The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1850-11-23
FRAN Arthurs's Home Gazette
Singular Marriage,

4 Young lady correspondent, who takes the
nom De plane of Rose Rover relates .he fol
lowing romantic incident, rs having occurred in a
village somewhere IN Tennessee. Truth is often
stranger than fiction
II have been playing the part Of bridesmaid
ever since | wrote last, and have, therefore, but
little time lcf. in Which to inli.c this epistle One
of the marriages, at which | otiicaed IN the ca
pacty mentioned, was quite romantic affair
and, Us no harm will be done, | will give you the
parIculNrs-suppresslug names, however. After
the Union Of the couple 10 whose marriage we
were hidden, they had scarcely sat down before
another sioed up and desired to be joined by the
holy JynA The minister was much surprised as
he had expected TO ofiicate but once but, feeling
that 1t was no. his business to inquire into the
why's and .wherefores. that he was not pre.adyised
he asked for the necessary authority; and it then
for the first time, occurred to the bridegroom that
a license was indispensable To the contamination
Of his happiness He exclaimed;
This shall not interfere
And Immediately lett the house saying he
would return in few minutes.
while lie was absent, We learned that few
minutes before the union Of the frs. couple, this
young gentleman in lively conversation with
several sprgh;ly and mischiefioyiug girls, had
told them that lac was about to make proposition
to test their courage, (ofwhch, it seems they had
been rather botsttG.ly spcakiugj and this was
nothing more EoT less than tha,he would challenge
either Of them TO marry him a soon as the ex
pccted ceremony was performed. Several Of them
shrguk from the ordeal; but one OF them more
courageous than the rest, accepted the challenge
thinking hat he would back out before the
ceremony was finished
Some Of the company tplI the yours lady dur
Ing the geutlemans absence, that she had better
now do so, unless she was seriously inclined to
have him for a LIES partner She replied that
she vas as determined as himself and was not to
be 'outdone and seemed to think that II could be
nothing more than Joke. All arguments were
in vain, So that when the young gentleman re
turned. and presented the license, (he having pro-
cured il at the clerks ofiice-it being the county
seat where We were a-sembled-) she galy
laughed. and again placed herself beside him. in
front of the minister. The old gentleman admon-
ished them but they told him to proceed; and
the ceremony commenced. Tho bridegroom re-
aponded alirmatiyoly in gay tone ard as hc did
he cast \ triumphast glance upon her. When 1t
became her turn TO answer, she hestated mo-
meut, but presently said laughingly, You shall
not triumph, sir" And she Immediately uttered
the little word that cannot be retracted, and which
made them ONE duridg the remainder Of their
lives The beneCSction was said, and the words
bad hardly died away before the bride said in a
half serious tone.
Why feel ms if | had been married in ear
nest"
"You certainly are" solcmnly said the minis
ter
"Sho doubted it ut first, but was at length con.
vinced that she was really and de facto Mrs
For tine she wept violently but her new re-
lative, who by this time, began to see his folly,
seeing also that the consequence of their hardl-
hood was rremediablo, determined to make the
best Of it, and therefore used all hi, powers to
console her, in which he al length succeeded.
"They had never met before that evening and
they little dreamed that at their first meeting they
were to utter vows that were irreyocable, and
which were irrevocable, and which were to unite
them to each other for life Both of them belong
to families of the highest respectability and are
both wealthy. They seem well suited to each
other and who shall say that their union 20
strangely brought about, may not be repete with
happiness for each They now appear to be
reconciled to their destiny and !, for. one, believe,
that it will be a bright one
We sincerely hope, with our fair correspondent,
that this strange union may indeed be replete
with happiness. But, we would by no means
advise others to try so dangerous an experiment.
Marriage is too sacred thing to be trlfled with
in this way. We trust tina, few ministers in the
land could be found who would otiiciate under
similar circumstances.