"Come, Alice, we will tell Betty you have named the day for your wedding.

See! She is all eyes now." * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The young people of the frontier settlements were usually married before they were twenty.

This was owing to the fact that there was little distinction of rank and family pride.

The object of the pioneers in moving West was, of course, to better their condition; but, the realization of their dependence on one another, the common cause of their labors, and the terrible dangers to which they were continually exposed, brought them together as one large family.
Therefore, early love affairs were encouraged--not frowned upon as they are to-day--and they usually resulted in early marriages.
However, do not let it be imagined that the path of the youthful swain was strewn with flowers.

Courting or "sparking" his sweetheart had a painful as well as a joyous side.