From that time, Joseph, who had looked forward with pleasure to the period when, as a man, he could commence his business, and prosecute it with energy and success, became dissatisfied with the trade he was learning.  The contemptuous words of Mary Dielman made him feel that there was something low in the calling of a tailor—­something beneath the dignity of a man.  He did not reason on the subject; he only felt.  Gradually he withdrew himself from society, and shut himself up at home, devoting all his leisure to reading and study.  This was continued until he attained the age of manhood, soon after which he procured the situation of clerk in a dry-goods store.  At his trade he could easily earn twelve dollars a week; but he left it, because he was silly enough to be ashamed of it, and went into a dry-goods store at a salary of four hundred dollars a year.  As a clerk he felt more like a man.  Why he should, is more than I can comprehend.  But so it was.

As for Mary Dielman, she was not aware, at the time when she felt so pleased with the attentions of Joseph Fletcher, that he was a tailor—­a calling for which she always expressed the most supreme contempt.  Her thoughtless words were not, therefore, meant for his ears.  The fact that she had uttered them was not remembered ten minutes after they were spoken.  Why she no longer met the fine-looking, attentive and intelligent young man, she did not know.  Often she thought of him, and often searched the room for him, with her eyes, when in company.

Nearly four years passed before they again met.  Then Joseph was greatly improved, and so was the beautiful maiden.  The half-extinguished fire of love, that had been smouldering in their bosoms, rekindled, and now burned with a steady flame.  They saw each other frequently, and it was not long before the young man told her all that was in his heart, and she heard the story with tremulous delight.

The father of Mary, although a merchant, was not nearly so well off in the world as many tailors.  His family was expensive and drew too heavily upon his income.  The capital employed in trade was therefore kept low, and his operations were often crippled for want of adequate means.  He had nothing, therefore, to settle upon his daughter.  When young Fletcher applied for her hand, his salary was five hundred dollars.  Mr. Dielman thought his prospects not over flattering, but still gave his consent; at the same time advising him not to think of marriage for a year or two, when he would no doubt be in a better condition to take a wife.

The young couple, like most young couples, were impatient to be married; and Joseph Fletcher, in order to be in a condition that would justify him in talking a wife, was impatient to go into business.  Somehow or other, it had entered his mind that any young man of business capacity and enterprise could do well in the West; and he finally made up his mind to take a stock of goods, which he found no difficulty in obtaining, and go to Madison, in Indiana.  Before starting, however, he engaged to return in six months, or so soon as he was fairly under way, and make Mary his wife.  At the time named, he was back, when the marriage took place, and he returned with his bride to Madison.