An incident occurred on the Little Miami Railway which outstrips, in
point of speed and enterprise, although in a somewhat different field,
the lightning express, “fifty-cents-a-mile” special train achievement
which attended the delivery of the recent famous “defalcation report” in
this city. The facts are about thus: A lady, somewhat past that period
of life which _the world_ would term “young”—although she might differ
from them—was on her way to this city, for purposes connected with active
industry. At a point on the road a traveller took the train, who
happened to enter the car in which the young lady occupied a seat. After
walking up and down between the seats, the gentleman found no unoccupied
seat, except the one-half of that upon which the lady had deposited her
precious self and crinoline—the latter very modestly expansive. Making a
virtue of necessity—a “stand-ee” berth or a little self-assurance—he
modestly inquired if the lady had a fellow-traveller, and took a seat.
As the train flew along with express speed, the strangers entered into a
cosy conversation, and mutual explanations. The gentleman was pleased,
and the lady certainly did not pout. After other subjects had been
discussed, and worn thread-bare, the lady made inquiries as to the price
of a sewing machine, and where such an article could be purchased in this
city. The gentleman ventured the opinion that she had “better secure a
husband first.” This opened the way for another branch of conversation,
and the broken field was industriously cultivated.
By the time the train arrived at the depot in this city, the gentleman
had proposed and been accepted (although the lady afterwards declared she
regarded it all as a good joke). The party separated; the gentleman, all
in good earnest, started for a license, and the lady made her way to a
boarding-house on Broadway, above Third, for dinner. At two o’clock the
gentleman returned with a license and a Justice, to the great
astonishment of the fair one, and after a few tears and
half-remonstrative expressions, she submitted with becoming modesty, and
the Squire performed the little ceremony in a twinkling. If this is not
a fast country, a search-warrant would hardly succeed in finding one.
—_Cincinnati Commercial_.