I ain't any kind of proposition to tie up to a nice girl like you, and I swear by my honor that nothing was further from my thoughts than matrimony—not meanin' any slur on you, for if I'd found you before, I might have been a happy man—Well, here I stand: if you'll marry me, say the word!'
— from Mr. Scraggs by Henry Wallace Phillips

"I may be old-fashioned—I suppose I must be at my age—but I don't think that is the kind of thing a nice girl like you should read."
— from Vignettes of Manhattan; Outlines in Local Color by Brander Matthews