Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1892-08-11

marry you out of hand, and then you will |
be happy forever.
{" Samuel, do you take Fanny to ba
your welded wife, TO have and to hold |
foreverl Do you promise 10 be her
faithful and affcctionate husband till
death parts your
Eyes, that do cried /, with all my
heart.
"Fanny. do you take Samuel to be
your welded husband2 Do you promise
to be true and loving wife to him till
separated by deathr
:. Perhaps I'll think about it, judge,
said Fanny, with little OF her sauci-
ness
"Then, raising his hands impressivcly,
he said:
g 4 pronounce you man and wife, and
let every one hereafter hold his peace
" There, there, children he contin-
ued, it's all done now. I'll just have
time to salute the bride and catch the
stage
$50 he stopped, and before Fanny
could protest, kissed her on the forehead
and went putting down the street.
"We had almost reached Fanny's
house, and soon left her there, still sub
dued, but laughing little at the judges
odd joke.
"The Judge met Mr.. Paine, editor of
the Saddem Gazette, little further on,
and said:
"'Paine, do you want a news itemg
| I've only got minute to give 1t to you.
Sam Kramer and Fanny Davis are mar
ried. / tied the knot myself about five
minutes ago.
"Of course, Paine wasn't going to be
such fool as to miss an item like that.
So home he went and wrote up half
column or more on the happy event, at
the end congratulating the bride and
groom on their safe arrival in the pleas
ant port of matrimony after long and
stormy courtship.
swell, that upset the town. When l
read that item was so weak l couldn't
stand up. 1t never had occurred to me,
or Fanny, or to the Judge, either, don't
believe, that it was bona fide marriage;
but there it was all down in black and
white, and it didn't look the least bit
like joke.
"Of course, everybody met congratu-
lated me. The more l denied it, the
more they believed there was something
in it.
CATER a day or two things began to
look so serious / went to see Lawyer
Soaring; he was an old friend of mine
and a war comrade, too. / gave him a
history of the whole case, and asked him
what he thought of it. He deliberated
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 dol l sat down and put
my head in my hands, and groaned. All
nv hopes were fulfilled. What l had
been fighting for with all my strength
had come to pass, and / was more I'M
happy than had ever been before in my
life. You see, l wasn't thinking of my
self at all. / was thinking of Fanny.
What, if she should take it hard? Ial-
most knew she would. OF course ]
should never claim her as my wife unless
she chose TO come to me of her own free
will. But the fact that we were legally
bound to each other stared me in the
face, whichever way looked.
~ thought about it all night, and
: | Iucu CO0Cluucu uuSl Scc It duiiN anu llhN
a way out of the trouble if possible.
:" found her quiet and self-possessed,
but her eyes had suspicious redness
around the rims that showed she had
been crying. plunged right into the
subject and said:
Fanny, have come to tell you how
sorry l am that little joke happened, and
how serious it seems to be. Ned Soaring
says it looks very much like legal mar.
rage
"Fanny's face grew white as cloth
, at this.
"Ah,' said to myself, she is going t.
take it hard, am afraid, and withou
giving her time to speak, l went on
/ God knows, Fanny, if could have i
undone again by giving my right hanc
T lIp, would do so. l have been ready t,
marry you any time during the past year
but l never wanted to force you into any
thing like this. AS it is, the ceremon,
makes no difference TO me. l have sale
hundred times that if l did not marry
, yon would not marry anyone. You ar
, not free to marry anyone else, no matter
, how much you may wish to. But hav,
! thought and thought over the matter ant
have concluded there is way out o.
the difficulty. will go away, and then
after awhile, you can go to some othe
! State and get divorce from me for de
sertion.
7 Long before / had finished Fam.
was sobbing as if her heart would break
Said at last: Fanny, won't you sa.
! good-by to me9 l may not see you again
/ as l am going away soon.' And then
instead of saying good-by and letting m
go, she flew to me and put both arm
{ around my neck, laid her head on IN.
I shoulder, and said, between her sobs:
o will never let you go; thought didn'
love you, Sam, but do, l dop
n ''For moment l was completely be
wildered. 1 half doubted my sanity
q sevcn, for it was hard to realize that tn
girl who had treated me so coldly whel
! | begged her to take me for her husband
& now that l came to renounce her, wa
G clinging to me and saying she woul'
I never let me go.
I ..sBy-and-by we got more composed am
q sat down to talk matters over, and then
e seemed as if we had suddenly changes
characters, for Fanny was all meeknes
and submission, and was the one VIII
: made terms and conditions.
n {" If all the lawyers in the State pro
/. nounce that legal marriage said /, a
i length, Il will never call you my wifi
till YOU come to me of your own fire.
r will in the old church down yonder, ant
q promise before the dominic and all on
9 friends be my true and loving wife