University of Virginia Library

A PRUDENT YOUNG MAN.

ONE of the Danbury young men who has occasionally escorted a young lady home on Sunday evenings, and went in for lunch, after performing both services last Sunday night, suddenly said to her,—

"Do you talk in your sleep?"

"Why—no," she answered in surprise.

"Do you walk in your sleep?" he next inquired.

"No, sir."

He moved his chair an inch closer, and with increased interest asked,—

"Do you snore?"

"No," she hastily replied, looking uneasily at him.

At this reply his eyes fairly sparkled; his lips eagerly parted; and, as he gave his chair another hitch, he briskly inquired,—

"Do you throw the combings from your hair in the wash-basin?"

"What's that?" she asked with a blank face.

He repeated the question, although with increased nervousness.

"No, I don't," she answered in some haste.

Again his chair went forward; while his agitation grew so great, that he could scarcely maintain his place upon it, as he further asked,—

"Do you clean out the comb when you are through?"

"Of course I do," she said, staring at him with all her might.

In an instant he was on his knees before her, his eyes ablaze with flame, and his hands outstretched.

"Oh, my dear miss! I love you," he passionately cried. "I give my whole heart up to you. Love me, and I will be your slave. Love me as I love you, and I will do every thing on earth for you. Oh! will you take me to be your lover, your husband, your protector, your every thing?"

It was a critical moment for a young woman of her years; but she was equal to the emergency, as a woman generally is, and she scooped him in.

HE wanted her; but she would not give her consent until he had consulted her parents: so he went into the room where they were, and modestly stated the case.

"And you really think you love her enough to marry her?" said the father, after he had finished.

"Oh, yes, sir!" said the youth in fervent eagerness: "I love her with all my soul. I love her better than I do my life. She is my guiding-star, the worshipped object of my every thought, every hope, every aspiration." He stood there with clasped hands, his face radiant with the strength of his devotion. There was a moment of pause; and then the mother softly asked,—

"What do you think of that, old man?"

"That sounds like business, old woman," replied the satisfied father.

And so it was arranged that the daughter should accept her suitor.