The Portland daily press., 1874-10-09
"SWell" Weddings.

IfThomas w. Fitch Of the Engineer Corps
had said to Gen. Shermau's daughter, in the
presence of witnesses, "Minnie Sherman, l
take you for my wife," or any word of like
purport, and the lady had a:sented by word
or gesture aud the pair had then begun house
keeping. the marriage would, according to
many eminent authorities, have been good
and valid. The Archbishop, with his purple
cassock, lace rochette, silk tnnic, stole, mani
pie, chasuble and other ecclesiastical millinery
with his ''hcavy gold pastoral cross" his
gold sandals, white silk stockings, ''massive
gold crozier' and ''mitre respondent with
precious stones''--the three assistant and
two waiting priests, the attendance of high
civil and military officials, the diplomatic
corps in uniform, the nuptial mass with its
tedious hours ceremonial, the fasting Of
bride, groom and archbishop, the rich and
costly floral decorations of house and church,
the princely wedding presents, the enumera-
ton of which reads like the inventory of a
rich bankrupes estate, and the other details
OF fuss and feathers so gloatingly described by
jenkins, all these were in excess of the es-
sentials of lawful marriage contract Nor
can au appeal be taken to nature itself in jus
tiication of this extreme redundancy of orna-
m mt and parade. The floral envelo.p is often
gorgeous, it is true, and brilliancy of
color vies With delicacy of perfume in making
splendid marriage for the flowers. But or
nament is ever subordinated to utility, and
the beautiful petals of the water lily have
their first and greatest Office to perform in
protecting and supporting the wonderful or
gans within that are necessary to the perpet-
uation of the species. Universal custom and
prudent anxiety for unquestionable validity
in contract of so much importance have
very properly led TO the observance of more
or less formality in celebrating marriages.
But neitherl law, convention, analogy nor rea-
son can be invoked to justify such gaudy
ceremonial as took place last week in Wash
ington. There are certain tribes of savages
where the enamored swain comes steathily
on his bride and, depriving her of conscious
ness by blow on the head with a heavy
club, carries her off in triumph 10 his hut.
And we have all of us recently heard of a
western marriage where the officiating clergy
man, abruptly addressing the bridegroom,
said, "Will you have this woman for your
wife ?'-and on receiving an affirmative re-
ply, calculated, "Have her thenv' declaring
the couple duly married when he had fin
ished like terse colloquy with the woman.
There is no danger that insistence on pre-
serving some degree of simplicity at weddings
will result in the general adoption of so lean
a ritual as that used in either Of these cases.
Persons who have once made up their minds
to disregard Punch's time-henored advice to
people about to 'Don't!'-owe some
tribute to Hymen, Pronuba, Juno and the
other awful powers that preside over nuptials,
the payment of which may well be promptly
made. But if their affairs are to be loaded at
the risk of impove.ishing the victims and
all their friends, marriage will become unpop-
ular.
The display at Washington was so conspic-
u0us and ostentatious an affair as to be just
subject for comment in the way of pointing
moral, which is, that every such extrava-
CANT demonstration tends to arouse spirit
of emulation, so that the young lady, who is
married without a parade extravaganza in pro-
portion to her station in life, really feels that
sheis defrauded of right Inherent in the very
nature Of the ceremony; and the welded pair
start off in life with exalted notions which
make the common things of existence look
cheap and distasteful. The tendency in this
direction has long been marked aud SO far
has it gone that hereditary wealth alone will
enable the average man to marry young.
There can be no possible doubt taat the Gull
tvation of simplicity in this respect would be
of very great benefit to the individuals, to
community and to posteritV.