The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1878-01-17
THE WEDDING OF THE CEDARs

al say, Passon! Passon, l sayi"
1t was someone calling after me, as
1 walked rapidly one day along the
streets of the city in the Southwest,
which was then my home. ! turned,
and saw that it was none other than
Squire Surge, the very last man in all
that region who, as | had thought,
would have wanted any thing of me. /
waited, wonderingly, as he hurried after
me, putting and blowing, for he had
hailed me from a considerable distance
and with such vigor of lungs as to ar
rest the attention of all the passers-by.
The Squire was by far the Oldest man in
all that section. He had shot deer and
bears and had fought the Indians there
for so many years before civilization ar
rived that, in point of age, the State
might be considered a sort of grand
child of the venerable frontiersman.
During his long life he had never
known any thing other than his rough
way of living. He was ingrained there
with as an aged oak would be with its
gnarledness-was, in fact, :" a charac-
ter"
81 was coming to see you, Passon, -
the old Squire said, when he joined me
"and she told me [ must fix up first.
But what is the use? happened to see
you going along, and it will save a
mighty deal of trouble to tell you about
it now, SO as not to have to flxup at all.
Can you guess what it is want with
you!"
l could not. The Squire took off his
dilapidated old hat, which looked as il
he had worn it through half a century
of storms, in order to look upon me
with the more triumph. Except a ring
of long white hair, his head was bald
and far from clean; his bronzed cheeks
were stubby with coarse beard; the
corners of his mouth were yellow with
the ooze of his tobacco; and, although
he was broad shOuldered enough and
not without an aspect of sturdiness,
there was an aroma of bad whisky about
him which was in keeping with his APP
pearsnce as being an extremely old and
particularly disagreeabie person, an i'm
preston which was not improved by the
oaths which were as natural to him as
his breathing.
81 am y year old. And now guess!''
he said, replacing his hat and laying
hold upon the lapel of my coat. But /
could not.
Z" have been married three times, .
he continued, with increasing energy
"My wives are all dead; but my chill
dren and their children and their chill
I,opss ab;1I,oD av-ar So MANY of +bo,,,
don't know how many-are scattered
all over the State-half dozen States
Can you guess now what want of youf
Come, give a try"
The conundrum was beyond my
power.
"Perhaps you want me to preach
your funeral" 1 ventured, the rough.
ness of the joke being adapted to that OF
the queStioner.
" Not much! No, sir!" ne replied,
abandoning my collar to seize upon my
hand. "You ain'tsmart enough, smart
as you think yourself, sir. Nary man
in this town is smart enough by long
shot to guess what ! want with you
What want you to do is to marry me
SIR" he said, with an energy increasing
with every sentence. "To marry me
tomorrow night, sir TO marry me at
her house, sir. To marry me, sir, to
Mrs. McGregorl"
The enthusiasm of my aged friend cul
minated upon the last announcement, as
well it might. Mrs. McGregor! was
almost a boy myself in those days, had
just got through reading Sir Walter
Scott, and this last-named lady was tC
me as if she had stepped out of one o
those volumes into real life. l have no
the least idea of how old she then was
nor had any one else. She was white
haired, with a beautifully clean anC
clear complexion, and was always dress
ed as for church whenever l had seer
her; at least, in some dark stuff, which
seemed new, with a sort of mob cap anC
arrangement of muslin about her throa
and brows, snowy in hue and full o
! frilling and plaits. But this was merely
the framing for the lady herself. Sh,
had such bright eye and quick tongue
was so decided in her opinions upon al
subjects and had so crisp q wa,
of stating them, that she mad,
! Inc SAINT idSliLiS III pieSoIOn upOh III.
memory that new and sharply Gu
die does when it is stamped upon wax
And there was an energetic enforcement
of herself upon you which you had n,
wish to resist. Mrs. McGregor hat
come from Scotland to that frontie
country there was no telling how lonj
before; she had been married there wa
no saying how often; she was posSesse,
of nobody knew how much property
besides the home she lived in by herself
Owing to long separation from tn
church of her childhood, she had, fear
BECOME somewhat negligent as to he
religious duties. A fact flashes upon m
this moment which Ihad forgotten sine
the day it occurred. Happening to al
tend the funeral of a friend, She ha
been so affected by the solennities Q
the occasion that she had united hersel
to my church, and the week after a Gel
tain lady, also an old settler, had aske
me: "Did your voice tremble, sir, whe
you read out her name from the pulpit
People say it did" And then, wit
mysterious meaning: 81 wouldn'
blame you'll"
But this makes it necessary that
should make word of explanation be