GOING TO BE MARRIED. Mrs General Tom Thumb Relates the Facts of Her Second Courtship.

Te Aroha News, Volume III, Issue 107, 20 June 1885, Page 5

GOING TO BE MARRIED. Mrs General Tom Thumb Relates the Facts of Her Second Courtship.

i — — " ' t In her cosy rooms at the Murray Hill }' otei, Mrs Stratton,' better known as Mrs General Tom Thumb, and years ago as Lavinia Warren, Bat the' other afternoon and talkedto a New York reporter of her approaching marriage. . It i$ a 1 good while Since the little lady first bestowed her winsome smiles upon ,ari American audience arid prattled in 9, > naive but quite intelligent manner to, crowded houses at so much & prattle, but she has not grown any since. She is still .the size of a five-year-old infant who has discovered no undue precocity in soaring rapidity in life. She is as bright and chatty as ever, too, and years of wedded life with the departed Gener&l has not weaned her from certain coquetries of manner which, it appears, proved long ago irresistible to the impopjcKng bridegroom. The latter is the Count Prime Magri* He hap chosen to be professionally known as Count Rosebud, but the authenticity of his olaim to descent from the Magri family, his birth at Bologna, and his right to certain ancestral estates, are undisputed.

STORY OF THE WOOING. "When the General died," said Mrs Stratton, "1 made up my mind to remain a wxdow tho rest of my life. We had been assciated before the public all over the world. We had travelled through Europe, Asia, and Australia, and had boen presented to and received marks of consideration from the potentates and mostdistinguised people of every country. It was only natural that I should look for retirement after his death. But somehow the exoitement of public appearancos to which I have been used all my life was too seductive. To me applause has always been like a stimulant. Even now, when I am nervous sometimes and unable to sleep, I go before the public, and their approbation first excites me and then acts as an opiate. "Well, I appeared again, and lately, when I thought of resting, I was made an offer of marriage from Count Magri, which I ha^e accepted. We are acquainted now faome six years," Mrs Stratton went on. ;*'It was, I think, in Springfield our party met him and his brother. They had come from Italy at the instance of » manager named Smith, and were performing through the country. Count Magri is quito a musician, you know. He sings and plays, and his brother used to accompany him. Well, the General and I were very much pleased with the Magris. They were far more cultured and intelligent than most of the little people we had met, and the social relations between us were very, very pleasant. Perhaps I should not say it," simpered the little lady, "but the Count has told me that he was smitten even then. Of course I knew nothing of this, but I always had a deep respect and regard for him, and when he proposed to me I accepted him."

rOST-NuTTIAL INTENTIONS. "What aro your plans after marriage?" the reporter asked. " Oh, wo intend to go to Italy to live there. Not always, perhaps, but at least for a long time. I think I would be contented to rest now, and I think Italy is a good place for it. Ifc is my husband's country. He is known there in another quality from what he is here. I think I shall like it. See, here is his picture," and the tiny fiancte handed up a photograph of the pigmy bridegroom, who, indeed, eeems to be a bright and intelligent little person. " He is not dark like some Italians," said she, gazin ej fondly at the picture. " He is not a bit like them." Then she said that the papers were wrong in. fixing the day of her marriage. " We agreed upon the 20th of May," said she. "But the Count is desirous of its occurring sooner, as he wants to sail for Italy, if possible, in April. My manager, Mr Sylvester Baker, has booked me for engagements up to the middle of May. If he can arrange it we shall forego some of them. I am to meet the Count three weeks from to day, and then all will be arranged." Then the small widow and bride that is to be simpered and blushed again.