o see you again. Time does
not run on with me now at the same pace as with other people; the hours
seem days, the days weeks, while I am absent from you, and I have no faith
in the accuracy of clocks and almanacs. Ah! if there were truth in
clairvoyance, wouldn't I be with you at this moment! I wonder if you are as
impatient to see me as I am to fly to you? Sometimes it seems as if I must
leave business and everything else to the Fates, and take the first train
to Dawson. However, the hours do move, though they don't appear to, and in
a few more weeks we shall meet again. Let me hear from you as frequently as
possible in the meantime. Tell me of your health, your amusements and your
affections.

Remember that every word you write will be a comfort to me.

Unchangeably yours,
WILLIAM MILLER.

To Miss Kate Martin,
Dawson, N. D.

_15.--A Declaration of Love at First Sight_.

Waterford, Maine, May 8th, 1894.

Dear Miss Searles:

Although I have been in your society but once, the impression you have made
upon me is so deep and powerful that I cannot forbear writing to you, in
defiance of all rules of etiquette. Affection is sometimes of slow growth:
{46} but sometimes it springs up in a moment. In half an hour after I was
introduced to you my heart was no longer my own. I have not the assurance
to suppose that I have been fortunate enough to create any interest in
yours; but will you allow me to cultivate your acquaintance in the hope of
being able to win your regard in the course of time? Petitioning for a few
lines in reply,

I remain, dear Miss Searles,
Yours devotedly,
E. C. NICKS.

Miss E. Searles,
Waterford, Maine.

_16.--Proposing Marriage._

Wednesday, October 20th, 1894.

Dearest Etta:

The delightful hours I have passed in your society have left an impression
on my mind that is altogether indelible, and cannot be effaced even by time
itself. The frequent opportunities I have possessed, of observing the
thousand acts of amiability and kindness which mark the daily tenor of your
life, have ripened my feelings of affectionate regard into a passion at
once ardent and sincere, until I have at length associated my hopes of
future happiness with the idea of you as a life partner, in them. Believe
me, dearest Etta, this is no puerile fancy, but the matured results of a
long and warmly cherished admiration of your many charms of person