Bellows Falls Times

A Quartet of Lovers Disappointed.-A very amusing affair to read about, but very solemn to the parties interested, happened near Des Moines, Iowa, recently. The particulars, as given by the Register, are that four young people—two lads and two lasses, all belonging to different families in the country, and living several miles apart, fell in love and determined to marry, but as the old folks unanimously opposed the idea, they were obliged to contrive a plan for accomplishing their purpose secretly. Accordingly the girls made such preparations of their clothing as they could and took a sly way of getting it out of their houses. They would postpone milking the cows till it was quite dark, when they would carry with them some articles of apparel and hide it in a haystack. Thus they worked for about ten days, and had most of their "duds" safe, when the father of one of the girls took it into his head to put the particular stack of hay she had chosen as a hiding place into market, and in doing so a varied collection was brought to light, to the astonishment of the old man. This put him on the scent of a very large mice, but he replaced the articles and went to the father of the other girl, and after search a similar package was found in similar quarters. As it happened, the boys were to come the night the discovery was made for the girls, who were to be at stack No. 1, where they would leave home and get married the next day. The sequel is thus told:

"At supper girl No. 2 asked her mother for permission to go over and stay all night with No. 1, which was granted.—The old man just then remembered that he wanted to see the father of No. 1, so he bore his daughter company, which of course was very pleasant to her! The girls retired at about 9 o'clock, but were intending to step out at a side door at midnight, but the old chaps kindly locked the door from the outside and left them to ponder over the stern fact that the course of true love never has run any smoother than a go-cart. After looking out for several hours, a wagon and team were heard coming across the field in the direction of the storage house of the girls. When within about fifty yards, the boys signalled with a clear, shrill whistle, which was answered by one of the men with 'John, is that you?' Of course it was John all over, and very anxious, so he sped rapidly to the place from whence the voice had come. As he neared the stack of hay and of expected bliss, a vision burst upon him that wasn't laid down on the bill. Stalwart and erect stood a small mountain of Iowa flesh, bone and muscle—the pap of No. 1.—John's last words were, 'My God! that ain't Katie!' when he broke away in hot haste for the team, which made better time than ever before back over the road it had come. Thus it was that our city didn't have a double wedding last Saturday, and we may be glad that it was so prevented; for girls of fifteen and boys of eighteen know about as little of life's realities as a Fejee Islander does about our reconstruction laws, and elopements, ninety-nine times out of every hundred, end in woe, big 'weeps,' and wish-we-hadn't-done it."