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Show COULDN'T HAVE DOliE BETTER Marriage Arrangement Seemed Something Some-thing of a Bargain, but It Turned Out Happily. George A. Birmingham, the widely known writer, fays there is no country coun-try in the wovld where marriage, at '.east in the peasant class, is more a matter of bargaining, and yet shows a higher average of stability and content con-tent than Ireland. Sometimes the man has never seen the woman before be-fore they are brought together, the precise number of pounds, sows, or pigs to he handed over having been by that time settled. This is illustrated in personal recollections recol-lections just published by an Irish woman. She was visiting with an aunt a cottage in the neighborhood, and admired a fine mahogany chest of drawers. " 'Twas for that I was married," said the mistress of the cottage. A young farmer had also seen and admired. ad-mired. A bargain was struck. There was no money, but the bride was to have a couple of sheep, a yearling bullock and the chest. The prudent young man measured it, and then turned and asked: "An' which o' thim little girls is it?" She was the oldest unmarried "nixt the doore," as the phrase was. "An' so I wint," she said, "and was happy ever afterwards." Tit Bits. |