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Show i I yt. y OLD MAIDS SCARCE jBI ONLY ONE FOUND IN VIRGINIA Wt ' MOUNTAINS. fj?I W I Course of True Love Among the Moon- W shiner Runt Constant If Not Al- p.,,,' ways 8mooth Peculiar Customt. f 1 Unmarried women are scarce In the t"i Virginia mountains. In a summer's m. sojourn In a mountain country of old S, Virginia a tourist made the acquaint JT s anco of fully 700 persons, and found & ; tut one "old maid," and she was B. , "talklaV To "talk," In the mountain fj vernacular, means "to pay court or to E accept If r Qlrls begin to "talk" at 13 even 12, Ja - tn localities far removed from the Wp. railroads. The little maid leaves off gj her red ' calico "sleeve apron," tho H "head band" that has hold back nor iftLr loose hair, puts her hair In n big knob Kgn on tho back of her head and lets her & dress down all advertisements of P readiness for marriage. .. When a young man selects a girl to If whom to pay court ho will brook no I other youth's 'talkln' " to her. Ho may "talk" to sovernl girls If ho likes, S; l In several neighborhoods, but ho gives :- I himself the right to quarrel with ono ; If she "talks" to another than him- f self. The chief courting places aro tho log churches, where tho ciders sit on u the rough benches inside and worship h and the young ones sit under the k Bhade of the trees outside and "talk," m and the evening entertainments at tho V homes "play parties" and "cake cut- . tings," which last, with their dancing of "Boston" and "Snap," from dusk 4; until dawn. Kjt Courtship Is conducted In the most PO open tashlon. Public demonstration! . of affection are not censured. At the ef play parties and cake cuttings the & lovers pay no attention io any one Wi else, alt with arms about each other gjgj and exchange kisses and honeyed f&i words. ij. The engaged girl Is very open In ex- Sg? pressing her ownership of a young W man. She pins a ribbon on her hair fipj and a button picture on the ribbon, raft nnd lets it hang over her forehead IE! ' She "claims" her beau over any other M$t tlrl; and If at a dance it Is his turn to Bp- swing a girl she doesn't like she has Efe been known to selte him bodily and J pull him out of the dance. WK&- When the wedding day comes, Kg usually after a very short courtship, Bgi the young couplo slip off at night, and fr call it "running away," even though il? they have their parents' consent. Mp Real runaways are but few. V The usual obstacle In tho course of mSii true 'ore Is tho enmity of the mother Bpg of "tho other girl." One mother bo- BSjtf comes so angered because a young k, man quits "talkln"' to bet- daughter JHk to talk to a more attractive girl that k! , sho threatens to reveal the "moon- Kk shine" bnslness of the youth's family K to tho "revenuers," a proceeding Bho H knows would ruin tho family. Kg Tho mountain folk soldom remain BgK single after widowing. As long as a Hgf man is not confined to his chair by old Kp age ho considers himself "plenty young WpP enough to marry." Nor does he wait IHjli , very long after the death of his wife Iwj to find another. If Marthy dies In SB; April Dick Is "talkln"' by July and BS; " married by September, and when R Marthy's funeral Is preached In Oc- nMrf ,.- tober Loulsy, her successor, prepares Efl - the big dlnnor for tho funeral guests. We j Lovo marriages are tho rulo In tho HotS ' mountains, but tho marrlago of con- &$" venlence is not unknown, particularly Bggw In the second, marriage. PjMKi An aged widower wife-seeker hires H$mF a woman to keep, house and do his Eke " cooking for a few months. "I'll try yet her, and ct Bho Is of any account to wf ' work I'll marry her," he announces Hk to his friends, "and ef she hain't, I Swt won't." Rehoboth Sunday Herald. Hft |