Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1875-02-04

probably So, 000
In less than SIX months it was dis
covered that the gentleman, who was an
agent for business house in town. had
actually young wife and two children
in small village in Connecticut. and
had trusted TO good fortune and the
Astounding confidence of girls and their.
mammas in nice-looking young men To
preserve his secret intact. During the.
| interval he had boarded with papa and
mamma-in- law" and accounted for his
occasional absences on the score of bust.
ness.
After another OF these brilliant show
weddings, q young couple went to board
In fashionable house uptown. The
young husbands means could i'll stand
! the: expenditure, which was increased
by the habits of the people with whom
he and his wife now associated Shop
ping, dressing and visiting filed up her
| times, and evenings must be devoted 70
places of amusement and little suppers.
Then commenced struggle TO keep up
appearances, varied by chickering's and
complaints, and the end was defalcation,
| Jail, the return to her early home OF the
wife, and a grudged subsistence, wrung
from narrow means, for herself and in
FAINT child
Instances of this kind, ending more or
less wretChedly, as all pretense must,
might be multiplied; but il is unneceS-
Sary TO cite them-enough win occur to
the mind of every reader who is at all
converSaIt with modern society. 1t is
somewhat comforting to know that the
higher classes in England are beginning
to discourage the spectacle OF public
and imposing bridal display.
On two occasions recently the brides
! are said to have walked to the village
church attended only by family friends,
and were married in a simple costume
which had been previously worn. This is
perhaps carrying plainness to extreme
limits, but it is certain that wisdom in
| habits and customs concerning bridals
must oegln at the top II they are to be
accepted by the middle class.
Twenty-Five years ago one of the hand
| soonest girls in New York city, the
daughter of distinguished father and
an acknowledged belle in Europe and
America, was engaged TO be married to
a member of one of the acknowledged
first families. When the evening arrived
it found her stoning raisins with her old
nurse-nOw promoted to be cook-in her
fathers kitchen. She slipped upstairs.
did" her hair herself, put on an even
ing dress of embroidered muslin, one
that she had worn before, and went down
into the parlOr alone and was married.
Her mother had been dead many years;
she had really no one that she cared
about except her father and her old
nurse, and she hated fuss"
1t is not, however, necessary to be &c
centric; it is only desirable to invest SO
important and sacred ceremonial with
truth, delicaCy, tenderness propriety and
consideration, instead of making it lie
and sham, shocking, shaming and de
strOying all modesty by indecent parade,
and plunging young people into embar-
RAISING circumstances which often mar
their whole after lives
4 wedding should be quiet and eX--
clusivelY family, or at any rate friendly,
affair. To it mere acquaintance should
never be hidden. Cards are the proper
lnstrumentalities for informing these Of
the change which has occurred in the
social and domestic relations. No
cards" is as vulgar as the trick OF invit
ing a large number of persons Tor the
sake of getting something out Of them
is mean.
Not that there is any Improperly in
making wedding presents; OF the con
trary, it is custom to be commended:
but the gifts should come from those
who are near or dear, as an evidence Of
affection, as God-speed" in starting
on an unknown journey. They should
consist of such things as will be per
petual and valued souvenirs-not SO
much on account Of their money cost as
the care and thOughtfulness which they
show; the knowledge of the tastes and
the consideration of the habits and fu-
ture requirements of the receiver. They
should be benson upon two lives,
stimulus to right action, reminder Of
afectionate guidance and counsel, an
encouragement to persevere in the. path
of duty, an evidence Of the consecra-
ton of two lives to nobler purposes than
is usually attained by a single and solita-
~ existence.
So may wedding and the wedding
gifts become the keynote to a true har-
monte strain which will grow fuller and
sweeter to all eternity and
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