Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1870-07-22
Hunting the slipper.

~--~ ~S~~Fh~~ss
There was gay wedding the other
day in Pittsburg, in which this old Gus
tom was revived with the merriest effect.
The wedding ceremonies occupied an en-.
tire day, the knot being tied in the NOR
ming and the rest of the day devosed to
festivities. The bride, according to the
old German custom, is in charge of the
groomsmen until the end of the wedding
day they are supposed to keep strict
watch over her until the hour of retiring.
If one Of the guests can in any manner
succeed in stealing the shoe off one Of
the brides feet, search-warrant is is
sued, and when the same is found it is
put up at auction, and no one is allowed
to bid for it save the groommen, the pro-
ceeds of the sale being the cook perquisite
Atthe wedding referred to, the shoe was
stolen during the dinner hour. A mis-
chievous guest managed to get under the
table, while the wine-corks were flying
in every direction, and the party were
laughing at the height of their voices.
Secretly he wended his way underneath
the table, until he arrived at the brides
chair, where, with a sharp knife, he gent
ly cut the satin ribbons that held the
daintiest little slipper on very pretty
little foot. He then retreated from his
position, and was successful in mingling
with the happy crowd before his absence
from the festive board was noticed. The
repast finished, the party arose from the
table, and not till then did the bride be-
come aware of her loss. There was q
merry laugh, and the recovery of the
the slipper was to be affected. An al
derman was one of the guests, and he
was applied to for a search-warrant. The
document was issued, and the gentleman
present, with the groomsmen as presi-
dents, resolved themselves into q COM
mittee of the whole, for the recovery of
the lost slipper. After a long search
the article was found in the possession of
the gentleman who committed the lar
ceny. He was appointed auctioneer, and
the satin slipper was knocked down to
one of the groom smen for SIS. He re-
stored it to the bride, the money was
handed to the cooks, and the rest of the
day and evening was spent in highly
enjoyable manner.
GREAT MAN AND THEIR WIVES
From the days of Socrates to Charles
Dickens there has been one long success
sion of unfortunate examples. Poet and
painter, dramatist and novelist, philoso-
pher and linguist-the Molieres, the Mil
tons, the Byrons, the Bulwers, the Dur
ers, the Scaligers, the Sheridans, the
Thackerays-will all marry and quar-
rel in the future, as they have in the
past. All these men, without exception,
will, in the future as in the past, blame
the wives for the several successive Ca
tastrophes Yet what record Of
heartlessness and indifference our great
est men have left of their domestic life.
| DR.. Franklin, that old utilitarian kite
flyer, went to Europe, leaving his wife
| behind, and never saw her face for elev-
en- years. She had shared his poverty,
practiced his Poor Richard maxims,
pinched and economical, patched and
darned, worked early and late, bred
children, nursed them through jaundice,
and gum, whooping cough, measles, scar
let fever, and fits, while Benjamin en-
/ joyed the splendors Of a court, velvet
couches, great dinners, and choice socie-
ty. OF course when he came back the
poor drudge was no match for the phi
losopher; there was great gulf between
them. That her heart rebelled is man.
ifest in the headstrong acts of his child
ren. He quarreled with his sons and
disinherited one Of them. Thus the
mothers wrongs were revenged. A just
retribution for any wrong on woman is
sure to come, in the vice and crime Of
her children to the third and fourth gen.
erations. Henry Clay thought he could
safely leave his wife at Ashland to bear
children and make butter for the Lex
ington market, while he made laws Of
the nation and love to the lovely women
in Washington. There his heart stood
always open as any boarding house door
but shut against her who was playing
Solomon's wise woman on a farm in Ken
lucky, cutting out lindsey and jean for
the negroes. His dream of ambition
over, sick and sad, he went back to Ash
land to find that the domestic drudge
called by the holy name Of wife had rear
ed up for him race Of degenerate, way
ward children. He was filed with the
bitterness of disappointment. But they
measured the depth ofthe mothers hum
iliation. The angles Of incidence and
ratal;at;an mara hut anua1 Was IL the