The Grange advance. [volume] (Red Wing, Minn.) 1873-1877, 1876-04-19
A NOTABLE QUAKER WEDDING.

London Daily News
A marriage was lately celebrated at
the Friends Meeting House, st. Mar
tins lane, between MIR. Theodore Har-
ris, banker, Leighton Buzzard, a men,
Der of the Society of Friends, and Miss
Gertrude Russell, daughter of Lord
Charles Russell, and communicate of
the Church of England. Those pres
ent included Lord Charles Russell,
Lord and Lady Arthur Russell. Major
and Mrs. Wyndham, the Hon. A. Kin
naird, NJ. p, Mr.. Isaac Fletcher, NJ p.
(brother-in-law of the bridegroom,
MIR. and Mrs. H. Harris, Mr.. E. B. Tylor,
F. R. S., Miss Harris, and Miss j. NJ.
Tylor. The rules of the Society of
Friends have been recently relaxed in
order to allow of what are called mix
ed marriages being sOlemniZed at the
meeting houses of the Society of
Friends. The peculiarly of the mar
rage ceremony is that no minister or
officer interferes. The marriage vow is
repeated by the bride and bridegroom
standing up after a short interval of
silence, in front of the congregation.
A ring was on this occasion put on af-
ter the actual ceremony was finished,
in Difference to the ancient custom,
which the rules of the society have
not been able to break through. A
certificate, recording the actual words
used by the newly-married couple, and
giving a description of their parent
age, was then signed, first in the pres
ence of the meeting by the bride and
bridegroom, and then by a number of
their friends, and read aloud to the
meeting. The permission or act of
allowing mixed marriages at Friends
Meeting is new one, and has brought
with it the anticipated consequences.
A few devotional remarks were made
by several ministers of the Society of
Friends, but none by any member of
the other religious bodies present.
The friends invited, about sixty in
number, were afterward entertained
at a breakfast at the Grosvenor Hotel.
Among the speakers was Mr.. John
Bright, NJ. p, who is regular atten-
dant at St. Martins Lane Meeting
House. He remarked first that he
thought the difficulty of speaking in
an interesting manner on those occa-
sions, was that there was nothing new
to communicate, and nothing to argue
about. All present were agreed that
the union they were celebrating was
one that was likely to be a happy one.
He could truly say, looking at the re-
suit Of marriage in his own case and
that of almost all his friends, that
was an event to rejoice over,
and the source of true happiness, con-
tributing greatly to a useful life. Feel
ing wcaried by the stress of the long
that morning his mind had
turned for rest to the contemplation of
the remarkable history of the Russell
family. He had thought of the fate of
one member of that illustrious, histor-
ical house, who had given up his life
for the cause of civil liberty. He had
also thought of the prosecutions and
sufferings of the ancestors of many of
those present, many of whom had also
given their lives us sacrifices to the
cause of religious liberty. The name
Of Russell had for many years or gen.
erations been associated with the
struggle for liberty. The Society of
Friends had also done their part in
times that were past, and he hoped
would continue to strive for the same
good objects in the future. There
was, therefore, nothing at all incon-
gruous in the marriage between a
of the house of Russell and
of the Society of Friends.
The project of establishing a wooden