ion which first caught
the respected mother of my Malinda Jane and the respected mother-in-law
of myself; but ideas so unbecoming I repel with proper scorn.

I do not think myself more stupid than the average of mankind; but,
somehow, while they walked through the middle of the streets, I sought
the narrow alleys; and while others aspired to noise and distinction, I
found retirement and Malinda Jane. (It _was_ in an alley I first met
Mrs. J. Moses Butterby--though this in no way concerns the present
narrative.)

Malinda Jane (I trust I am not violating any matrimonial law in thus
familiarly speaking of my respected helpmeet)--Malinda Jane, from the
first time I beheld her, up to the present period of a long, and I may
say intimate, acquaintance, appears to me a paragon of all the modest
and retiring virtues. If among her many attractions she is possessed of
a distinguishing trait, it lies in the power of her eyes. So much
language do their depths contain, that to me, at least, any other is in
a great measure a superfluity. I should be afraid to count up the
consecutive hours we have spent in this silent converse, reading each
other's hearts, as some pleasant poet has styled it, "through the
windows of the soul." I would not have you suppose them almond-shaped or
piercing. No! Malinda Jane's eyes are round. It was their gentle blue
that enchanted me; and there I found the congeniality that cheered my
drooping spirit.

Looking back now upon our courtship, I am inclined to think it must have
been uninteresting to a third party; but there is no denying the fact
that to us it was most soothing, and well calculated to develop our
mutual affection.

I have no accurate recollection of the event vulgarly called "popping."
Fortunately, I congratulate myself on escaping that breach of decorum.
If you join my friends in asking "how it came about," I reply,
"Naturally." The morning Malinda Jane's mother asked me if I had decided
upon October the 24th or November the 24th, I unhesitatingly answered,
"November the 24th, if you please;" and the whole affair was
accomplished.

I have said before, Malinda Jane is not of a demonstrative disposition,
but thinks (if I may strain a point) ponderously. I have never known her
to manifest any will in opposition to my own; and, since I come to think
of it, I do not remember her ever manifesting a will in opposition to
any one else. In this general term I of course include Master Moses
Alp