'T was kin' o' kingdom-come to look On sech a blessed cretur; A dogrose blushin' to a brook Ain't modester nor sweeter. He was six foot o' man A 1, Clean grit an' human natur'; None couldn't quicker pitch a ton Nor dror a furrer straighter. He'd sparked it with full twenty gals, He'd squired 'em, danced 'em, druv 'em, But long o' her his veins 'ould run She thought no v'ice hed sech a swing My! when he made Ole Hunderd ring, An' she'd blush scarlit, right in prayer, Thet night, I tell ye, she looked some! Down to her very shoe-sole. She heered a foot, an' knowed it tu, All ways to once her feelin's flew, He kin' o' l'itered on the mat, But hern went pity Zekle. An' yit she gin her cheer a jerk Ez though she wished him furder, An' on her apples kep' to work, Parin' away like murder. "You want to see my Pa, I s'pose?' "Wal, no; I come dasignin'—” "To see my Ma? Agin to-morrer's i'nin'." To say why gals act so or so, He stood a spell on one foot fust, Says he, "I'd better call agin;" Says she, "Think likely, Mister:" That last word pricked him like a pin, An'-wal, he up an' kist her. When Ma bimeby upon 'em slips, Huldy sot pale ez ashes, All kin' o' smily roun' the lips For she was jes' the quiet kind Whose naturs never vary, Like streams that keep a summer mind The blood clost roun' her heart felt glued Too tight for all expressin', Tell mother see how metters stood, And gin 'em both her blessin’. Then her red come back like the tide An' all I know is they was cried In meetin', come nex' Sunday.-James Russell Lowell. CHAPTER II. Wooed and Married and A'. ETTING ready to marry is a very practical sort of undertaking, and should enlist the careful thought of both parties in the matter. On the part of a man, it implies self-denial, in order that he may save enough to begin the new home. Perhaps, in the country it means that he will choose a site for a house, clear away the trees, plant the fields, and have what seems to me the most ideal thing in the world, a home of his very own all ready for his bride. In the city, the man will put by as he can, bit by bit, a little money, so that when the time comes, he may be able to pay the rent of a house, furnish it and have something ahead with which to begin housekeeping for two. Forethought and prevision are very necessary for people about to join their forces in married life. The man's share will be to select the home, furnish it, and be ready to meet whatever expenses come in the way of rent, taxes, or whatever expense properly falls to his part. If by joining a building and loan association, or in some other similar way he is able at once to begin the buying of a home so that he will have a place where the family life may begin on a permanent basis instead of in the nomadic way which many Americans in cities find necessary, the family will be better off from the start. On the part of the bride, careful mothers usually see that she has a good outfit of linen in all that is necessary-sheeting, pillow cases, towels, napkins, table-cloths, and whatever else in that way is deemed desirable. In French and German families it is quite common for the mother to begin early in her daughter's life, putting aside here and there, as she can, something for her daughter's dowry, so that when the day comes for the girl to go from her father's house to that of her husband, she carries with her a good outfit of all household linen. In some lands it is of her own spinning and weaving. Brides make a great mistake when they wear themselves out and spend a great deal of time and money in preparing a very lavish outfit for themselves in the way of personal clothing. One would think to see the great supplies of underclothing, the munificent and royally lavish outfit of dresses which some brides think necessary, that they were going at once to emigrate to countries where there were no shops, and that they were never in their lives expecting to have any money to buy the smallest things for themselves again. A girl sometimes arrives at her wedding day thoroughly worn out and exhausted both in body and mind by the incessant sewing and planning and fitting she has undergone in the hands of dressmakers, and all because she has thought it requisite to supply herself with quantities of finery and an immense supply of clothes which she really did not need. A modest outfit in the way of dress is all that any bride needs, whether she be rich or poor. Every bride requires, if she can possibly have it, a pretty gown for the great day itself. From early times white has seemed the most beautiful color for a bride's dress, and if it seem reasonable and she can manage it, the bride should leave her father's house in elegance, and on her wedding day she should be beautifully arrayed; but simplicity and beauty are not always costly, and a simple gown plainly made will set off a young girl quite as finely as one which is costly enough to stand alone, and richly wrought with pearls and trimmed with priceless. lace. It is always appropriate for a girl to wear her traveling gown if she choose on her marriage day, or should she prefer it, the dress which is to be her best one, and which perhaps may be a beautiful gown of silk appropriately trimmed. The rest of her outfit will depend very much on where she is to live; how much company she expects to receive; and what her work in life will be. A farmer's wife doing her own work will need gowns which can be washed, and a plentiful supply of aprons for her work in the kitchen and dairy. A girl going to an elegant city home, where she will have servants to wait upon her, will need beautiful house dresses, which may be as dainty and pretty as she chooses, and she will require also a greater number of changes and things more in the mode as may befit the people with whom she will associate. Every woman, if she can, should have a black gown as part of her wardrobe, either of cloth or of silk. There are many occasions when one needs a black gown, and there are few occasions in which one cannot wear it appropriately with a little trimming to brighten it up. In Mrs. Ruth McEnery Stuart's amusing story called "The Dividing Fence," she says of the people in Simpkinsville that on all occasions a black alpaca gown in hand was considered an admirable thing for a woman to possess. It might be lightened up with a valenciennes ruffle or a blue ribbon or a red ribbon bow; but the black alpaca, from its first day to its last, was a necessary part of a well-dressed woman's outfit. In that most charming book of J. M. Barrie's, “Margaret Ogilvy," we find that the charming and beautiful old lady considered her black silk gown the one part of her outfit which she would put on when she wished to make a good appearance. "Well," on one occasion said her son, "how would you dress yourself if you were going to that editor's office?" "Of course," said the dear old lady, "I would wear my silk |