The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-11-21 00:00:00

A BALLOON WEDDING.
(From the Neto York Times.)

If that eminently veracious historian, M. Jules
Verne, had been in the city of Cincinnati. Ohio, at five
o'clock on the afternoon of Oct. 19, 1874, he might
have obtained materials for a new and thrilling
romance. He would have found himself in &throng of
fifty thousand persons, each of whom was intently
gazing skyward at a receding balloon, which bore with-
in its basket a bridegroom and bride, who proposed to
be wedded above the clouds.

These eccentric people had doubtless ranged in ima.
ginatic a over all the fields of previous queer and
unusual wedding trips. They had probably heard of
the strange couple Who scaled the Righi, there to seal
their vows of affection, and of that adventurous pair
who dauntlessly ascended the mightiest of the
Pyramids, and there, with Heaven knows how many
centuries looking down, and with myriads of Arabs
looking up and howling for " backshish," bound them-
selves in holy bands. It is also probable that they
were familiar with the history of that amiable bride
who was united to her future lord at sunrise, on the
roof of the Cathedral of Notre Dame, and who, while
saluting the dawning with champagne, fell over the
parapet to the pavement, and was, of course, quite
dead when picked up. Perhaps, too, the balloon-
bewitched bride had heard that horrible tale of the
Frenchman who, having lured his wife into a balloon
car under the pretest of accompanying her on a brief
ascension, suddenly cut the ropes, and let her soar into
the clouds, while he fell upon his knees to pray that
she might never come down.

Nothing would, however, stay this balloon-loving
bride. 1. p went the merry couple, with the parson
snaking his opening address as they darted into the
clouds. Ten minutes after the balloon had ascended
a mile from the earth, and a parachute was thrown
out. It indicated that the ring had been put on, that
the twain were made one flesh, and that the first
balloon wedding on record was an accomplished fact.
These courageous voyagers in the realm of air were
no high-born children of fashion; no haughty aristo-
crats who disdained the dulness and dirt of our humble
planet, and must therefore wed
" Above the smoke and stir of this dint spot
Which men ,all Earth."
But they were artists—in the circus line. The bride
ha a sometimes flashed like a meteor before the eyes of
admiring audiences at the Hippodrome, on a milk-
white steed ; and the bridegroom is not unfamiliar with
the smell of sawdust and the garish gas-lights beneath
the canvas dome. But the bride wore a lovely pearl.
coloured silk, with bias folds and heavy trimmings of
fringe and puffing in the back, and her hat was a
graceful "Brigand," with a rakish white feather.
Happy, happy circus man ! Had he been classical he
might have imagined, as he descended to earth, with
the shouts of the fifty thousand people below drifting
up to meet him, that he had been to Olympus to take
a goddess to wife, and was bringing her down to rule
over the nations, and to found a new race of hero-
demigods.
But may we not imagine that, when once the feet
of bride and bridegroom were again set upon the solid
ground, there was a revulsion of feeling, and conse-
quently—might we venture to suggest—just a sus-
picion of disappointment? Possibly not; yet it is
fair to suppose that the pearl coloured silk will never
again seem quite fair in the eyes of the bride, because
she cannot forget how the gleam of the sunshine played
upon it when she was above the clouds. Alas ! so many
young married people have begun life in that same
region—that remote and mystical cloud-land—and
have at last come down into the work-day world of
duty and grimy toil only to be unhappy i Sometimes
the revulsion has soured them for life, and they
have been henceforth bat crabbed anal unlovely speci-
mens of the fruit of the matrimonial troo. The trouble
and nitnery which "balloon weddings," metaphorically
speaking, have entailed upon the futures of the couples
who have indulged in them is incalculable. Many un-
reasonable brides, who have been for a time elevated
high above the turmoil of earth and the hard work of
existence, have never forgiven their husbands for being
compelled to descend. The bridegrooms, too, have so
longed for the sunshine of the upper regions, after they
have once enjoyed it, that they have become unfit for
struggle in the sphere where they belong. Perhaps it
would have been better for both had they never momen-
tarily left their humble station.

A local paper thus graphically describes what took place
on the occasion

" The balloon was held down by the weight of
several of Donaldson's assistants and by a single rope.
Beautiful bouquets were faatened to the netting just
above the car. The basket was covered with green and
white cloth, festooned with tricolours, and spangled
with rosettes. It was carpeted inside, and the seats and
lower ropes were covered with white muslin. Four flags
on ataff a protruded from the baaket,the American ensigns
keeping company with green flags embroidered in yellow
with Irish harps, the bride wishing to honour the island
of her ancestors. Soon after four p.m. the bridil pro-
cession came forth from the pavilion, keeping a
measured step to Mendelssohn's "Wedding March."
The band entered the inner ring first, and deployed
north of the balloon. The bride and groom headed
the procession. The bride, attired in a rich pearl.
coloured costume, looked pretty, smiling, and entirely
composed. The bridegroom looked serious, a little
pale,- possibly, but resolute. The groomsman, Mr.
W. K Coup, Mr. Barnum's right-hand man, and Miss
Annie Yates, bridesmaid, came next. Miss Yates was
charmingly dressed, and her delicate style of beauty
would hardly indicate that she is a very daring eques.
trienne. These Jour ascended the mhuature stairway
leading into the basket, and tcok their seats. Then
the Kev. H. B. Jeffries, an agreeable young clergy-
man, possessing the coolest quality of courage, stepped
in with a smiling countenance. Donaldson, in his best
Sunday clothes, was up on the woven wire ' look-out'
above the bridal quartet. He sung out to press agent
Thomas that he too must get aboard. Mr. Thomas
may not have expected this, but he was in holiday
attire, with a bouquet in his button-hole. As he made
his way into the basket Mr. Barnum stepped up to
shake hands with the passengers. The brisk and
clear-eyed Donaldson emptied a sand-bag or two,
shouted to his assistants to let go the last
rope, and the balloon, with a very gentle motion,
was waited away amid the shouts'of tens of thousands,
and enthusiastic waving of hats and handkerchiefs,
which was cordially returned from the bridal car. The
ascension was in a line much nearer the perpendicular
than usual. The lower current of wind blew towards
the south-west. Donaldson had expected to be carried
in that direction. The clergyman feared a rapid
transit to the skies of Kentucky, and in about three
minutes after leaving earth he proceeded with the
marriage ceremony, conducting it, we are informed,
very impressively. The Swedenborgians have two
marriage services—one for important occasions about
. . • .

an hoar in length; the othe gr- does not occupy over
live minutes. Mr. Jeffries took the short route to
wedlock. He made an appropriate address to the couple,
alluding to their strange situation above the clouds.
The responses were made, and, of course, no ruffianly
rival broke in to forbid the banns. A feeling prayer
was offered, to which all listened with bowed heads,
and then Mr. and Mrs. Colton were presented to their
attendants for their congratulations. Mr. Coup,
Mr. Thomas, and Mr. IJonaldeon all followed the
bridegroom and clergyman in kissing the bride. Then
they kissed the bridesmaid. The end of the ceremony
was signalled to the crowds below by dropping a
parachute, which tumbled to the ground in a leisurely
way. rpon descending the bride and groom, brides-
maid and groomsman, were driven to the Cathedral
residence, where another marriage was performed by
Father Quinn, in accordance with the desire if the
bride, who is a Catholic. Archbishop Purcell made a
brief address to the couple, and presented to each of
them his photograph." Of course, a "generous enter-
tainment followed in the best inn's beet room, and all
wee jollity.