OR, THE WORLD HAS CHANGED. 135 



coming shock, and it came, but not as I expected, for she 

 sweetly invited me in to take a hmch. T had forgotten that I 

 had no supper. She sat by me as I partook of her hospitali- 

 ties (both she and her mother), and as I was satisfying the 

 inner man I also saw through the millstone and wilted, and as 

 my ire abated so did my glibness of speech. It got real hard 

 hard for me to think of anything at all to say, and once more 

 recurred to me. my old time predicament. I got too modest to 

 talk of love that night and retired from the scene under con- 

 siderable embarrassment, but got all right next morning when I 

 learned that my faithful one had reserved a buggy for our 

 especial use to ride to church. My tongue soon recovered 

 its wonted roll and I remained pleasantly situated for several 

 days. In fact, I felt loth to leave at all, but my embassy was 

 unfinished; I wanted to secure the consent of the old folks. 

 At the first opportunity I invited the old gentleman to take a 

 walk, and when well out the gate he asked if I would like to 

 see the crops. I answered abstractedly in the negative, then 

 he proposed the meadows and the stock. I answered, " No, 

 sir, not on this occasion, I am here on an entirely differ- 

 ent business, and doubt not, sir, you have already guessed the 

 object of my mission. He answered, "that it was not 

 his custom to guess at other peoples' business." I must 

 have looked surprised, but frankly told him what I had come 

 for, and how gladly I would receive his consent to my suit. 

 He remarked that I was a stranger to him and that he would 

 like to be better informed before he could give his daughter to 

 a stranger. This stumped me, but only for a moment. I pro- 

 posed to the old gentleman to go home with me and investi- 

 gate, but he made the objection that he could not leave his 

 crops for the present; then I asked him which was of the 



