Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1898-03-31
A Frontier Wedding.
BY Lou v. Chaplin.


THERE amt no accountin' fer
tastes" said Silas, thoughtfully,
Specially when it comes to marry
in"
Silas had been Illuminating for an
hour or more in perfect silence, chew
ing straw, and sitting with his back
against a stump. his legs stretched out
on the grass, his hat tilted over his
eyes, and look of contentment upon
his visage. He selected another straw
with great care, and as he cleaned the
stem of his short, black pipe with it,
looked sagely at his crony, Bill, who re-
clined III the shadow of the great oak
tree, his arms crossed under his frowsy
head, and his gaze directed upward
through the Pickering leaves TO the
lazy clouds floating in the blue sky
Bill turned upon his side and looked at
Silas, who settled himself back for
his smoke, and continues:
Now there's Mary and me. There
amt one person in a thousand who'd
thought it good match, and when |
popped the question Mary tot me her
self, pint blank, that it want. You're
as shif'less as shif'less can be- Mary
said, AN I'm fool, Silas Martin, to
lis'en to you minute Mary didn't un-
derstan' me very well then. you know,
an fer fact, don't yit, fer she some
times thinks I'm idlin' when I'm work
in my min at perfectly exhaustin'
rate"
Bill disguised a grin by prodigious
yawn. and Silas meandered on. well,
as | was sayin'. Mary said: You're shift
less, but I'm forehanded myself, an if
you go an marry solae woman that's
jus as shif'less as you are. mischief's
boun' to come Of it. You'll be sure to
do JUS that, if l don't have you; it's my
plain duty to take YOU and she did, fer
Mary amt one to shirk duty.
You see in the five years I'd been
courtin' of her she had come to believe
that it was a chance whether | knowed
how to look after myself or not, an had
got used TO bossin' me. Now my gram
dad, the one that rode from Nirginny to
Illinoy horseback through the Injun
country, way back in the thirties, he
didn't believe in coartin'."
'Didn't?" drawled Bill with just the
proper show of interest.
NO" Silas replied, drawing his legs
up and clasping his knees for greater
comfort in leaning against the stump,
IAN gran'dad lowed that courtin' was
'gainst nature and bad fer character"
Bill stared at the speaker in some sur
prise, and encouraged by this sign Silas
explained. ''He looked on it just as
honest folks looks on lawn and lowed
that lovers is just like lawyers. They
CANT be homes and win their case.
They JUS bring forward all the facts
and arguments that are in their favor,
don't lie right out, and most of them
does
That's human natur, anyhow" pro-
tested Bill, land so your gran'dad was
wrong"
Yes, maybe, but he lowed that court
in was investin' lot of time and some
times money and gamblin' on the out
come. lie used to say there wuzn't any
more reason why a man and woman
shouldn't make match of it without
any nonsense than that birds should fool
rest at night singin' an twitterin' afore
they mated and built their nests. The
best way. he thought, was to mate first
and get in the habit Of courtin' after
ward. 1t makes marryin' more salts
fyin' ifitwas understood that the court
in'was to last life time, and no gam
bin on the result of the sparkin'. do
just believe there would be fewer IN
hitchin's and breakin' away from the
married traces il there wuz more court
in afterward and less before. Now,
gran'dad had experience, and expert
ence counts for something, don't it?'
''Never been married myself" grunt-
ed Bill, so can't say"
"Gran'dad was great believer in first
Impressions. He said that folks has a
kind Of instinct, like cattle and horses,
and it guides US best in first impress
sions, and if we'd only remember that
there would be fewer mistakes in mar.
ryin'. Now. when he was maxim that
ride from Virginny to Illinoy he fell
y