The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1878-08-29
From the N. Y. Times.l
A Wedding Serenade.

"A w Cu04A5 RCAOA0uC'
In the country towns of the West it is
thought courteous and necessary thing
to serenade every newly married pair. 1t
has been asserted that this custom has
descended from the ancient Greeks, and
that it is an evidence of the classic and
musical tastes of the Western people. 1t
is true that the musical nstruments used
by the wedding serenaders consist chiefly
of tin pans, tin horns, and that archaic
type of stringed instrument, the horse
fiddle; but it is urged that the Western
rural person is unaware of the existence
of cornets and sax-horns, and that he
firmly believes that the purest and rich
est harmonies can be expressed by his
favorite though simple instruments. 1t
is probable, however that a regard for
classic precedent and cultivated taste
for music are not the real motives of the
wedding serenade That ceremony is
doubtless due to the Western habit of
regarding marriage as an extremely hu-
morous affair. 1t is the Western sense
of humor which overfows on the occa-
sion Of wedding and expresses itself in
tin pans and horse fddles When man
and woman enter into the comic estate
OF matrimony, what could be more appro
pirate or more intensely comic than to
ments? Next to the practice which pre-
walls among New York brokers of smash.
ing one anothers hats the Western we'd
ding serenade is probably the purest and
highest expression of true humor, and
when the serenaded bridegroom happens
to be thoroughly capable of appreciating
the fun of the thing, nothing more in
tensely comic could be imagined.
Mr.. James Peters, a leading citizen of
Cassville, Wis, was recently married to
an estimable young lady, and after a
brief journey to Oshkosh, to give his
bride glimpse of the refined pleasures
of metropolitan life, he brought her
home to his fathers house The newly
married pair reached Cassville on Mon
day. the 18th inst. at about two o'clock
in the afternoon, and were warmly well
coined by old Mr.. Peters, who was con-
fined to his chair with inhammatory
rheumatism in his right knee, and by old
Mrs. Peters, who was dangerously i'll with
typhoid fever. Of course the other lead
ing citizens of Cassville were aware of
Mr.. Peters return, and promptly made
preparations to serenade him. Accord
ingly, at about midnight, the Peters
household was suddenly awakened by
musical refrain that would have delight
ed the soul of Wagner. An orchestra
composed of five tin horns, eleven tin
pans, four bells-tenor and bass-a pair
OF copper wash boilers, and horse-fddle
OF extra size occupied the front yard and
were playing with great vigor, while pis-
tolls and guns were fired at intervals, in
emulation of Gilmores favorite use of
cannon. Old Mr.. Peters swore with
much enthusiasm, and his invalid wife
tainted with ecstacy. AS for the bride,
her delicate nerves were SO pleasantly ex-
cited that she wept hysterlcally, and the
bridegroom found it impossible to reduce
her to calmness.
Mr.. Peters was Western man him
self, and knew what was due to his fell
lowcitizens. He went to the front door,
thanked the serenaders warmly, and in
> vited them to come in and take drink
In very few minutes the entire stock
OF whisky in the house was exhausted,
and the serenaders convinced that Mr.
Peters was a perfect gentleman, with
drew, carrying their instruments with
them. Of course, they mentioned to ev-
erybody the kind manner in which they
had been entertained, and the result was
that on the next night second party of
. serenaders, anxious to test the hospitali-
ty of the genial Mr.. Peters, repeated the
serenade
This time the music produced even
more effect upon the Peters family than
did the first serenade, and for time the
life of old Mrs. Peters was despaired Of
The bridegroom, however, did not neg
lect his social duties. He thanked the
serenaders, and, regretting that he had
nothing but beer in the house, invited
them to come in and try it. The sere-
naders drank the beer, and kindly over
looking the absence of whisky, departed
remarking that Mr.. Peters was gentle
man and good fellow
On the third night yet another party
of leading citizens, who were resolved
that so good joke as that of serenading
a man with delicate wife, rheumatic
father, and adying mother, was virtually
inexhaustible repeated the serenade. Mr.
Peters had neither beer nor whisky in
his possession, but it so happened that
he did have two large bull dogs, who
where kept at night in the kitchen. So
he went to the front door and made
really beautiful speech expressing his
sense of the repeated musical honors
which had been lavished upon him. He
said he had given the earliest serenaders
all his whisky; that the second party had
had all his beer, and that both together
had totally Exhausted his stock of pa
tience. Nevertheless, he would not let
them go away without offering them
something, and would therefore beg
leave to place before them two healthy
bulldogs. Thereupon, he instantly
served out those stimulating animals, and
ascending to his bedroom, opened upon
the serenaders with revolver and dou-
ble-barreled gun.
The scene which followed was almost
too comic to bear description. Two of
the serenaders, in very selfish way,
monopolized the two bulldogs, and when
the latter were knocked on the head,
laid down by the side of the animals, and
refused either to move or to speak. Mr..
Peters lav1shed his bullets and bucks shot
impartially among the rest of the party.
many of whom became too full of lead
for utterance. Three of the musicians
who had evidently gorged themselves
with bullets, spent the rest of the night
on the ground, while several more were
guilty of breach of good manners in
carrying away with them part of the me-
tallic refreshment provided by the hos
pitable Mr.. Peters. In very few mo-
ments the front yard was silent, with
the exception of an occasional groan on
the part of solitary serenader who had
found bullets rather indigestible, but
Mr.. Peters took the trouble to go down
with an axe, and effectually prescribed
for him.
While the sense of humor evinced by
the Cassville people in thus serenading
a man with a delicate wife, rheumatic
father and dying mother is simply de-
lightful, the final serenade conveys to
future Western bridegrooms the valuable