St. Landry democrat., 1892-09-03
"a sudden thought seemed to strike

"a sudden tnOuSnt o'oiiioN' " |
him, he said: w., TIL
marry you out of hand, and then you Will
be happy forever. y
"'Samuel, do you take Fanny to De
your welded wife, to have and to hoia
forever? Do YOU promise to be hef
faithful and atfcctionate husband till
death parts you? -,
"Yes; that 1 do cried I, with all my
heat.
".Fannv, do you take Samuel to be
your welded llusband2 DO 3ou promise
to be Il true and loving wife to HIM TIL
separated by death" -,
- perhaps I'll think about it, Judge,
said Fanny. with a little of her saucl-
ness.
"Then, raising his hands impresslvely'
he said:
g 4 pronounce you man and "l1e, ano
let every one hereafter hold his peace.
" There, there, Children, he contln'
ned, its all done now. I'll just have
time to salute the bride and catch the
$50 he stopped, and before Fanny
could protest. kissed her on the forehead
and went putting down the street. -.
awe had almost reached Fanny
house, and soon | left her there, still SUD
dued, but laughing a little at the Judges
odd joke. -,
1.-The Judge met Mr.. Paine, editor or
the Saddem Gazette, little further on,
and said: ,a
"'Painc, do you want o news itemF
I've only got Il minute to give 1t 10 YOU
Sam Kramer and Fanny Davis are mar
ried. tied the knot myself about i've
minutes ago
"Of course. Paine wasn't going to be
such a fool as to miss an item like that;
So home he went and wrote up hall a
column or more on the happy event, at
the end congratulating the BRIDE ana
Groom on their safe arrival III the pleas
ant port of matrimony aftera long ana
stormy cOurtshlp.
..Well that upset the town. When l
read that item was so weak L couldh
stand up. 1t never had occurred to me,
or Fanny, or to tho judge, either, aoh
believe. that it was Il bona tide marriage; ;
lut there it was all down in black ana
white. and it didn't look the least bit
like Il joke
COZ course, everybody met congratu-
lated ME. The more | denied it, the
more they believed there was something
in it. l.,
after day or two things began to
look so serious went to see Lawyer
Soaring: he was an old friend of mine
and war comrade, too. L gave Nun d
history of the whole case, and asked pun
what he thought of it, He delibcratcd
a while, and then jumped up and shook
my hand. saying!
''It is my honest opinion, Sam, that
Parson Hathaway couldn't have married
, YOU any better than that if he had tried.
: What did do? | sat down and put
nv head in my hands, and groaned. Al
nv hopes were fulfilled What | had
been fighting for with all my strength
had come to pass, and | was more un
! happy than had ever been before IN my
7 life. You see, | wasn't thinking of my
self at all. | was thinking of Fanny
y. What, if she should take it hard? lal
- most knew she would. OF course
= should never claim her as my wife unles:
;, she chose to come to me of her own FREE
will But the fact that we were legal.
bound to each other stared me III the
o face, whichever way looked.
81 thought about it all night. an'
then concluded | must see Fanny and tin'
! a way out of the trouble if possible.
:. {" | found her quiet and ell-posScsscd
but her eyes had a suspicious rednes
# around the rims that showed she ha'
i been crying plunged right into tn
( subject and said:
', t'Fannv, have come to tell you HOY
) sorry | am that little joke happened, ans
, how serious it seems to be. Ned Scarin!
q says it looks very much like a legal mar
O rage. -,
u "Fanny's face grew white as clot
10 at this
= "Ah, said to myself, she is going
l., take it hard, | am afraid, and withor
# giving her time to speak, | went on
n God knows, Fanny, if | could have
undone again by giving my right han
r M. | would do so. | have been ready
- marry you any time during the past yea
-, but never wanted to force you into any
" thing like this. AS it is, the ceremon
i makes no difference to me. have sal
- a hundred times that if did not MARI
20 Won would not marry anyone. You al
~ not free to marry anyone else; no matte
-, how much YOU may wish to. But hay
~ thought and thought over the matter an
" | have concluded there is a way out {
y, the difficulty. Will go away, and the'
. after awhile, yo'l can go to some oth
20 State and get a divorce from me tor q
I SertiOn.
T Long before I had finished Fanr
4 was sobbing as if her heart would breal
=, Said | at last: Fanny, won't you s.
:, good-by to me? may not see you agal
ID as [ am going away SOON And the
" instead of saying good-by and letting II
- 90, she flew to me and put both arm
nf around my neck, laid her head on Il
- shoulder, and said, between her sobs:
~ will never let you go; thought | dldr
10 love YOU, Sam, but do, | do.'
. "For a moment | was completely b
a wildered. | half doubted my SAINT
bo even, for it was hard to realize that tt
% girl who had treated me so coldly wht
,d I begged her to take me for her husban
nf now that | came to renounce her, W
va clinring to me and saying she won
7 never let me go.
Cd ''By -and-by we got more composed al
w, sat down to talk matters over, and then
e seemed as if we had suddenly chang
~ characters, for Fanny was all meekne
y and submission, and I was the one WI
ny made terms and conditions.
On "' If all the lawyers in the State pr
't nouncc that legal marriage said l,
~, length, L will never call you my w
~ till you come to me of your own II
az will in the old church down yonder, a
70 promise before the dominic and all o
" z l. L. 4r,l and loving wife