Alexandria gazette & advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1822-1824, 1824-09-23
MISCELLANY.
MARRIAGE.

I have often IeUafhcu tno cdSca
ness of all classes of people To read
or hear the accounts OF marriages.
sSol John has taken to himselfa wife,
cries one. <Ah. there has been we'd
ding, cries another. tLacka-day.'
sxclaims an old lady. $50 Betty has
cot husband at last:' and each is
anxious to know all the particulars
VIII married them-who was there
how the bride was dressed, and so on.
On such occasions I have particular
" noticed that the men seem to SYM
pathise chiefly with the bridegroom.
from the cause probably that each
has been, or expects to be in the same
delicate and interesting situation of
the persons for whom their sympa-
thies are excited. The reason is not
difficult to explain. There is no cir
cumstance in life half so interesting
as that of entering into the holy bond
of wedlock. A choice is made OF a
compassion for life, for good or evil.
for prosperity or adversely. for veal
or we; or, in the good old set terms
of the ceremonial, sfor better or Tor
worse Then, too. the new clothes.
the solemn ceremony, the wedding
banquet. and the nameiess delights
appertaining thereto. render this Pc
Rod Of life far more interesting than
any other. Looked forward to. thro'
the Kaleidoscope of Hope. it presents
to the young imagination an infinite
variety of splendid and beautiful i'm
agery, which charms like illusions
of the Persian Genii in the Fairy
Tales. The young man hopes ms
turn may como, aud ! dare rot sketch
the picture of bliss his fancy draws.
The girl FROM building fifteen thro'
blushing twenty up to ripened woman
hood, feels, as she hears the account
of wedding, a soft thrill, vibrating
like the treble chord OF the piano,
through every nerve Of her suscepti.
BILE frame. Her bosom throbs quick
er, she breathes with hurried respi-
ration, yet not painfully; no image
that she need blush forever casts It's
passing form across her pure mind,
vet che bushes; her eye brIghtens;
her lips assume deeper stain OF the
strawberry; she laughs and wonders
what ails her. for how is she interest
ed! The old married people are dit
ferentIy affected, and yet they are
affected. Memory busily employed
I'm brushing away the cob-webs OF
Time( and that Time is a very indus
trious spider,) from the picture of
their connubial bliss. The husband
chucks his deary under the chin. and
instead of addressing himself to her
as sMrs. Maulty,' or whatever her
name may be. calls her virgin name
My dear Lucy Howard aud she
answers with modest caress, which
speaks most eloquently of the days
gone by. Meanwhile the old Bache
Tor and old Maid forget the chair is
not big enough for them. The old
codger whom no one pities bot every
one in turn laughs at as rusty old
bachelor very probably recalls to re.
collection one. who in the days OF
youth reciprocated with him the ten
derest feelings of affection; one who
listened to the music of his voice win
delight; who watched his coming with
anxious eye; whose ready ear dist'n'
guished the sound Of his footstep from
among an hundred; who loved-pro-
mised--withered before the nuptial
hour gave him the right to pillow her
throbbing head ia his bosom. and
died. Or the lone virgin. designated
by the unfeeling world as San Old
Maid may mourn in the depth o.
suppressed griet, ruddy youth, o.