Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1876-11-16
AMERICAN wEDDrNG TOURS.

In the pleasant little personal para
graphs in the country papers that record
the brilliant weddings of the daughters of
''our distinguished tOwnsmen, F" We have
very commonly read this season how the
happy couple, after receiving the con-
gratulatiOns of their friends, cleft for
the Centennial 1t is toward this Mecar
that all the blissfuI pilgrims just now
turn. Every groom who can do so takes
his bride to the Exhibition. Marriages
are postponed and marriages are hurried
up in order that the Exhibition and the
honeymoon may be taken together. And
vet it does not require very philosophi-
cal mind to appreciate that they do these
things better abroad. The relations of
the sexes before marriage in America and
all other parts of the world are widely
different. Here an engaged man sees his
fiance as often and as much as he pleases
and usually without the embarrassing
presence of other people; in fact, COM
mon usage seems to dictate that if third
person be left by chance in the presence
of betrothed couple he shall consider
himself as de tFOp and Withdraw if posi-
ble even if there seems to be no other
reason for his leaving them alone. In
other civilized countries the young girl is
to be guarded against the society or COM
panionship of her betrothed husband as
carefully as against association with an
utter stranger, and a man sees his future
wife alone but seldom. Once married the
same scrupulous care is taken to secure
complete privacy for the newly-wedded
couple. They go either TO their own
house or to some quiet retreat, where they
see as little company as possible, and they
do not take a wedding tour until they
have become somewhat accustomed to
their new relations.
We have no intention of interfering
with the time-honored customs of court
I
society, but we wish to point out some of
the evils of the American system of we'd
| ding tours. Marriage is the great event
of a girls existence. 1t changes at once
all her relations in life. 1t transfers her
allegiance from parents to a husband; it
| removes her from a home where she has
| been kept and watched over to n new
| home, for whose creation and mainten-
ance she is to assume joint responsible
! ty. Everything is new to her. That she
may be properly fitted, mentally and
| physically, to assume these burdens, she
should be in the enjoyment of perfect
| health. She should have no work to eX-
haust her vitality, no excitement or care
to strain her nervous system. Igstead of
| this, what is the fact? In place of quiet
there is buStle and noise; instead of rest,
| there is unremitting labor. The bride
spends the weeks preceding the marriage
day closeted with dressmakers and bend
numerous than ever, and to every queS-
ton of preparation She must give heed,
for she is the sole arbiter. The morning
of the day finds her nervous and weary.
Then comes the excitement of DRESSING
the ceremony and the reception, and hard
after it the long railway journey, of itself
| sufficient to exhaust Woman OF not extra
ordinary strednth. Then come the days Of
sightseeing, up in the mOrning.and away,
on their feet all day, with hasty lunch ar
noon and supper at night when too tired
l TO eat it, 1t is enough to weary the
= strongest man; what wonder that women
fall under it The nervous system carries
. them through y great deal, but even that
may be strained until it snaps, and Il Is
t surprising that the effects of this foolish
and reckless abuse of the human frame Is
q not productive of permanent injury.
The principal excuse for thus preeipl-
, tating wedding tour upon the weddlng
ceremony is the feeling that III don
90 now never shall. This Is no excuse
Y Whatever. Why not go away quietly e
q some out-of-the-way place, and postpone
: the tourney if for only three days-three
weeks would be better-until the excite
ment and worry of the day has passed
n away, until mind and body are invigor
It ated by rest and freedom from excite
Il ment? Then, too, the fact that it was |
q wedding tour would not be quite so pat
ent. Bride and bridegroom both wouli
be spared many quizzical glanees, the!
a would be more likely to remember not Q
d take hold of each others hands IN public
l. and would stand a much better chance Q
rt not being set down as hapay inmates q
fools paradise, - PhilGdelphid Times.