A NERVOUS SUBJECT.

Evening Post, Volume XXIX, Issue 61, 14 March 1885, Page 1 (Supplement)

A NERVOUS SUBJECT.

However much nerve a young man must possess before he can ask a young lady to become his wife, it certainly requires more for him to work himself up to that pitch where he can unblushingly ask her father for his consent in the matter. One night last summer Bagby was drawing near the abode of his affianced, when he saw her father in the yard. What better opportunity could ever present itself? "With a trembling step and giddy brain he approached to within ten feet of where th« old gentleman was seated, and gasped, ' ' Please, sir." The person addressed made no response. If a force-pump of 40 h.p. had been injecting blood into his head it could not have been worse. He moved forward about two inches, "Pleaße. sir, I — I — " This was as far as he got, for his tongue seemed to be as thick as an Arctic overshoe. The old gentleman did not seem to move a muscle. Bagby moistened his feverish lips with his tongue, and then began where he left off, '' I loveyo — " He could proceed no further. Composing himself a little, with a desperate effort he began at the beginning, "Please, sir, I love your daughter, and " This was about one-third of what he had to say, but it seemed far less, there was so much remainig. It was now getting quite dark. The old gentleman's indifference made Bagby more desperate, and he determined to finish what he had to say, come life or death, " Please, sir, I love your daughter, and I wish to make her my wife. Do you give your consent ?" And with the question he rushed forward, and flung himself on his knees before the old gentleman. Just then came a gust of wind, and the old gentleman, which proved to be a scarecrow placed there to frighten the birds, fell over on Bagby, and tipped him into the mud. Bagby is still unmarried.