The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1875-05-26
uoman's ways.

A Lady living in Constantinopl
gives a very interesting account OF
Turkish, or rather an Armenian wed
ding. The bride, although the pos
SCISSOR Of two houses and one hun
dred thousand dollars, vas to MARI.
a poor clerk. Lucky clerk some on
will say; but when We read that th'
bride was an Armenian and tina
pretty Armenian" is Turkish for
fool, there is doubt after all about th
clerks luck. OF her dress and az
~pearance, we quote the lady's &C
count:
1.-The bride was dressed prettily
aud was covered with a most curiou
veil made of long slips Of gold tinse
which reached to her feet. Through
this you could not see, except th'
bottom Of her dress. She was dress
ed in white silk, brocaded with silveI
and pearls, and that around heI
waist was a wide belt containing s
fortune in precious stones HeI
cheeks were painted a deep crimson
laid in on a heart shape, and anoth
er heart was artistically put on the
chin, while the rest of the face wal
as white as the luminous cosmetic
could bring it. The eyebrows met
and also stretched to the hair on
each side Of her temples, and was
as black as they could be painted
The inside of her fingers ends and
finger nails were stained deep Grim.
son. Her hair, which was long and
thick, though coarse, was braided
full Of little gingling coins. The out
lines Of her form were, as usual, to-
tally hidden by the clumsily-inade
clothes, her feet were encased in vel
vet slippers, embroidered with pearls.
Large solitaire diamonds constituted
her earrings. Four priests perform
ed the ceremony, and the wedding
company waited from 8 A. NJ. till
nearly , P. NJ. for them to come.
The priests were decorated with gold
embroidery from head to foot, and
the chief priest wore u sort of mitrc
on his head literally blazing with
jewels. The carpet was now cover
ed with one far more elegant, having
tassels of pearls at each corner. The
chief priest took his place on the
centre Of this, and the other three
behind. The father Of the bride took
her by the hand and led her forward
to the BRIDEGROOM, and the two then
stepped before the priest. Two
boys brought cushions with a green
wreath on each for the bride and
bridegroom. The birds was kept in
place by the tinsel veil, but that of
the unfortunate Haskar kept sliding
forward or backward all the time,
making him uncomfortable. The
bride was under rather than over
the ordinary height for women, and
the bridegroom a very tall man, and
they were Obliged TO stand with
their foreheads touching each other
during the whole ceremony, which
took certainly an hour. 1t seemed
to consist mostly of swinging of TIE
censers and singing by the boys and
q sort Of monotonous chant by the
priests. At last it was finished by
Haskar handing a plain gold ring to
his bride AID receiving one from her
in exchange, and then both kneeled
for a few moments while the priests
chanted, the boys swung the censers
around very close to the heads of
the unfortunate couple. They then
I ose, and the priests departed, aftsr
RECALLED themselves in he
supper-room alone. The party then
adjourned to the supper-room; the
bride was lifted by the men and
seated sstride a small barrel of wine,
and the feast commenced. She had
to sit there till all the wine was
out of the barrel, which was
two hours. She locked tired
enough before all was over, for she
got nothing to eat at all. The
Armenisns arc good eaters, and it
daylight before the feast con-
AMI the guests allowed to de-
nor+