“Is Miss Blinkins at home?” asked Mr. Sanders . . .

. . . of the Irish maid who answered his ring at the door. “Yis, I b’lave she is, sir.” “Is she engaged?” inquired Mr. Sanders. “Engaged is it? faith and I can’t say, sir; but she kissed Mr. Vincent last evening as if she had never seed the likes of him, and it’s engaged I b’lave they are, sir.”

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, April 26, 1862, p. 2