Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1878-04-10

turned 10 their now home. where they
entertained their guests TO q SUPPER
aud perhaps q dance, Probably they
were just as happy spending their
honeymoon ~ their own home as
these who go Oh wedding tour
"One morning wc were surprised at
two mIddle'aged, communicating per
sons presenting themselves at our
door, desiring to have the nuptlal knot
tied, observed tho woman waN
coarse looking aud very tall having
an abundance OF Gurls, They ap'
pcarcd in u hurry to get through the
ceremony, mumbllng their words
hastily they explained they were IN
haste to be In time for the 1920 train !
neither could sign their name after
making their mark, they gave my
husband a iyc dollar bill Oh rccelv'
ing three dollars in change. the man
looked dissatisfied, aud said he thought
twas only dollar Tor doing this ere
business : then he continued IN Il
whining tone, i cant afford morn u
dollar, SO Mr.. Morse good naturcdly
gave him another note,
AT dinner my sister.in'law asked
ifany tramps had been begging dur
ing the morning.
II said | thought not she mus,
have mistaken the midllc-aged lovers
for tramps,
"She remarked that when she was
sitting in the garden, reading, her at
tention was attracted towards Il man
and woman who walked s,ealthily
along the hawthorn hedge unobscrv.
cd, as they thought then the woman
went behind the barn and soon ap-
pqarcd again in mems clothing. She
knew il was the same person, for when
she rcjoincd the man she removed the
curls and bonnet, and in their place
she put on a Scotch cap,
"NVhen | heard their dress doscrlb.
ed my suspicious were aroused in n
moment, and | asked Mr.. Morse to
examine the fve.dollar bill. lie com.
pared 1t with another, and found it
was forged note, though cleverly
executed. We made q search for the
cheats, but they had left the village
and We were all quite assured that
they were two men who had probably
tried this little confidence game more
than orce.
"Thcre resided at that time in oul
village a certain Mrs Smith, widow,
and a member of Mr.. Norse's church
She had long desired to marry an
elderly bachelor, man of property,
who boarded with her. The old fel.
low often imbibed too freely, and at
such times felt very jolly he used
; then to ask the blooming widow to be
his wife, but when the spree was ovel
he always backed out of his engage
ment.
son one stormy winter lay this
couple came to our house to be mar.
red, but my husband thoa5ht the old
bachelor acted in very strange man
ner, and smelt strong of whiskey SC
be whispered to the widow that it
would be better for them to come an
other time, as he feared her intende d
husband was not quite sober. She
was very indignant, and went away in
a huff. In about six weeks alter she
sent for Mr.. Morse TO 60 and marry
them at her residence. When he ar
rived there he again found the bache-
lor in muddled state, and had to re-
fuse to perform the ceremony second
time. Mrs. Smith offered twenty dol
lars instead of two, if he would only
marry them, for said she,-
".You see, Mr.. Morse, he amt
never been married before, and is a
kind @ bashtul, and then he thinks so
much of his money he's scared wife
will spend too much. Now when he
amt quite sober it's easy to marry us,
for he's always agreeable then. You
needn't have no fear but that we'll get
on together, for he is easy to please,
and he has boalded so long with me
I'm used to his odd ways
"None of these arguments prevailed
with Mr.. Morse, and he told her plain
" that he would marry no man while
he was drunk.
::She was very angry and left the
Church, and some months later joined
the Plymouth Brethren
"She thought Of another plan OF
entrapping the wary bachelor. There
was an excursion from neighborIng