The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1874-10-01
THE WOODEN WEDDING.

Down TO my dying day!
Mary T.. Bradley, in Appletons Journal.
THE WOODEN WEDDING.
COZ course Louison must come home
for the wooden wedding" decided the
whole Of the Gruhners assembled in full
family conclave; the said family con-
clave being composed of Grandfather
and Grandmother Gruhner, Widow
Gruhner and her two daughters, Margot,
whose fifth wedding day was to be cele
brated, and Gretchen, the laughter-loving
youngest daughter of the family. Be
sides whom were present Wilhelm Raus,
Margot's husband, and Hans, the miller's
son. $50
~Yes, yes, Fraulein Louison must
come home for the wedding, Of course"
echoed Hans.
And then everybody laughed First Of
all, because no one in the world but
Hans would have dreamed Of dgnifying
little Louison Gruhner with SO imposing
title; and next, because poor Hans
could never SO much as mention Louison's
name, titled or not, without causing a
laugh in the family circle. His admira-
ton for that young person, freely ex-
pressed on all occasions when the OBJ
.ject of his affections was not present,
and his extreme shyness in her society,
had long been a standing joke in the vii
l,r .,f Dr,,c hot f,r
him the nickname of "the bashful
lover"
When they all laughed, Hans blushed
very furious and unbecoming red.
Never mind, never mind, friend
Hans" said Wilhelm, clapping him on
the shoulder encouraglngly. ~ was
young once, and timid too, and yet thou
seest took the bull by the horns at last !;
and would advise thee"
But the advice was drowned in cho
rus Of laughter and expostulations. Mar
got, perhaps not unnaturally, objected to
be compared to horned BULL and Viii
helms timidity had not been SO patent
to the world even in his young days, as
IL,
it would seem.
However, it was quite decided that
Louison was to come home.
She was bright, dark k-eyed girl of
about seventeen, an orphan niece of
Widow Gruhner, and the bosom friend of
her cousin Gretchen who was her junior
by few months Louison lived, as a
rule, with some distant relatives, who
were farmers, a few miles from KOnigs-
berg; but her holidays, somewhat few
and far between, were always spent in
the Gruhners' little cottage, which from
her childhood had been considered as her
real home, and her visits to Brushofen
were looked forward to by all the mem
bers of the family with great
pleasure. 1t was now almost year
since she had been to see them, and it
was quite impossible to allow the grand
festivities Of the wooden wedding" to
take place without her SO after some
what elaborate correspondence between
the Widow Gruhner and Frau Liebe, the
farmers wife, whose right hand Louison
was, leave Of fortnight was obtained,
and the day was fixed for the young girls
arrival at Brushofen.
Old Gruhner, accompanied by his
grand daughter, Gretchen, went to meet
her at the coach.
"Two weeks, two whole weeks, my
Loui,on," cried Gretchen, grasping her
friends hand as they walked together up
the steep cliff path that led to the cottage.
"Only think how delightful And be-
fore the end of that time Hans Steiner
will have asked thee to marry him, and
then thou wilt stay here always, and live
in the pretty new cottage by the mill,
and we shall never part with thee again"
"Come, come, = retorted Louison, how
dost thou know that by the time Hans
Steiner pleases to say Wilt thou? !
shall not please to say Nay?'"
But as she spoke smile curled the
corners of her pretty mouth, and her eyes
sparkled, all hidden though they were by
their long lashes.
Well, well, we shall see," returned
Gretchen, wisely resolving not to press
the matter, at least for the present.
And there were naturally manv other
subjects Of conversation interesting to
the family party, or at least to the women
portion Of it: many questions to ask and
be answered, many friends to be inquired
for and discussed
A merry and talkative group were they,
as they sat together that evening at work
by the open window of the cottage
kitchen. It seemed as though they could
never get to the end of their absorbing
topics-births, marriages, deaths, changes
of one kind or another, rumors of what
might be, or might have been, flirtations,
feuds-who does not know the thousand
and one elements Of village gossip? #
the conversation tagged for moment, it
was sure to break out again directly with
an " Oh! what do you Think" or "Have
you heards" or " Do tell mes" And then
on the tongues would go again, as glibly
as though not word had been spoken
for hours. 8 a.
"Oh! these women, these women"
grumbled old Grandfather Gruhner.
"Just listen to them click clack, click
.clacking, for all the world like q flock of
geese. Set Ave women together, and
some mischief will be brewing, one may
he sure of that. And yet, in. spite. of
his protests, it did not seem that the old
man had really any yety strong aversion
himself to little gossip. since he how
cred about the group, niPs II month,
with some tenac1ty, instead Of following
his on-in-law, Wilhelm, to the garden,
where lie was busy digging potatoes.
The forthcoming festivities of the