Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1876-03-31
Story of two Weddings.
A TALE FOR THE TIMES.
CHAPTER |.

OHAPIEh L,
was young then, for the first wedding
/ am about to describe took place forty
five years ago. l was the minister's wife
and my husbands parish was in the
northern part of the state of New York,
just verging upon the Adirondack re-
gion. Our people were mainly simple,
home-spun Scotch folk, and our church
belonged to what was known as the
"Seceder" persuasion. Many of'the
people talked the Gaelic, and all of them
retained the Covenanter prejudice against
hymn.singing and instrumental music in
the house of God. On the Sabbath the
precentor stood in the little stall made
for him beneath the pulpit, and, tuning
book in hand, led off the psalm, reading
every two lines. Though all of the peo-
pie had books, not all of them could
read-and those who could would not
have been willing to see the old ways for
saken and the reading of the line abol-
ished.
A little north of us was a colony of
Dutch folk who had no regular settled
minister as yet, and were dependent on
the missionaries sent out by the Dutch
Reformed Church These people came
sometimes to our meetings, and usually
counted ON my husband to attend their
burials, and perform the marriage cere-
mony at their weddings.
The winter of 1929 was very cold,
and the deep snow lay upon the ground
from October until nearly the first of
May. One bright, moonlight, but bitter
cold evening, having finished my days
work of housekeeping, mending and
writing letters, and my husband having
finished his work of sermon-writing and
committing oh what work it was to
write sermon an hour long every week
and then commit it to memory for our
old Scotch folk would not listen to
read sermon; and having brought in
the wood for the night, and foddered the
COW, we were sitting by the cheerful
hickory fire roasting apples and cracking
nuts and talking over our affairs, when
out on the clear, frosty air broke the cry,
Halloa Halloa the house There's
somebody for me" said my husband, and
opening the door, he answered, "Halloa!
what do you want ?" A team and
big, open sled, for it had no sides, stood
at the gate, and a voice from it answered,
Good evening, Dominie | came down
to get ye to tend wedding up in the
clips (clifs.) Jake Consall wants to
jine Sally Ann Linkumfilter that lives
down to Square Houghtailin's, and they
want you to come and splice 'em-t there's
a couple of dollars in it sure Will We
come ?" Aye, ayel" responded my
husband, Z" I'll be out in few minutes. ="
Coming in, his eyes twinkled with fun
as he said: "I'll warrant that fellow is
the Yankee that has come up from AL
bany to teach the cliff school He's an
eye to the main chance, too. Did you
hear him clinch the invitation to go out
this cold night, with the prospect of
two dollar fee +? Well. well, with a SAL
airy of only five hundred dollars, and
the bairnie there to educate, every dol
lar helps" The bairnie was our baby
girl. about six months old, lying asleep
in IAa cradle "Oh, Malcolm" said |,
ask the man to come in while | change
my dress and get ready. DO take me
and the baby have never been to one
of those Dutch Weddings, and it is so
lonely in this great, old house without
you
But, Susan, it is so cold, and the wee
bairnie, what'll you do with her ?''
She isn't undressed yet, and her
slip is clean; I'll wrap her up we'll and
tuck her into my muff"
Well, of course he consented, and in
ten minutes we were out on the sled, sit
ting down in the straw and we'll covered
with bear skins and buffalo robes. The
mufs we wore in those days were very
large-they'd be curiosity now-and
the baby was very small so, as | prom
ised, ! tucked her into it, and she slept
all the seven miles.
When we arrived, the guests were as
embed sitting-room and great kitchen
full. The house was an old-fashioned
one, with four rooms on the first floor,
with the same above, and over all
great garrett. The sitting-roo was fur
nished with old style, plain mahogany
furniture, straight backed chairs, heavy
tables and a great bureau nearly five
feet high, ornamented with brass ham
dies, and almost as black as ebony with
age Brass fire-dpgs, bright as rubbing
could make them, reflected the objects
around them; bright fire glowing in
the annie 6ra-nlaca and ON tho aoor