Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1872-10-17


couple written on ii. Sip No. | repre-.
sented the first couple on the left, and so
on. Carefully arranging once more the
twelve Individuals in proper order, his
gray head appeared between those of
each pair You, Thomas Jones ? You,
Mary Smith? p etc. YES" Then
youll please not to move Having rs.
certalned that all were where they ought
to be; he gave sigh of relief, handed the
book with the slips of paper to me, and
the service commenced.
| soon found that | must know that
service by heart, for well nigh my whole
time and attention was taken up in CON
versational instruction, and in watching
TO see that no oyer-Curious bridesmaid
surreptitiousiy though uniutentionally
usurped the place ef a tooretiring bride
Hardly ever, fear did perform the
service without grave infractions of the
law WHICH tOrbids the making unauthor.
lied additions to the PRAYER Book; seldom
vas | allowed TO ask the question "Wilt
thou have this woman to he thy welded
wife ~ etc, without some interruption
for if the bridegroom were not exceed
lngly reticent, he was almost invariably
oyer,eager and before | had got through
the first words, would answer, often with
pull Of the forelock Eyes, sir :" or,
TO be sure, sir-surely, ! will so.n 4
request TO wait until the question was
completed had the effect as a rule, of
driving him to the opposite extreme, and
making him most reluctant To answer II
VIII when the proper time came. The
SeVerest trial, however, was at the next
point in the service, and it was always
with sense of relief that / passed be
yond it, Snow, will you say this after
me?' | used to ask ~, John, take thee,
Mary, etc. The hesitation was occasion
ally so long that the bride grew impa-
tient, and asked, angrily, SITE noce ''Why
don't you say it?' which generally
brought about the desired result
Turning to the bride-"Now, will yoU
say this after me; 4, Mary, take thee,
john - etc; and, hard though 1t be to
believe, full often would the man begin:
81, Mary or whatever the name might
be, to his partners intense disgust
1t viii easily be seen that the great ma
iority of our weddings were the reverse
Of aristocratic. To what class, however
to assign them would be difficult
An elderly gentleman, whose card an
nounced him as an officer of rank in the
army, called upon me one evening and
produced marriage license, saying that
he wished to be married as early as pos.
sible on the following morning. Accord
ingly, he appeared with a rather over
dressed lady, some twenty-five years his
junior, and, by way of witness, stout,
elderly couple of the small.tradesman
RANK, Al went Wen uhtiL lht une came
LOT signing lhe registers. L asked me
usual 4uesuons' among thcm the PROBES
SION ol inc latiief Of eaCh party MAJOR
General was gwen and entered as me
4uaIIty, lrade or PROFESSION OF lhe
oilie2roou parent. our laIheF pro-
lesslon, II you pleaseF asked the Iaoy
parueher was me reply ! lhouEIl
that hGf husband iookeu hluch peIlnroeut
out duIy entered 'he itcih' ana thoQsht
no more ABOUT IL untll inc next Gay, Nheh'
10 my surprise, ne again calIeu ~ my
lodgings, ana aljer an elapofate eNplaha'
tion as TO the lfue poSl'ioh OF ms "iIe
ia'her' "hlch ne represented 10 oe Iila'
Oh private gentleman earnestly re-
queSted me TO alter ihiS enltY ID the regis
yer, AIDING thaJ ne was NlI'ing TO pay any
lee Tor the same. qua NOT, hecu hafoly
say, TAKE any Zee put maze the allera-
ton, with note on the margin to the
effect that 1t had been made by me on me
representation and at the request OF the
bridegroom,
On another occasion, after the usual
three comered note the previous evening,
found waiting at the vestry cookbook
ing but somewhat "horscy' young man
with license in due form, but without
his bride "Sorry to have brought you