historic, but:

_Se non e vero,
E ben trovato._

Down by the green meadows of Sudbury there dwelt a bewitchingly fair
maiden, the musical dissyllables of whose name were often upon the lips
of the young men in all the country round about, and whose smile could
awaken voiceless poetry in the heart of the most prosaic Puritan swain.
There is little of aristocratic sound in Mary Loker's name, but her
parents sat on Sunday at the meeting house in a "dignified" pew, and
were rich in fields and cattle. Whether pushed by pride of land or pride
of birth, in their plans and aspirations, this daughter was
predestinated to enhance the family dignity by an aristocratic alliance.
In Colonial days a maiden who added a handsome prospective dowry to her
personal witchery was rare indeed, and Mary Loker had, coming from far
and near, inflammable suitors perpetually burning at her shrine. From
among these the father and mother soon made their choice upon strictly
business principles, and shortly announced to Mary that a certain
ambitious gentleman of the legal profession had furnished the most
satisfactory credentials, and that nothing remained but for her to name
the day. Now the fourth commandment was very far from being the dead
letter in 1670 that it is in 1885, and it was matter for grave surprise
to the elders that their usually obedient daughter, when the lawyer
proceeded to plead, refused to hear, and peremptorily adjourned his
cause without day. Maternal expostulation and paternal threats availed
nothing. The because of Mary's contumacy was not far to seek. A stalwart
Vulcan in the guise of an Antinous, known as Jonas Prescott, had
wandered from his father's forge in Lancaster down the Bay Path to
Sudbury. Mary and he had met, and the lingering of their parting boded