104 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



I may always comport myself with honor and propriety, and that you 

 may have no cause for displeasure in listening to the few words I 

 have come hither to say. It has not remained unknown to me, dearest 

 neighbor, that many years ago you were pleased to enter the holy state 

 of matrimony, taking to yourself a beloved wife, with whom you have 

 lived ever since in peace and happiness ; and that furthermore the 

 Almighty God, not wishing to leave you alone in your union, was 

 pleased to bless you, not only with transitory temporal goods, but 

 with numerous offspring with dearly beloved children to be your 

 joy and comfort. And among these dearly beloved children is a 

 daughter, who has prospered and grown up in the fear of the Lord 

 to be a comely and virtuous maiden. And as likewise it may not be 

 unknown to you, that many years ago we too thought fit to enter the 

 holy state of matrimony, and that the Lord likewise was pleased to 

 bless our union, not with temporal goods and riches, but with various 

 beloved children, among whom is a son, who has grown up, not in a 

 garden of roses, but in care and toil, and in fear of the Lord. And 

 now this same son, having grown to be a man, has likewise bethought 

 himself of entering the holy state of matrimony, and has prayed the 

 Lord to guide him wisely in his choice, and to give him a virtuous and 

 God-fearing companion. Therefore he has been led over mountains 

 and valleys, through forests and rivers, over rocks and precipices, until 

 he came to your house, and cast his eyes on the virtuous maiden, your 

 daughter. And the Lord having been pleased to touch the hearts of 

 the two young people with a mighty love for each other, they have 

 begged me to come hither to crave your consent to letting them be- 

 come man and wife." 



Probably the young couple have grown up within sight of each 

 other, the garden of the one father adjoining the pig-sty of the other, 

 but the formula must be adhered to notwithstanding, and neither rocks 

 nor precipices omitted from the programme of the speech ; and even 

 if the parents of the bride be a byword in the village for their noisy 

 domestic quarrels, yet the little fiction of conjugal happiness must be 

 kept up all the same, with a magnificent sacrifice of veracity to eti- 

 quette worthy of any diplomatic newspaper discussing a royal alliance. 

 And, in point of fact, a disinterested love-match among Saxon peas- 

 ants is about as rare a thing as a genuine courtship between reigning 

 princes. Most often it is a simple business contract, arranged between 

 the heads of the families, who each of them hope to reap advantages 

 from the contemplated alliance. It too often happens that young girls 

 of fifteen, and even younger, having no experience of life or of their 

 own feelings, are persuaded by their parents to give their hand with 

 indifference, or even dislike, to some man whose property happens to 

 fit in conveniently ; and when they urge the want of sympathy to the 

 husband proposed, these objections are met by the practical advice of 

 the long-sighted parents : " Try him for a time, and perhaps you will 



