Delaware State journal and statesman., 1869-06-15
Getting Married.

HOW 1T LOOKS TO THE BRIDEGROOM WHEN
TIE DAY HAS BEEN FIXED.
Why the prospect of marriage should al
ways produce calming effect is not easily
conjectured, at all events by those who want
the knack Of knowing how to reconcile ex-
perience with imagination. The truth, we
suppose, must be that man becomes re-
signed when one his marriage day has been
fixed. He is conscious that the event is in
evitable. The pleasing perturbation OF the
period of courtship is at an end. In little
while he feels that you shall see his name in
the list of marriages. The sense OF the duty
of looking happy and feeling pleased is upon
him. He does not shrink at the condition of
premeditated matrimony. He is very anx-
ious to look happy; and when congratulated
at every turn by his friends, processes him
self very much pleased. But he is not
pleased and he is not happy. A good deal
of anxiety is generated by the constant con-
temptation of the day that is inevitable
Many dubious reflections upon the minute
concomitanls of marriage annoy him. lie
MN have, nrat Of .ili} W gel mairled'-ttfatl
| 10 say, he viii have TO stand huttoIed up in
q frock coat twenty minutes or more
heaven send that the bride doesn't want
choral service before a clergyman, sub
jected TO the prying glAnces OF his dear rela-
tiYes and friends, assembled to witness, and
by their presence, 10 solemnize, il you will,
the service. Then he will have TO receive
the congratulations of everybody in the yes
try-room-a terrific ordeal. Then he will
have TO walk down the church, amidst the
whispering and wondering and gaze of rows
of strangers who have strolled into the
church 10 witness the proceedings. Then he
will have 10 push his way through crowd
of gaping children, nurses, and infants in
perambulators, into his carriage. ALI this
kind oil thing is delightful to women, but TO
men, and to nervous men in particular, II Is
one OF the greatest detriments TO marriage.
But the bridegroom's g misery does not end
with his getting into the carriage. The silly
coachman and foOtman have encumbered
themselves with enormous and conspicuous
favors, and he is dragged through the streets
creating almost as much speculation, and
provoking almost as much wonderment as a
new lord mayor in gilt coach.
But all this is trifIng compared to what is
TO follow. II the bride lives In a square he
has the satisfaction of seeing the neighbor-
ing balconies crowded TO catch aglimpse o.
them entering the house. II she lives in O
street the windows are filled with heads
while servants grin through the area railing
and crack many horrid jokes if there are
few men about. II she lives IN the country
a band of binds and yokels jostle each olhei
about the gateway and raise hoarse cry o
I
would think that matrimoney was a new In
I ventlon; and that this marriage was the frs
experiment. Alter the bridegroom has gOnt
very gracefully through the ordeal OF beinE
4 courtesled to by the servants of the house
i whose faces are inflated with the variou
A congratulatory expressions, he has again L
endure the shaking of hands, and the spas
l. modlc assurance OF good wishes that follow
the arrival of the party. After having dined
| 10 10, .I,n hoo s1rar
b all the gentlemen cluster about him TO renew
their congratulations. Then he has to SAL
goodbye. The BRIDES little brother sets ul
howl at the loss of his sister, which n
I. promises OF pantomimes at Christmas, an
boxes of eonjuring implements can silence
The mother-in-law IS desolate; she has bee
crying ever since five in the morning, an
e laints away IN the arms OF a sympathetic ol
. friend, who entreats her to be calm, IN he
Christian name, when the bride gives her
farewell kiss. The father wipes his eye
y y with the napkin which he has carried wit
10 him from the breakfast table. Amid miser
and congratulations the bridegroom depart
the most miserable Of the party, the lea
: OF all to be congratulated.
No wonder the contemplation of this kin
~ OF thing sobers man. No wonder an elC
ment OF sadness and doggedness pervad'
the actions and language OF him whose ma
=, riage day has been fixed. He is sobered i
. contemplated contingencies Frankly, v
d. pity the man who is going TO be marrie
We cannot extend the same compassion
~ young ladies. They can stand any amou
,a OF tears, of scrutiny, OF hysteria, OF speech
H. and the waving oil fans. But man, thOul
IN not born to be single, was not born to e
hs dure the evils that attend the ceremony
getting partner. He has 10 thank socie
Tor these evils. Yet we shrewdly suspect
IT good many more men revenge themselv
upon society by not getting married at a
than is dreamed OF In the philosophy OF tho
u who imagine that going TO be married is o
OF the most ecstatic OF Imaginable conditio
of beings.
rin