“‘And, you know, I’d married you _then_ if the old man and old woman hadn’t raised such an awful row and kept you from asking me! But, Lord! ain’t I glad they did! For soon after that I met my Charley here at a picnic, and we were married three weeks afterwards. And every day, when I think of it, I feel so awful glad, for I wouldn’t give my Charley for a Secretary of the Navy, let alone a little middy, who would be rushing off to sea every whipstitch and leaving me alone nearly all the time. One better be a widow at once than sich a wife!’ she concluded with a loud laugh. “Well, Em., I was, at the same time, and by the same means, humbled and relieved. Two years after that I met the woman who became my wife. Our marriage was so happy that one of my brightest anticipations of the next life is that of meeting her, with whom I hope to spend eternity. As for the well united young couple who are the subjects of my story, they lived and prospered. In the course of years the young workman rose to be a partner in the firm in whose service he had commenced as porter. They are still living, though both over seventy, and—a curious coincidence, Em.—their son, the Honorable —— ——, is now Secretary of the Navy and my superior officer. Now, what do you think of my first love, Em.?” cheerfully inquired the commodore. “I think—I hope—I _pray_,” faltered the girl, keeping her eyes fixed upon the floor and twisting and untwisting her clasped fingers, “that _all_ first love is not so fickle as yours and hers.” “Ah, humph! humph! I might have expected that answer, of course. But now, my dear, as I began by saying that I had _two_ incidents in my experience to relate to you for your instruction, and as I have told you the first story, which does not seem to have edified you much, I will now tell you the second. Will you listen?” “Oh, yes, sir,” sighed Em.