Very nicely sold were a couple of tramps who waylaid a wealthy farmer in Louisa County, Iowa, and demanded his money or his life. Disinclined to part with either, he took to his heels. They chased him half a mile down the roughest of lanes, dashed after him through a brier-hedge, and went panting across an old corn-field. Then the chased one struck for the woods, and went wheezing up a steep hill; his pursuers pressing closely behind with blood-shot eyes and shortened breath. The farmer dashed across a forty-acre stubble-field, across a frozen creek, through a blackberry patch, down a ravine, over another hill, across a stump-field, to be run down on the road by the tramps. They overhauled him thoroughly, searched him from top to toe, to find he had not a solitary cent wherewith to reward them for their perseverance. Our concluding example relates to an affecting romance told by the _Detroit Free Press_. It was the second time that the hero of the story had accompanied the young lady home from one of those little social parties which are got up to bring fond hearts a step nearer to each other. When they reached the gate, she asked him if he wouldn’t come in. He said he would. Sarah took his hat, told him to sit down, and left the room to remove her things. She was hardly gone before her mother came in, smiled sweetly, and, dropping down beside the young man, said: ‘I always did say that if a poor but respectable young man fell in love with Sarah, he should have my consent. Some mothers would sacrifice their daughters’ happiness for riches, but I am not of that sort.’ The young man started with alarm; he didn’t know whether he liked Sarah or not; he hadn’t dreamed of marriage. ‘She has acknowledged to me that she loves you,’ continued the mother; ‘and whatever is for her happiness is for mine.’ The young man stammered out: ‘I—I haven’t’—— ‘Oh, never mind! Make no apology. I know you haven’t much money, but of course you’ll live with me. We’ll take in boarders, and I’ll be bound that we’ll get along all right.’ It was a bad situation. He hadn’t even looked love at Sarah. ‘I had no idea of’—— he began; when she held up her hands saying: ‘I know you hadn’t; but it’s all right. With your wages and what the boarders bring in, we shall get along as snug as possible. All I ask is that you be good to her; Sarah has a tender heart, and if you should be cross and ugly, it would break her down in a week.’ The young man’s eyes stood out like cocoa-nuts in a shop-window, and he rose up and tried to say something. ‘Never mind about the thanks,’ she cried; ‘I don’t believe in long courtships. The eleventh of January is my birthday, and it would be nice for you to be married on that day.’ ‘But—but—but’—— he gasped.