, 1864-08-29

Not till the ninth or tenth century did
women obtain the privilege Of choosing or
Of refusing their husbands. Often they
were betrothed as children, the bridegroom's
pledge Of marriage being accompanied by
security" or "wed," whence comes the
word wedding" Part Of the wed always
consisted Of ring, placed upon the maid
ems right hand, and there religiously kept
until transferred to tho other hand at the
later nuptuals. Then, also, were repeated
the marriage VOWS and other ceremonies,
out Of which those now prevailing have
grown. The bride was taken " for fairer
for fonler, for better for worse, for richer
for poorer" and promised "to be buxom
and bonny" to her future husband. At
the final ceremony tho bridegroom put the
ring upon each Of the brides left hand fin-
gers in turn, saying, at the first, ain the
name Of the Father" at the second, q in
the name Of the Son. at the third, Gin the
name Of the Holy Ghost, and at the fourth
+" Amen" Then, also, the father gave to
his new son one Of his daughters shoes, in
token Of the transfer Of authority which he
effected, and the bride was at once made to
feel the change by tap or blow on her head
given with the shoe. The husband, on his
part, took an oath to use bis wife we'll. II
he failed to do SO she might leave him, but
by law he was allowed considerable license.
He was bound in honor "to bestow on his
wife and his apprentices moderate eastiga-
tion." We have nothing to show the exact
amount Of castigation held moderate by the
Anglo-Saxons, but one old Welsh law de-
cides that three blows with broomstick on
any "part Of the person except the head''
is fair allowance; and another provides
that the stick be not longer than the hus-
bands arm nor thicker than his middle en-
ger Prior to the seventh century, q wife
might at any time be repudiated on proof
Of her being either barren, deformed, silly,
passionate, luxurious, rude, habitually
drunk, gluttonous, very garrulOus, quarrel
some, or abusive.
Some q the effects Of ignited gunpoNder
arc wonderful. When gunpowdcr is heaped
up in tho open air and inilamed, there is
no report and but little effect produced. A
small quantity open, and iguited in room,
forces the air outward, so as TO blow out the
windows; but the same quantity confined
within bomb, within the same room, and
ignited, tears in pieces and sets on fire the
whole house. Count Rumford loaded q
mortar with one-twentieth Of an ounce Of
powder, and placed upon it twenty-four
pound cannon; he then closed up every
opening as completely as possible, and fred
the charge, which burst the mortar with a
tremendous explosion, and lifted up its
enormous weight. In another experiment
Count Rumford confined 2s grains Of pow
der in a cylindrical space, which it just
filed; and upon being fred, it tore asundcr
piece Of iron which would have resisted
strain Of 100000 pounds
Tom Kirkman used to toll Of q friend Of
his dropping in about dinner time on an
old lady, who invited him to draw up to
the table. There was a huge pic Of the
pot order for dinner. The old lady helped
him bountifully, and he, being hungry, was
doing Justice 70 il.
"Stranger," said the old lady, you will
find almost every kind Of meat in that pie.r
"Yes, madam = said he, q and fish, too"
as he drew from between his lips what he
imagined was the back bone Of red horse
sucker.
"Lord have mercy" exclaimed the old
woman, "if thar amt our fne tooth comb
that Billy lost two weeks ago"