River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1878-01-10
Dressing the Groom.

The recurrence OF the no1uay seasons
with their weddings and CONSEQUENT
Utility, brings to mind a grievance to
which attention has from time to time |
been called, but thus far in every case
without effect. Most people seem, indeed, |
to proceed in the majority of worldly |
affairs as if the maxim, Evils will right
themselves, were indisputably true, and,
in consequence of this disposition to pro
crastinate, the evil in question, together
with perhaps millions of others, has been
suffered to remain; challenged, indeed,
and often conspicuously presented to pub
lie attention, but the cure Of Which is
invariably left by everybody to somebody
else, and therefore IL performed by no
body.
The grievance alluded to is the posi-
ton of the bridegroom at the wedding,
and needs only to be limited at in order
to have its full proportions mentally re-
vealed to every one who gives the subject
moments reflection. That the groom
is indispensable is patent. There can
be no wedding without him, and conse-
! quently he seems to be looked on in the
| light Of necessary evil, like sore
thumb, always ii the way,i IL is true, but
still better where it is than without it.
| That it is an entirely false and unnatural
position in which to place this party of
the first part is sufficiently esinced by the
| fact that he mist aftefw ards play the role
of the leading gentleman in the domestic
| life drama then begun, and every consid
Grafton of esthetic taste would suggest
that he make his debut, so to speak, with
some eclat, or at least without the hang
dog look which he usually considers it
his bonhdeh aIty 10 assume. No leading
actor is con ent as a subordinate IN
brilliant scene, and that the lords of crea-
ton should have quietly endured the out
rage Dame Fashion has foisted upon
/ them, is mystery, the solution of which
must be left to those philosophers to whom
the motives of the human heart are as
playthings.
To see the extent aid real magnitude
| of the evil is easy ehough. Look at any
fashionable wedding. The children who
the bridesmaids are watched, their cos
tunes scrutinized, the set and fitness OF
every fold is carefully observed and audi
bly, commented on by the female pat of
the audience, while the men note the
general effect The bride is the centre OF
interest. A SORT of curious combination
of smiles, and white satin, and tears, and
orange blossoms. and bushes and trains,
and long wells and white kid gloves, she
moves down the aisle, and the wedding
march is PLAYED for her; ana the flowers
are stfewed for her, and the decorations
on the walls are hung for her, and the
preacher waits for her, while the poor,
miserable wretch of bridegroom,
without whom she would not be what
and where she is, sneaks in like sheep
thief, content if he escape disgracing
himself openly by some flagrantly awk-
ward mistake. Heis q background OH
which the bride is pictured forth; he is
the jet setting round the diamond; he
would be nightly missed If he were not
there, but being there; he is taken for
granted, and nothing more Is Thought OF
him. AZ the old Scotch cyhic used to
say, "The only way man can make
sensation at his own wedding is by stay
ing away from it."
Nor does the distinction, unjust rs it is,
cease here. Whenever the wedding is
mentioned afterwards, the first thought
is, not of the bridegroom, but of the
bride; and the first question, not of him,
but Of her The daily papers and fash
ion journals go into ecstacies OF descrip-
/ ton, and pour forth column after column
of language utterly ineomprehenslble
to anybody but Thoroughbred fashion,
able woman when her toilet Is alluded
70; but who, other than T. fiinny man ,
or fool, ever thinks of telling what the
bridegroom wore2 In ninety cases
out of a hundred it is impossible to learn
| from the published accounts of the we'd
ding that the groom wore anything at all,
and insthe hundredth instance the most
liberal notice his outfit receives consists
in the general statement that he "was
dressed in the conventional suit of black,
with white vest and white kid glo ,es."
The world has yet to find man dar
ing enough to break through this "con-
ventional' arrangement, and cover him
self with glory by being the hero of his
own wedding; but when such an individ-
! ual comes what distinction will be his,
and what triumphs will lie in wait to
| brighten his path. Imagine him stared
at by the women and respectfully uncOv-
red to by the men. III his individuality
4 be strongly marked, and manifest itself
in dress as we'll as in department, mag
inc the zest with which his costume will
be described by the papers. Fancy him
arrayed in "claw-hammer coat" ''cut
very decollette," 'sthe front trimmed with
fringed ruchings of broadcloth, and lined
with satin and chenille" "the collar and
| lappels gored and ornamented with two
or three rows of heavy -pleating,"
the sleeves a la Pompddour, with Nalen-
ciennes insertions and point lace" The
two tails ought to match, and be zen
PY'taeesse tsytsnsa or 'pooa train the very
least, with half dozen rows Of "kilt
pleating,n tapered off with more or less
''knife pleatingr or shell trimming, ac-
cording to taste.
4 Tournaments of orange, or apple bios
SONS and pond lilies were added to these
| queues, and blue ribbons attached by
which they could be lifted from the
ground in walking, all danger of ignor-
! ing the bridegroom would be at once dis
/ sipated. The rest of his costume might
| be conventional, or. if he had mind to
make genuine sensation, he might have
| his trousers plain in front" the back
widths ornamented with she'll headings"
and 2" trimmed with cores and bias
pieces" A bridegroom got up in this
way would be benefactor of his sex,and
once and forever if his example were
aptly followed, would remove the stigma
of insigniicance which now rests on the
groom.
Birds and Human Nature.