Yankee Mail Order Bride Read Online Free PDF

telegraph if he was interested. The young woman’s straits were dire. He read it once more, then folded it and slipped it into his shirt. He walked over to the depot and the telegraph office and sent off his answer. To wit: Am interested. Please send your requirements by return telegraph collect.
     
    He then walked over to the doctor’s office to have his busted nose checked. When he walked into the doctor’s office, Doc Williams looked at him and laughed. “You must have a little bit of Irish in you Josiah. That is a nice shade of green you’re wearing.” He laughed heartily.
     
    “Go ahead and laugh, you old quack. I’ve made my peace with everybody else. I guess I can tolerate you. At least until you get me fixed up,”
     
    The doctor removed the gauze, poked and prodded and checked for infection, “This looks okay, no signs of infection, I’m not going to repack it,” he asked, “What did Beulah say? About your nose, I mean.”
     
    Josiah answered, “She told me I need a wife. She didn’t have any lying around, so I put an ad in the paper for one.”
     
    “Hmmmm,” said the doctor.
     
    “Doc, do you know anything about the mail order bride thing?” asked Josiah.
     
    “I do, as a matter of fact. There are several couples around Cheyenne who met that way and have happy marriages. There are others that didn’t work out so well. Usually, that is because one or the other has misrepresented themselves or distorted the facts. There is something of a risk involved, but when you look around town, how many young unmarried women do you see? Mother nature has a way of producing boy babies when times are hard and help is needed, and producing girls in better times. You know how hard life can be here on the frontier, so we have boy babies, not to mention all of the single gold miners and Chinese railroad workers. You pay your money and take your chance.”
     
    “Well, I paid my money, now we’ll see what comes as a result of it,” Josiah said.
     
    Ten days later…
    The US Post Office had a letter for Josiah. He sat on the same bench as before to read it. It began, “Dear Sir, I am in the company of Mrs Barnhurst as I write. I am nineteen years of age, I am five feet seven inches tall and weigh 125 pounds. I have long blond hair and blue eyes. I have been told I am pleasing to the eye.
     
    My mother has seen to it that I am well educated. I also play the piano. I was raised in a fine home in one of the nicest sections of Plymouth, Massachusetts. My father is a clothing merchant seeking to expand his business by way of merger. The merger is conditional in that I must marry the owner of the other business, a man older than my father. I refuse to do this. I would look favorably on the opportunity to move to Wyoming. I feel I am good with children and get on well with others.
     
    In all honesty, I must tell you I know nothing of cooking. I am a quick learner and should gain the skill quickly if you don’t die of starvation or the ptomaine first. I also have no means should I leave the home of my father. The wedding is planned for three weeks hence. I shan’t be there. I look forward to your quick response.
     
    “Well,” Josiah said, “She seems honest to a fault, and she seems to have true grit. She is willing to give up what would be a life of luxury rather than a marriage that is forced upon her. It seems she has nothing to offer but herself. Do I take a chance? She’s a little younger than I am. Would she be a good mother to Rebecca. Tough question to answer at this point. I need some advice. The only people I can think of being Beulah and Doc Williams. I’m going to see Doc.” With that part of the question resolved in his mind, he gathered his hat, and the letter and returned to the good doctor’s office.
     
    “Doc, I need some advice and you are just about the only one I respect enough to ask this kind of question. I told you about the ad I placed. I have one answer so far. I don’t want