The Conservative. (M'connelsville, Ohio) 1866-1871, 1871-01-13
A TOUGH STORY.

Wooing Kentucky GirI-The silen
worship ofa wealthy o1S Baehelor-
ing Dice-SIoo,oco Against Lady
I Hand.
( A Louisville correspondent of tn,
San Francisco Chronicle says:
There lived on street, in al
unpretending establishment surround
ed by trees and flowers, a young lady
who was celebrated for her beauty ali6
accomplishments. She was a blonde
with blue eyes, white teeth, and heav
enly smile; had the prettiest hand and
foot that was ever seen; and was tall
1.-THE, and elegant. Her wit was deli
cate, pointed, and sparkling, and hel
mind as superior as her person was
lovely. The town was at her feet, and
her suitors were as importunate, if moi
as many, as Penelope's; like whom she
was continually wooed and never won.
In the midst of her successes came the
war the end of which found her family
impoverished, and herself reduced to
want for the necessaries of life.
But she was still the same proud, i'm
perious mistress of hearts as before,
and she refused in quick succession
the many offers of marriage that were
now made to her. She had not thought
of matrimony as a resource, but had
other and different prospects iu- view.
She proposed in fact to teach school.
A fellow townsman, a gentleman of
wealth and position and bachelor,
had long been g silent worshiper at her
shrine. He had houses and lands
estates in the country and lots in the
city-stocks, interests and investments
wherever they would pay; and his pri-
vate establishment on-street was
simply palatial. Seeing how the case
stood with her whom he loved with his
whole soul, he resolved, after many
self-communings and much reflection,
to ask her to be his wife.
"Sir," she said, in answer to his
proposal, 81 do not love you, and L
cannot marry you"
"Think the matter over, my dear,
said he, "and in one week from to-day
give me your answer"
Upon his return on the day set she
said to him:
"Sir, you have wealth, and 1 am
poor; you live in palace, and /, as
you see, in a cottage; you are desirous
OF having my hand, and 1 would like
very much to be rich. viii make you
a proposition. 1 will throw the dice
with you-my hand against a hundred
thousand dollars Is it bargain 7"
cit is" said he. And thereupon
they pledged to each other their words
to bide the hazard.
1t was arranged that but three per-
sons should be let into the secret; that
each should select a friend; and that
the two selected friends were to choose
the third. Miss - named the Hon.
Mr.. -, a prominent member of the
bar, as her friend; Mr.. - chose the
Rev. Mr.. -, pastor of the fashiona-
BILE church on - street, as his; and
these two made choice of DIR. -, an
eminent professor in the medical col
lege, as the friend of both parties.
By these gentlemen the preliminaries
we're arranged, and the programme was
this:
TiIo doctor WIS TO give party at ms
house on a certain specified Friday
evening, at which were to be present all
the best people in Louisville; the Hon.
Mr.. - was to have license in blank,
ready to be filed at moments warn
ing, ana was to hold Mr.. IS check
for 500, 600; and the Rev. Mr.. was
to be in waiting to perform the marriage
ceremony, if called on to do so. The
dice were 70 be thrown in the Hon. Mr..
IS study, whence the quintette were
to proceed to the party, where, if Miss
= lost, they we're to celebrate the
and if she won, they were to
mingle with the guests without remark.
At precisely nine o'clock on the
eventful evening, the players and their
friends met in the Hon. Mr.. IS
study. By agreement of the parties
they were to throw poker
dice, and to cut cards for the first
throw. The gentleman cut queen and
the lady jack, and now came the tug
Of war. He was cool, calm, and pale;
she was statuesque, imperious, and col
lected. His lips were compressed; hers
were formed into an extended arc, span
ming the whole mouth and completing
the bow. The twain sat on opposite
sides of small table, and the umpires
stood overlooking them
The dice box being set before him,
Mr.. - placed his fingers over the
top, and with the thumb clasping the
side, he gave it a shake he threw two
fours and two deuces. Putting aside
the fours, he threw again, and threw
another four. Then, throwing the two
dice, he threw two fives. He
had thrown, therefore, full hand
three fours and two fves.
And now came Miss IS turn. 1t
was thrilling moment, and the rustic
of her silk dress in the stiffness of that
room sounded like the tree tops in the
wind. She began by drawing off her
right glove, exposing hand of exqui-
site beauty, and delicacy, on the fore
finger of which sparkled diamond.
Then, taking up the box quickly, she
gave it long shake in the air, and
turning it down upon the table, she
threw-nothingl A cloud thereupon
passed oyer her faca,- and the ara of her
lips assumed more bow-like curva-
ture.
But nothing daunted, she at once re-
took the box and threw again-this time
turning up four deuces. and the fifth
dice cooked. Terrible mischance
Miserable luckl Again she threw, and
threw deuces and two trays. Putting
all the dice back into the box, she had
but one other and last throw upon
which now wrested her only chance. For
the first time since she sat down she
spoke, asking for a glass of water.
Having drank tumblerful, she sat for
a moment, pressing together her eye
brows, between her thumb and fore
finger, and then, all of sudden, she
snatched up the dice-box, and threw
three fours and two skies, and won.
And did she take the money! you ask
me. 1 answer most emphatically-she
did
Summary Of Congressional Proceedings.
SENATE, Jan. 4th.-Among the bills intro
duced was one to enable honorably discharged
soldiers and sailors, their widows and orphans
and children to acquire homesteads on the
public lands of the United States.-The bill
was passed amendatory of the funding act OF
the last session, authorizing an increase OF
the issue of five per cent. bonds from $780,
900. 600 To S500 600 Cl00 and making the inter