The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1895-12-11
BILL ARP'S LETTER.
Arp's Boy Marrles and There was an
"lnfair" at the Philosophers Homestead.
atlanta Constitution.

atlanta Constitution.
There has been commotion in these
parts. Our Florida boy has crossed
the Rubicon and got married. He
found his bride last winter near San
ford, and being called professionally
to visit her invalid father, took ad-
vantage Of the old gentleman and tried
his arts upon the daughter. Itdoesn' t
take smart, good looking young man
long to capture an unsuspecting maid
en- and so she surrendered at discre-
tion. The mother generally falls into
line with the choice of an obedient
daughter, but the old gentleman
wasent so easily harmonized.
"I'll think about it, I'll think about
it, said he. IT don't know much
about you! I'll have to inquire. I
thought you were coming out here to
see me, but it seems l was mistaken.
Are you making enough to support a
wife? Do you lay up anything or do
you spend it all? What does Sara say
about it, and her mother2 This is a
surprise to me, sir; surprise, but I
might have expected it,. [ will con-
slider it, sir, and give you an answer
before we return to Philadelphia"
My recollection is that it is an aw-
full solemn affair to ask the old gentle
man for his daughter. I put it off
from day tc day. I dreaded it. Ihad
no trouble with the daughter or the
mother, but these old solid fathers
can t be beguiled with good looks and
honied words. I would like to see a
book full of such interviews-what
the young man said and how he said
it and what the old man said in reply.
I knew q young man in the long ago
who put it off until he found the old
man alone in his field sitting on log
and he was so excited that he forgot
himself and asked him to please to
step this way for q minute. The old
man smiled and said: $50 ahead,
Jim, there is nobody behind this
log. ~
In my young days there had to be a
personal interview. Writing a letter
to the old man would hardly have
been tolerated, but now it is quite
common, and so the modern youth
avoids much embarrassment. Why,
they even pop the question in q letter
and cover whole pages with alteration
and admiration and adulation and all
the other ations and some promises
that are likely to be forgotten after
the honeymoon is over. In our day
the girls waited modestly to be court
ed, but now they are more aggressive
and many Of them set snares to catch
their game. Dean Swift says that the
reason why there are so many unhap-
py marriages is that the young ladies
spend more time in making nets than
in making cages. I don't like these
cold, calulating matrimonial alli-
ances. The exquisite, ecstatic, ange-
lie questions of love should not be
suppressed. Never was bride more
charmingly won than Coleridge's Gene
We've. He had told her tender,
touching story and it ended so sweetly
that
"She wept with pity aud delight;
She blushed with love and virgin shame,
And like the murner of dream
heard her breathe my name."
But I started to tell about the COM
motion-the preparation for the Unfair:
That is what it used to be called, and
it is proper word. 1t is in the die
tionary and means the reception Of
the wedding party at the home Of the
groom's parents. You see, the bride
was stranger to us. Her home was
in Philadelphia and our boy had to
travel l 1000 miles to get her and liked
to have been shipwrecked of Cape
Hatteras on the way. The vessel lost
two days in the storm. For a week
before that my folks had been cleaning
up the house and the yard and seed
ing raisins and stall-feeding turkey
gobblers and they kept me or the man
servant trotting to town for sugar
and spice and all that's nice or some
thing else dozen times day. And
they talked and worked and wondered
what kind of girl the boy was bring
ing into the family. [ was greatly
admonished how to behave, and as
friends and kindred had been invited
to grand dining and some would stay
over night, they said might sleep on
the sofa, as I had done before on such
occasions. I am a very humble man
and was thankful. I would have slept
out doors on a plank if they had said
so. I was instructed to go to Atlanta
and meet the bride and groom and es-
cort them to our unpretentious home,
which did with exceeding pleasure.
1t is all over now and my wife and l
are calm and serene. What the Qua
ker City has lost we have gained-an-
other kind, loving and considerate
daughter. They were not married in
haste and are not likely to repent at
leisure.
There is another entry to make now
in the family Bible. The good old
book is getting pretty full Of records.
Births, marriages and deaths-nature' s
rotation-gladness and sadness, joy
and sorrow. Old Father Time has
been kind to US for a good while.
The ten are still living and he has
taken but two grandchildren from the
flock. The old rascal shakes his whet-
ted scythe at me occasionally and wags
his head and grins and passes on
passes on and cuts down my friends,
the friends Of my youth to warn me.
Not long ago he cut down DR.. Battey,
the noble-hearted surgeon, the friend
of my family for forty-fve years; the
gentle-hearted man whom everybody
loved. He was younger than l, but
he was ripe. He had done enough
and was tired. And only last week he
cut down DR.. Rich Branham, the man
of God, the preacher, editor and edu-
Gator, man whose pure, exalted char
acter and lifelong service was an
illustrious example to the generation
that followed in his wake. He, too,
was ripe.
The lives of such men all remind US
We may make our lives sublime.