The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1877-02-23


for rolling as carriage-wheels every eye
forms its own beauty every bridal pro-
cession marches up the aisle triumph
antly and as to what is comprehended
under the words "all London" it is but
the very pardonable vanity of weak
human nature calling its world the world
the account may be pronounced very
fair one mt least it shows you fairer
side of the picture than L should, for
never could see anything so very gay and
attractive in wedding. Ninety-nine
brides out of hundred look less pretty
in their bridal dress than in any other
and ninety-nine bridegrooms out of a
hundred so wofully misbecome the char
acter, and look 80 contemptibly sheepish,
that their best friend is ashamed of them.
Over the whole ceremony, too, broods
such cold, shivery, who-knows-how-it-
will-end sort of feeling, that the strong
est mind will sink beneath the impression,
and grow maudlin to rise into reckless
and unseemly mirth.
The wedding guests had assembled,
and, if few in number, they made a
goodly show for the ladies always make
triple display of skirt on such occa-
sions, to signify, perhaps, the petticoat
government under which the loyal hus-
band must live from that day forth.
The service began, and was got half
through creditably enough, for the
O'Manady did nothing outrageous and
if he felt outrageously foolish, beard
such as his, covering half his face, COW
ers at the same time multitude of feel
ings as well as a multitude of sins, in the
ladies' eyes at least. This is why L al
ways tried SO hard to cultivate one.
The service was half over, but only
half the critical moment had not yet
come. 1t came at last, Chaffner, just as
had foreseen. The sudden pause
such an awful one; the prickly sensation
about the hair-roots and shirt-collar that
accompanies emotional perspiration /; the
tremulous culver about the knees, that
seemed to be giving way with cowardly
inconsiderateness when / was doing my
utmost to keep up-all this, and more,
Chaffner-much more-told me that the
critical moment had come, and, accord
ing to your firm belief, and my firm be-
lief, and the firm belief of Reginald
Shipper, the O'Manady had forgotten the
wedding-ring
How / coptrived to get my hand into
my pocket and out again with the ring in
| it, is what / can't tell you, Chaffner :;
but 1 can tell you what 1 said when 1
presented it, for my voice rang in my
| ears for days afterward, as if it had been
the voice of some one else, which L wish
to Heaven it had What l said was
this
''All right L knew, and Chaffner
knew, and so did Shipper. Never mind,
here it is. I"
Yes, there it was, ust under hisose
And that's how 1 came to marry Miss
Julia Brand
For you were wrong, and L was wrong,
and so was Shipper. The O'Manady had
not forgotten the ring, but the bride had
forgotten to take off her glove, which had
caused the sudden pause that had so up
set me.
With the beard of the O'Manady 1
might have covered my confusion, but /
never could coax out more than six hairs
at time, and when L shave them off
they crop out somewhere else, as if try
ing the effects of change of scene and
soil
AS it was Shippers firm belief that
misled me, 1 must say that think he
should have stood by me in that bitter
and trying moment of my life, instead of
making me the subject of many fippant
Jokes, which got into the clubs and were
turned against me whenever 1 appeared.
where's the ring ?" quite superseded
the more polite Chow dye do?" to
which L had hitherto been accustomed.
So popular, indeed, did it become, that L
wondered not to hear it from the very
street boys.
But the men who still professed to call
me friend, not content with the joke, of
which the worst that could be said was it
was bad one, and rtlthlessly bent upon
my death or the utter ruin of my charac-
ter, tried to make out an intended slight
to the great O'Manady.
''Just wait till he gets back from his
wedding-trip, roared Major O'Flagar-
thy; land if he don't call you out, or
have you taken up for hbel-why, it's
tantamount to calling a man a fool to do
what you did, and no man likes to be
called fool, more especially a poet
Between you and me, Chaffner, / hate
that O'Flagarthy he's so awful big
Other men, many other men, are big
but his size always seems intended as a
personal affront.
81 don't wish to make things worse
than they are" Jeremy Croaker would
observe, with solemnity that set my
hair on end "but when the O'Manady
asks of you, Why did you buy the
ring 2 what will you answer him-what
will you answer him, Grizzleton
The question left me conscience strick-
en- and depressed. And that's how L
came to marry Miss Julia Brand or
rather, this is how 4 came to marry her.
/ had dropped in at Mrs. Brands to tea,
which is always very strong, and great
comfort under such harassing circum-
stances.
Miss Julia was not in the room when,
after tea, Mrs. Brand asked me il / did
not think her very fine girl, which
proves beyond dispute that could not
have had her in my eye, as l answered,
inspired with an idea, and speaking
rather to myself to Miss Julia's mother
"a fine girl? Yes; which means
something rather large and with points.
Not sharp points there are women who