Australian Tales - Setis

contemplated taking away her father's customers, as well as his daughter,
for he believed the maxim “Better is a portion in a wife, than with a wife;
and he who marries for wealth sells his liberty;” but as it is not
uncommon for mercenary motives to influence the minds of young wifeseckers,
in other grades of society, it is just possible that Jonathan may
have encouraged such greedy speculations; though I must, in justice, say,
I think the humbler class of mankind are seldom chargeable with
meanness of that sort. His castle-building was, however, usually brought
to a dead stand — by the puzzling question, how was he to woo and win
the fair object of his daily thoughts and nightly dreams, who was almost
as shy as himself? He had worn out two new magnum bonum pens in his
efforts to compose a love letter, but had never got beyond the first fond
sentence, “my dear Feeby;” there his pen stuck fast, like a cart in a boghole,
and all his ideas were as powerless to help it out as a dead horse.
Had he only been scholar enough to add but those two sentences, “I love
you! Will you have me for your husband?” his doubts and suspense
might have soon given place to the realisation of his tenderest wishes; for
Phoebe understood plain English.
I have heard of a similar laconic love letter being sent to a young
Cornish lass by a love sick shepherd in the far bush, who sadly wanted a
wife to comfort him, as many honest bushmen do at this present time.
The girl was delighted with the straightforward declaration “I love you!”
and was anxious to reply to the plainly put question, “Will you have me
for your husband?” in the affirmative; but how to do it she scarcely
knew, for unfortunately she could not write, and she was unwilling to
entrust her secret to a hired scribe; so after some consideration, she had
recourse to a symbolic correspondence. Having procured an eye from a
sheep's head, she carefully cleansed it, and wrapping it in a lock of wool,
sent it to her admirer, who of course rightly interpreted it to signify eyewool,
or I will. That was enough for him, it was an unmistakable assent
to his proposition, and the consummation of his happiness soon followed.
I have seen many lengthy and highly elaborated love letters, which did
not contain so much honest meaning as the comical correspondence of
the shepherd and the Cornish lass: and I may add, for the edification of
puzzled lovers like Jonathan, that a frank, common sense avowal of their
feelings and wishes is all that is necessary in such circumstances.
Had Jonathan added those two important sentences to “my dear
Feeby,” although it is not probable that Phoebe would have had recourse
to sheep's eyes and fleece, for she could write tolerably well, her reply
would doubtless have been the same in effect, “I will,” and Jonathan
would have been a rejoicing man at once. But the ideas never entered
into his round head, so how could he get them out of it? Though he was a
little man he had a big heart, and as it expanded with the increasing force
of his pent-up passion, he felt, to use his own expressive words, as if he