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Show POPPING THE QUESTION. BT AH OLD BACHELOR. About twenty years ago (I was not then so bald as I am now,) I was spending the midsummi r with my old friend and schoo' fellow, Tom Morton Tom had married early in life, and had a daughter, Mary Rose, who to her father's and mother's beauty, added her uncle Absalom's good humor and her aunt Deborah's nobility. In her you had the realization of all that the poets have sung about .tairy forms, dulcet voices, anil witching eyes- She was just such a being as you may imagine im-agine to yourself in ihe heroine of some beautiful romance. My heart was susceptible, and I -fell in love. No man, I thought, had ever loved as 1 did a common .fancy among lovers and the intensity of my affection I believed would not fal to secure a re turn. One cannot explain the secret, but they who . have felt the influence well know how to jude of my feelings. 1 was as completely over bead and ears as monal could be ; I loved with that eniire devotion t.at makes filial piety and brotherly affection sneak to a corner cor-ner of man's heart, and leave it to the undisputed sovereignty of feminine beauty. . . The blindness, incidental to my pas sion, and the young lady's uniform kindness, led me to believe that the possibility o:, her becoming my wife was by no: means as remote as at first it had appeared to be ; and haviun spent several sleepless nights in examining exam-ining the suhject on all side, I deter-m deter-m ned to make an offer of my hand. For more than a week I could not obtain ob-tain an opportunity of t-peaking alone with my adored notwithstanding I had frequently left the dinner table prematurely prema-turely with that view, and several times excused myself from excursions which i ad been planned for my especial amusement. At lt-ngth the favorable moment seemed to be at hand. A charity sermon was to be preached by the bishop, for the benefit of a Sunday school; and as Mr Moiton was churchwarden, church-warden, and destined to hold one of the plates, it became imperative on his family to be there on the occasion. I, of course, proffered my services : and it was arranged that we should set off early next morning, to secure good seats in the centre aisle. I could hardly close my eyes that night for thinking how I should "pop the question;" ques-tion;" and when I did get a short slumber, was awakened on a sudden by some one starting from behind a hedge just as 1 was disclosing the soft secret. Sometimes when I bad fancied myself sitting by the lovely Mary in a bower of jesamine and roses, and had just concluded a beautiful rhapsody about loves and doves, myrtles and turtles, 1 raised my blushing head, and found myself tete a-tete with her papa. At another moment, che would sliu a beautiful pink, hot-pressed billt t-doux into my hand, which when j I unfolded it, would turn out to be a challenge from some favored lover, desiring the satisfaction of meeting me at half-pa-t six in the morning, and so forth, and concluded as usual with an indirect allusion to a horse-whip. Morning dreams, they, say, always come true. It's a gross falsehood mine never came true. But I had a pleasant vision that morning; and 1 fondly b lieved it would be verified. Methought I had ventured to "pop the question" to my Dulcinea, and was accepted. ac-cepted. I jumped out of bed in a tremor. "Yes," I cried, "I will pop the question ; ere this night cap again envelop this unhappy head the trial shall be made!" Audi shaved and brushed the hair over the- bald place on my crown, and tied my cravat with unprecedented are, and made my appearance ap-pearance in the break f. st parlorjust as the servant maid had begun to dust the tables and chairs. B eakfat time at length arrived. But I shall pass oyer the blunders I c mmitted during its P'ogres, how I salted Mary Hose's muffin instead of my own, poured the cream into the sugar basin and took a bite at the teapot tea-pot lid. ' Pop the question" haunted me continually, and I ftared to speak even on the most ordinary topics, lest I should in some way betray myself Pop pop pop ! everything seemed to go off with a pop; and when at length Mr. Morton hinted to Mary and her mother that it was ume (or them to pop on their bonnets, I thought he laid & peculiar stress on the horrible monosyllable, and almost exacted him to accuse me of some sinister design upon his daughter. It passed off, however, and wo set off for the church. Mary Rose leaned on my arm, and complained how dull I was. I of cour.-e protested against it, and tried to rally ; vivacity was one of my characteristics, char-acteristics, and I was beginning to make myself extremely agreeable, when a little urchin in the thick gloom of a dark eut:y 1ft off a pop gun close to my ear. The sound, simple as it may seem, made me start as if a ghost had stood before me ; and when Mary observed ob-served that I was "very nervous this morning," I felt as if I could have throttled the lad, and inwardly cursed the inventor of pop-guns. We had now arrived in the middle aisle, when my fair companion whispered whis-pered me My dear Mr. won't you take off your hat ? This was only a prelude to still greater blunders I posted mys.'lf at the head of the seat, sang part of the hundreth Psalm while the organist was playine the symphony, sat down when I should have stood up, knelt when 1 ought to have been standing, and just at the end of ihe creed found myselt pointed due west, the gaze and wonder of the whole congregation. The sermon at length commenced ; and the quietness that ensued, broken only by perambulations of the beadle and sub-schoolmaster, and the collision ever and anon of their official wands with the heads of refractory students, guilty of the enormous crime of gaping gap-ing or twirling their thumbs, gave me no opportunity of collecting my scattered scat-tered thoughts. Just as the rest of the congregat on were going to sleep, I began to wake from my mental lethargy leth-argy ; and by the time the worthy parson had discussed three or four heads of his text, felt myself competent compe-tent to make a speech in parliament Just at this moment, too, a thought sti uck me as beautiful as it was sudden sud-den a plan by which I might make the desirable tender of my person, and display an abundant share of wit into the bargain. To this end I seized Mary Rose's prayer book, and turning oyer the pages till I came to Matrimony.marked the passage "Wilt thou take this man to be thy wedded husband ?"' with two emphatic dashes; and confidently pointing point-ing significantly to myself, handed it to her with a bow. She took it I fcho read it 1 , she smiled I Was it a smile of assent f 0 how my heart beat in my bosom at that instant so loud that I feared the people around us might hear its palpitation, and I looked at them to see if they noticed me. She turned over a few leaves she took my pencil which 1 had purposely enclosed in the book and she marked a passage. pass-age. 0 ye gods and demigods 1 what were my sensations at that moment I I grasped the book, and I squeezed the hand that presented it ; and opening open-ing the page tremblingly and holding the volume close to my eyes (tor the type was small and my sight not quite as t used to be) 1 read O M ary Rose! O Mary Rose I that I should live to relate it I l'A woman mtiy not marry her gi an 'father I' ' |
