g up from a
rose-colored sheet embellished with decidedly scrawly writing. "I have
just received one that is quite astounding."

"From Tennessee," said Ida, looking at the postmark. "I know the
writing; that man has sent me as many as half a dozen letters, wishing
to enter into correspondence. I suppose that finding me so
unresponsive he thinks he will try another member of the family."

"He comes to the point in a most emphatic manner this time," said
mamma, "by asking me for your hand; and as the letter is really a
curiosity in a literary point of view, I will read it to you." [1]

"NASHVILLE, TENN.

"MRS. JOHN F. CLEVELAND:--I reckon I am one of the spoilt children of
the South, similar to what Mr. Greeley says of South Carolina. I want
to Marry Miss Ida, because she is the daughter of the most powerful Man
that has yet appeared on the American Continent. Mr. Greeley turned
four millions of slaves loose with the Pen can't I win his daughter
with the same facile weapon? Now Mrs. Cleveland won't you help me? I
am not a Humbug, I have too many bullet holes through my body to be
classed with that tribe of insects. I begin to feel a little skittish
about my age, 35 and not yet Married. Yet I have always been rather a
fatalist and incline to Worship some star. The Greeks Worshiped the
sun, And moon under the Name of Isis and Osiris, but I am more like the
Arab look to the stars for something sublime and unchanging among all
the bright lights that hang and move in the firmament. The North Star
Appears to be the most important. The Axis on which our Earth daily
turns. The point from which all Mariners calculate their course in mid
ocean, and safely guides Them from continent to continent. Without the
North Star there would be no Magnetic Meridian by which Governments
could be surveyed and divided equitably to its inhabitants and
civilization would lose its strong hold in being based on Justice. If
there is any South Star that plays such an important part on this
continent or Europe I have never heard of it. Miss Ida is the North
Star made so by the fact her father was the great center around Which
The whole country swung. And As she is the oldest the crown of
greatness ought to rest on her head. And if she will Marry Me I will
do as hard fighting as Caesar did to put it there. With great respects
yours Truly

"------ ------."

This letter would have excited more astonishment than it did, had it