Year: 1874

About year ago, IL we remembe


rightly, story went the rounds


which credited that ingenious person


the Western farmer, with having


successfully carried out one of thu


most original plans for getting hi


daughters comfortably settled in life


without any cost to himself what


ever. He had large and expensive


family. Three out of four of tho


daughters were marriageable. They


were very pretty girls and had many


admirers. The father permitted them


to receive attentions from the most


eligible young men, and TO all out


ward appearances seemed perfectly


content to part with his treasures un-


til asked to do so. Each demand for


consent was the signal for an out


burst of feeling that ended in the


sudden exit of the applicant. The


lovers, however, were not to be pre-


vented from obtaining happiness by


What they believed to be the whim of


selfish father. They eloped, We're


married and forgiven. The real state
of the case was, the father could not
afford to buy three suitable outfits,
and pay the expense OF three we'd
ding feasts. Not seeing any pros
pect i'm the immediate future of being
better able to do so, after ransacking
his brain to find q way out of the diff
liculty, he mt last concluded to frOwn
on the young people, and take the
chances for what might follow. The
elOpemcnts didn't cost him cent;
the expense of outfits and weddings
was saved; his reputation for liber-
ality did not suffer in the least, and
his neighbOrs continued i'm ignorance
of the actual condition of his cx-
chequer.


The Western farmers device was
q very clever one, but, like many
other clever devices, it has been
eclIpsed. This time the scene has
been changed, and the credit has to
be accorded to farmer of Pennsyl-
vania, for having accomplished q
feat which will be preserved in the
history of his family, and spoken of
with pleasure by future generations.
being "well-tO-dO, but rather impe-
cuniOus," which we take as meaning
that he had a good farm, fairly
stocked, II large family, and slender
hank account. A few weeks ago he
had a mariagable daughter. She
had been cOurted by the son of
neighbOring farmer for a number of
years, and had grown SO tired Of it
that she expressed a desire to have
the dream of her life realized before
the end of the present year. The
lover, it is but just to say, was also
anxious. He wished to avoid the
necessity of having to journey night
after night over lonely road during
yet another winter. The father of
the young girl, thus pressed from
within and without, was almost on
the brink of despair. He could not
afford to disburse the necessary funds
for such wedding feast as he would
be expected to provide. The crops
had all been gathered and sold, and
the butter for two or three months
pledged in payment of debts. TO in
cur any further obligations was not
to be thought of. For nights he lay
awake, turning the matter over i'm
his mind, until he finally discovered
u way out of the dilemma. The next
morning he thrilled his daughter
with pleasure by announcing ut the
breakfast table that he had decided
to consent to her marriage, and was
willing that the ceremony might take
place as soon as the arrangements
could be perfected.


Then there was Il meeting of the
parents, the day was fixed
and q list of the friends and kinsmen
of the intended sOn-in-law carefully
made out. To this was added the
names of nearly every farmer resid-
ing i'm the county. The day of days
came round at last; the roads were
hard with frost, the sky was clear,
and the guests began to arrive ut an
early hour. The house was soon
crowded until barely standing room
The barn was used to- in
crease the accommodations. The
ceremony over, and the
young couple started on their way to
the nearest railway station, nothing
remained to be done but to discuss
the viands and wine. AT length the
time arrived for breaking up the COM
pany. The farmer, after having good
appropriated all the COM
IIluitutS Ic tOuiu YET, Wtlhtt lclS-
urely to the front gate, and there took
a position from which he was enabled
TO demand payment from each of his
guests for dinner and horse feed.
The proposition was received as a
capital joke, and il Is said that every
person present, not even excepting
the clergyman, paid the "tax." No
one suspected that the real object of
the farmer was to make up enough
money to pay the expenses of the
wedding. On the contrary all be-
licved that he had conceived the idea
for the purpose of adding to the mer-
riment of the occasion. Indeed, the
chances are that the system which he
so successfully inaugurated will be-
come popular i'm pennsylvania. 1t
will not, of course, continue to pos
scss the charm of absolute surprise,
but the attraction of novelty will re-
main for some time, and this, to the
parental mind ut least, may seem, In
addition to another obvious reason, q
strong enough inducement to pcrpct-
uate it.


ValnIDg. Beauty.