Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1876-02-03
Advice to an Expectant Bride.

THE following letter was recently adj
dressed to lady about to become bride.
bya gentleman acquaintance, in acknowl.
alignment of the receipt of her wedding
cards. 1t gains melancholy interest,
says the New York Graphic, from the lac,
that the young wife died soon after her
marriage:
L am holding some pasteboard in nv
hands, Addie three stately pluckings
from the bush Of ceremony I am gazing
upon card and upon aame-a name
with which your gentle life began, name
with which your throbbing heart was lost.
There is nothing strange about that card.
The maiden sign still looks up from it,
calm and customary, as it looked on many
friendly visit, as it lies in many formal
basket. am gazing, too, upon q card
where the nearer parent tells the world
she will be "At Home" one day; and
that is nothing newt But there is another
card, whose mlngling there puts tongue
OF fire into this speechless pasteboard, en-
amellng fate on commonplace! 1t tells US
that feeling is maturing into destiny, and
that these cards are but the pale heralds
OF coming crisis; when hand that has
pressed friends hands and plucked f1ow-
ers shall close down on him TO whom she
shall be friend and flower forever after /
have sent you few flowers to adorn the
dying moments of your single life. They
are the gentlest types Of delicate and
durable friendship. They spring up by
our side when others have deserted it;
and they will be found watching over our
graves when those who should cherish
have forgotten US. 1t seems meet to me
that past so calm and pure as yours
should expire with a kindred sweetness
about it; that flowers and music. kind
friends and earnest words should conse-
crate the hour when a sentiment is passing
into sacrament. The three great stages of
our being are the birth, ne bridal and the
burial. To the first we bring only weak
ness-for the last we have nothing but
DUST But here, at the altar, where life
joins life, the pair come throbbing up to
the holy man, whispering the deep prom
Use that arms each with the others heart,
to help on in the life-struggle of care and
duty. The beautiful will be there, Dor
rowing new beauty from the scene. The
gay and the frivolous, they and their
founces, will look solemn for once And
youth will come to gaze on all its sacred
thoughts pant for, and age will totter up
to hear the old words repeated that to
their own lives have gwen the charm.
Some will weep over it as if it were a
tomb, and some will laugh over it as if it
were a joke; but two must stand by it,
for it is fate, not fun, this everlasting lock
ing OF their lives. And now, can you,
who have queened it over so many bend
ing forms, can you come down at last to
the frugal diet of single heart? Hither-
to you have been clock giving your time
to all the world. Now you are watch,
buried IN one particular bosom, warming
only his breast, marking only his hours,
and ticking only to the beat of his heart
where time and feeling shall be in unison
until these lower ties are lost in that high
er wedlock where all hearts are united
around the great Central Heart of ALL
Hoping that calm sunshine may hallow
your clasped hands, / sink silently into q
signature. ID. S. G.