Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1877-11-09
Mock Marriage.
HOW A YOUNG LADY UNWITTINGL1 BE-
CAME A LAWFUL WIFE.

HOW A YOUNG LADY UNWITTINGLY BE-
CAME LAWFUL WIFE.
Mr.. and Mrs. David Mannerlng, who lived
at Lorimer and Jackson streets, Williams
burg, N, Y. have an only daughter, Clara.
She is a brunette, seventeen years old, with
bright black eyes and dark curling hair that
flows in waves over her slight but well de-
Yeloped figure. She returned but few
weeks ago from Orange county, N. w.
where she has been spending the summer.
About ten days since, Mrs. Mannering,
while looking over the contents OF her
daughters trunk, which had not yet been
unpacked. discovered scrollof parchment,
richly engraved and ornamented, and held
together by blue ribbon, tied in true
loYe-knot. She opened and read certifi-
cate by the Rev. William II. Williams Of
Unionville, Orange county, setting forth
that john Brundage and Clara Mannering
were married on the 25th OF August, 1877.
Hardly able to believe heI eyes, Mrs. Man
nering questioned her daughter. :.
With some bushes Clara explained that
when two or three people came together IN
the Cats kills the favorite mode OF amuse-
ment is the performance OF a mock m&rrl-
age. On the evening of the above date she
had attended party gwen at the house OF
young farmer named Brundage. 1t was
proposed that she and the host. in accor
dance with the custom Of the country,
should play at being married. According
ly. she stood up with Mr.. Brundage before
one of the guests, who volunteered to play
the part of Clergyman, and the pair were
pronounced by him man and wife. Hard
" had the words, "Whom God hath joined
together let not man put assunder," been
pronounced when Brundage declaring that
the marriage was a real one and not a
sham, claimed her as his wife. The sup
posed bogus clergymen, he said, Was d min
ister of the Methodist Episcopal Church,
and the ceremony he had performed could
not be nulllfied save by a divorce obtained
by due process of law. All this was done
in Joking way, however, and not even
when she got the certificate OF the ceremo-
ny did Clara realize that the affair was not
a hoax. She brought the certificate home
with her as a memorial of the mock mar
riage, but, so she said, had forgotten that
there was such a thing in existance when
her mother brought it to light.
Ciara's story caused Mrs. Wandering
great perturbation Of mind. She thought
her DAUGHTERS youth had been taken adj
PSAi'ssIo ooetAAN>
for life to some undesirable and ineligible
person. Anxious to know whether the pre-
tended marriage was valid, she consulted
last Thursday with one of the clerks in the
Brookland City Court, whom she mistook
for the Judge, and WAS tod to her horror
that the certificate set forth q legal mar
riage.
When the lady concluded her story MI.
Snedeker said: swell madam so far as l
can Judge this is a legal certificate"
90 my Do you think SO p replied the
lady. 1T cannot be possible that Clara
must live with that long, lean, gawky far
mer. Why, he is six feet two inches in
height, with horney hands, and knows
nothing but about pigs, COWS and milking,
while Clara is of petite figure, refined in
manners and fragile as delicate flower. -
Mr.. Snedeker asked whether Mr.. Brun-
dage was man OF means.
Mrs. Manneripg, replied "Oh yes, SIT !;
he has large farm and is heir to consid-
cradle property
Mr.. Snedeker then said: s'If that is the
case, take my advice; let your daughter
go to her husband, and she will be better
off than if she married q city swell who
carries his fortune Oh his back
With this the conference ended, Mrs.
Mannering saying that she would invoke
ground Of fraud.
She Immediately wrote to Mr.. Brundage,
and received in reply an agreement to an
null the marriage if it proved distasteful to
her.. He was ready, MI. Brundage said,
to consider the ceremony of the 25th OF
| August real or sham, as his BRIDES parents
determined. He loved Clara, and wanted
her to live with him as his wife, but would
not take advantage Of the supposed joke
unless she wished to have it so. All the
! proceedings and expenses necessary to dis
solve the marriage he would take upon
himself in case Clara did not care to con-
tinue to be Mrs. John Brundage. Through
inquiry of friends living in Union
vile, Mrs. Mannering learned that
Mr.. Brundage was we'll off, possess
ing good farm and being ahundantly able
to support wife, besides being heir to
considerable property. He was, she was
informed, most desirable match, and her
daughter might go further and worse.
Such was The story told by Mrs. Man
nering to ''Sun" reporter last evening.
Clara or, to give her right names Mrs.
Brundage, sat by and listened.
| ''I'd just as lief it would be q real mar
rage" she said, shaking her curls.
| Mrs. Mannering did not seem to have
| formed any plans for the future. Brun-
dage had not yet visited his bride at her
home, and there seemed to be no hurry
| about coming to a decision. Clara, she
| continued, was yet too young to think OF
marriage, but If MI Brundage would wait
two or three years before he claims hel she
might make no oposition.-N. Z. sNn.