St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1899-05-06

| pion, and / couldn't possibly miss +. Now
rs to advice. In the first place, / should ad
wise you not to marry at all. tFour aunt
and three uncles applauded that sentence.
But II your mind Is set. for heavens sake
| take man with means. Our family ha
| always been respectable and all that, bu
it is about time, should think. that on
i or us. or. rather. one Of you. ought to &c
| a man with means. OF course, wouldn'
| say word against Thomas and William
but you know that Judith will always b.
| a drudge and as for Emma-rd rather b,
dead than in her position. (Some of th'
relatives, led by Aunt Sue, applauded Wig
| orously. Emma and Judith looked as il
| they wanted TO cry, but as they knew
that Helen sympathized- with them and ad
mired their husbands. they didn't leave tn,
room)
Now, there is one thing more, Helen.
continued Cousin Susan's letter. .'Yo,
speak of two offers of marriage. One, yol
say, is from a young business man. dom
| want to hurt your feelings, but If, as I sus
pect. you mean Y. Y. r., 1 want to say
righ. here that you must not think of mar
rying him. Why. / should ignore the en-
! gagement altogether and would never rec
oEnize him as a member Of our family
Don't call him a business man. He is only
a common clerk He hasn't any polish al
all, none of the finer feelings He goes to
work every morning at eight and Grudges
away until six. Why, Nellie, he nigh,
as wei carry tin dinner pail guess he'll
have to if he ever tries to support wife,
and just think of how you would have 10
slave.
Give my love TO dear Aunt Sue and tel,
her that i received her pretty little booklet
on .Didactics.' Thanking you for asking
my advice and hoping that l have helped
you, i am. yours sincerely.
cousin SUSAN.
''P. S.-Bura this letter immediately
General discussion followed the read
ing of the letters and Aunt Sue was the
first speaker, She said that her dear
niece and namesake had struck the
keynote of the whole thing and that
the relatives could not arrive at any
wiser conclusion than to decide. in
favor of man of means. She made a
long speech to that effect. and in un-
consciously drawing comparisons and
citing horrible examples to be found
within the family circle she trod on so
many toes, figuratively speaking. that
13 relatives who had gone to the meet
ing filled with ideas as to what Helen
ought to do left the room without ex-
pressing them after declaring that
they would never return.
Following Aunt Sue one of the
uncles arose for information and
asked for the names of the young cler-
gyman and the young business man.
Helen refused to inform him.
1T is enough for you to know she
explained. that they are both sincere
and respectable. / don't want to an
nounce their names, because it would
be humiliating thing for the one who
is defeated in the balloting.
''Of course" she continued. meekiy,
you are not limited in your choice to
one of those two. You are all at lib
erty to nominate, and the additional
names will be voted upon
One uncle who had not been inside OF
church for nine years. because the
last time that he had been in one, Just
after a row with his wife, the minister,
who didn't know him or the circum-
stances, had chosen for his text: what
the Lord hath joined. let no man put
declared that he was ready
then and there to vote for the young
business man.
A grandmother said that she would
like to know how Helen felt herself,
and began to talk about her own court
ship. but quickly snbsided when an
aunt snapped her up with a point of
order TO the effect that the feelings of
the chairman were irrelevant and i'm
'.There is no motion before the meet
ing" said Helen.
.'Then l move" said Aunt Sue. "that
my niece marry man of means"
Il would like to offer an amend
ment," put in an uncle. good deal like
his brother Joe, "a man of means who
has some brains and heart in him."
Aunt Sue contended that that was
and that the amendment
was not necessary. She made long
speech. and then the amendment was
lost by vote of 80 to I6. The original |
motion was then carried by vote of
,0-the 16 who had stuck out for the |
amendment refusing to vote, and soon
lfterward leaving the room.
what do you mean by man OF
means Aunt Sue?" asked the chair |
man.
"Not one cent less than 5000 oil
year" was the reply.
All of the male cousins that were left |
yasped. and the married aunts, most of |
whom could not take ice except in the
summer months. sighed. incidentally
here was another exodus of relatives,
eaving an attendance of only II. To
'et out Of an embarrassing situation
Helen said that there was no quorum
md declared the meeting adjourned
,ubject to the call of the chair.
Then she hunted up her two sisters
md several Of the others who had
oted for the amendment and told
hem that the whole thing was joke
ust to see what fools lot of meddling
Id relatives could make of themselves,
nd that. furthermore. she had never
ad proposal from young clergy
nan. but that she had had one from
young business man. and that it was
!. \. T.. and that she was going to
narry him. Aunt Sue and Cousin Susan
o the contrary Notwithstanding
[. Sun.