The Van Buren press., 1896-01-11
ARP'S BOY MARRIES
And There Was An Unfair" at the
Philosophers Homestead.
Bill Tells How the Question Ia Popped
Asking tho Girls Fathor-A
Bashful Lovers Method

There has been a commotion in these
parts. Our Florida boy has crossed the
Rubicon and got married. He found his
bride last winter near Sanford, ana
being called professionally to visit her
invalid father, took advantage OF the
old gentleman and tried his arts upon
the daughter. 1t doesn't take smart,
good looking young man long to capture
an unsuspecting maiden and 80 she sur
rendered at discretion. The mother
generally falls into line with the choice
Of an obedient daughter, but the old
gentleman wasent so easily harmonized.
s1'll think about it, I'll think about
it, said he. 81 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 wife? Do
you lay up anything or do you spend it
all2 What does Sara say about it, and
mother2 This is a surprise TO me, sir;
surprise, but l might have expected
it. l will consider it, sir, and give you
an answer before we return to Phila-
delphia."
My recollection is that 1T is an awful
solemn affair to ask the old gentleman
for his daughter. put it off from day
to day. | dreaded it. l had no trouble
with the daughter or the mother, but
these old solid fathers can't be beguiled
with good looks and honied words. l
would like to see book full OF such
interviews-what the young man said
and how he said it and what the old
man said in reply. knew a young man
in the long ago who put it off until he
found the old man alone in his field
sitting on a log and he was so excited
that he forgot himself and asked him
to please to step this way for minute.
The old man smiled and said: "Go
ahead, Jim, there is nobody behind this
log"
In my young days there had to be a
personal interview. Writing 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 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 courted, but now they are more agrees
siye and many of them set snares to
catch their game. Dean Swift says tha at
the reason why there are so many un-
happy marriages Is that tho young ladies
spend more time in making nets than
in making cages. / don't like these
cold, calculating matrimonial alliances.
The exquisite, ecstatic, angelic ques-
tions of love should not be suppressed.
Never was a bride more charmingly won
than Coleridges' Genevieve. He had
told her tender, touching story and it
ended SO sweetly that
'She wept with pity and delight;
She blushed with love and virgin shame,
And like the murmur of a dream
heard her breathe my name."
But 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 dictionary
and means the reception of the wedding
party at the home OF the grooms
parents. You see, the bride was a
y In l..
adelphia and our boy had to travel 1000
miles to get her and liked to have been
shipwrecked off Cape H. 5teras on the
way. The vessel lost two days in the
storm. For week before that my folks
had been cleaning up the house and the
yard and seeding raisins and stall-feed-
ING turkey gobblers and they kept me
or the man servant trottiDg to town for
sugar and spice and all that's nice" or
something else dozen times day.
And they talked and worked and won
dered what kind of girl the boy was
bringing into the family. Twas greatly
admonished how to behave, and as
friends and kindred had been invited
to a grand dining and some would
stay over night, they said might sleep
on the sofa, as lad done before on such
occasions. would have slept out doors
on plank If they had said so. l was
instructed to go to Atlanta and meet
the bride and groom and escort them to
our unpretentious home, which l did
with exceeding pleasure.
1t is all over now and my wife and
are calm and serene. What the Quaker
City has lost we have gained-another
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 good while The ten are still liv-
ing and he has taken but two grand
children from the flock. The old rascal
shakes his whetted scythe at me occa-
slonally anu ways MS neau anu Rrlns anu
passes on-passes on and cuts down my
friends, the friends of my youth to warn
me. Not long ago he cut down DR.. Bat
tey, the noble-hearted surgeon, the
friend of my family for forty-five years
the gentle-hearted man whom every
body loved. He was younger than l.
but he was ripe. He had done enough
and was tired. And only last week he
God, the preacher, editor and educator