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THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN

for an old man. But the son of the house was to be pressed into the rebel army, and I would have been recognized as a fugitive at once. There was no time for consideration; I took my revolver and hastened with the young man, who had his rifle over his shoulder, into the forest, where we kept ourselves hidden for two days. Then Caesar brought us the news that the rebels had all departed, and were at a safe distance. They had searched‘the house, and the neighborhood, and had at last contented themselves with the assurance that the son had left for the army, as long as two weeks ago. When I came out of the woods with him, he presented me to his parents as his fiancee. In order to win my love it would not have been necessary at all for him to declare his love for me, for from the first moment that I saw him, I had said to myself: Him I should like for a husband. As he presented me, his mother at once approved, only his father, who had been a "Democrat," shook his head and made a sulky face. But Fritz said: "She has a clear head, she has a good heart, she has the best of principles, she has a bright sense of humor, she is an industrious worker, and with all that she is prettier than all the girls I can think of. I love her, and she loves me, and we shall be happy. What more can you ask?" The old man had to give his consent and we became husband and wife. This we have now been for seven years, and are still as happy as on the first day. We have also laid by something. We now have one