syracuse Standard writes as follows !:
There ,s lack Of woman's nursing,
There is dearth Of woman's tears"
Certainly not because they are
unnecessary in this Western Region,
but the fact is the women are scarce
and men are plenty. In market
phrase, the woman "demand far ex-
ceeds the supply Those inexorablo
laws Of supply and demand, about
which politidhl and other economists
delight to talk, have not yet correct
ed this acid question. A heavy doso
of girls, none Of your homeopathic
prescriptions, is what Nebraska
needs, and the stomachs Of her young
men will always remain sour until
the supply comes. You have no
idea East how anxious young men
in this region are to marry. In the
words of . prairie farmer, "courtin's
hot"
The poor man is passing through
a bitter experience. A party Of us
wero duck.hunting the other day on
the Missouri bottoms. Night over
took US before we were aware Of it,
and we were obliged to seek lodgings
at the first dwelling we could find.
1t was a small one-story, structure
Of three rooms, and occupied by a
family of slx-father, mother, daugh-
ter, and three sons. The sons were
all unmarried, and from the calls
that were made afterwards, we Judge
the daughter was unmarried also.
We hadn't been in the house five
minutes when some kind of q vehicle
drove up aud two young men were
ushered into the parlor. Straight
way the mother and daughter held q
whispered consultation, which closed
with o invitation to the sitting room
for supper. 1t was evident that the
young men callers had been to tea,
as they stayed in the parlor with
sweet sixteen"
Scarcely had we taken our seats at
the table when o howl from the dogs
out doors announced another conner.
He seemed to avoid the front door,
and knocked at that where our party
was just sitting to supper. The
mother rose to answer the summons,
when we were surprised by the
daughter opening the parlor door
and rushing forward with don't got
up, mother It's ono of my fellows
Come in, Jim how do you do ~
And Jim entered in response to the
CHEEKY salution. He made himself
as comfortable as possible till we had
finished supper, when another whis.
pered consultation proved that the
"parlor ls full as it ort to be-" whis
pered by Miss in response to some
motherly suggestion. The old gen,
tiemsn solved the question by iDvit
ing us into the kitchen to smoke, foi
he remained in the sitting-room. We
should have doubtless enjoyed q quiet
cigar had not the old lady opened
the back door and shouted at the
top of her voice: "Come round here
to the back door"
1t was another young man and We
fancied he looked as if he had come
in rather late, Two young men
within the parlor, one in tho sitting.
room, and one in the kitchen. What
should be done? The courting bus.
mess was getting hot. There was an
other talk between mother and
daughter. 1t was evident their dc
vices had been exhausted. The ole
gentleman was called into the cor
ner. He settled the question with 6
whisper: "l'll be damned if I move
again till the settin' rooms full p
Into the sitting room went mum
Der four, and we smoked. 1t was
full ten minutes before the next dis
turbers came, and they entered tht
kitchen with the air of old acquain
tainces. We looked anxiously at the
host. Taking his pipe from hi
mouth, q single sentence relieved US
"Them's the widowers Stick 7
And we sstuck" and smoked on
For the next half hour the girl mus
have been kept busy. The widowel
had certainly a third of her time. l
was 8 o'clock. We wished to 60 t,
bed, and the only bed we had discov
cred was in the parlor. The old gen
tleman OWNED our wishes, and said
II am sorry gentlemen, but thi
is one Of the regular courtin' nights
Them two tcllers in the parlor neve
leave afore midnight, and the widow
or allus stays all night, And ths
amt the worst of it. Dan'll be her
at 10 o'clock. / and the boys all,
sleep in the haystaok Friday night
Yer welcome to that"
| The psrlor, sitting. room and kite
en- full, We retreated to the haystac
In response to question on Il
point, the old gentleman said that
Friday night it's putty bad, b.
Sunday night it's wuss. Last Sur
day night there was ton on EN-, an
the girl is getting more and mo,
partikiler. The moro she gets tt
more she wsnts!'
On the hsystsck, with sti
breeze to blow away the mosquito
we heard Dan drive up. Ono of ii
last remarks Of the old man befo,
we fell asleep was, "Yes, gcntleme'
courtin's hot in Nebraska J" and "
believed him.
I
i II love to look upon u your
man. There ia 4 hidden potenC