The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1879-08-07
A New Way to Tie Old Knots.

A great many persons have hanged
themselves, but to marry oneself
which is one form of being turned
off, in the mouths of humorists who
are partial to slang-must be admitted
to be much less common. Such never
theless was the performance at Wor-
chester, in Massachusetts very recently
of "Mr. Henry j. Munson of Modoc,
Mo-" who proceeded to unite himself
in the bonds of matrimony with Miss
Matte A. Eaton of Worcester in the
most symmetrical manner, and we
hope that he will never regret it. Mr.
Munson is an Advent preacher, and it
seems that he asked the persons in
charge of the Advent Chapel in Wor-
cester for its use on Saturday even
ing. This was granted, and when the
hour came some fifty persons were
present Mr.. Munson, to get ready
for the good work before him, went
into the pulpit and preached sermon.
His opening section was on "Repent-
ance" add the second on "Holiness or
Sanctification." He then proceeded
to read the parable of the ten virgins,
and at the sixth verse-"And at mid
night there was cry made, behold,
the bridegroom cometh; go we out to
meet himn-he descended from the
pulpit, while the lady advanced from
one of the front pews, and, taking the
Bible, continued to read from the
seventh to the tenth verses, inclusive.
Mr.. Munson then took the lady's right
hand, and said: "And / now before
God and these witnesses do take this
woman whom 1 hold by the right
hand to be my lawfully welded wife,
to love and cherish her as my own
body until Christ shall come to claim
us with all saints as his own bride, or
until death shall part u.s. Miss Eaton
responded: "And | now take this
man to be my lawfully welded hus-
band, to love, reverence and obey him
until the Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with Il shout and with
the voice of the archangel, and with
the trump of God, or till death shall
us sever.' The bridegroom then of
fered prayer, after which Mr.. Munson
returned to his desk and ended his dis
course by urging the importance of be-
ing ready for the coming of the Lord.
There are naturally various opinions
about the propriety of this strange
ceremony, and some old-fashioned per-
sons may even question its legality.
Massachusetts is not Scotland, and the
eccentric possibilities of Mr.. Wilkie
Collins's MAN and Wife" are less
conceivable in Worchester than in
Aberdeen. If jumping over a stick
were a recognised form so far as law
or custom go, of projecting the marital
obligation society would of course ad-
init its binding force, however OBJ
jectionable it might appear to those
conventional souls who persist in as
cribing to wedlock a sacred character.
The question, however, presented by
the case in hand is not one of permit
ting the wheel to run in the old rut,
but whether it shall be allowed to seek
out or make for itself path entirely
new.
Is this enterprising wanderer from
Modoc to be suffered to set up an en-
tirely novel and subversive method of
perpetrating matrimony? Are gentle
men to be allowed to follow his exam
| pie, and to wander about marrying
themselves without the help of Il third
| person to anybody they choose?
| These are serious questions, and they
| should not be lightly answered. The
| Inconvenience of so extraordinary a
system would certainly be many, and
we should hesitate long and reflect
profoundly before asserting to it. Nor
are its own proper drawbacks the sole
objection to Mr.. Munson's simple and
to him, highly satisfactory eXpedient
For to establish a precedent like this
would be to open the door to other and
similar ones. Soon in such a case we
should have children insisting upon
| christening themselves, murderers de-
manding to execute themselves and
other various embarassments which
are so apt to be engendered by cutting
loose from old customs. On the whole,
we would really advise Mr.. Munson.
proud as he must be of his daring in
novation, to tie his conjugal knot in
the old-fashioned way. 1t will be, we
venture to think, much better for his
bride, and for the family which we
trust will grace the society of Modoc
In no remote future, to stick in this
matter to the ancient ways a double
knot will do the happy pair no harm,
but, in the circumstances, will aug
ment, we are confident, the felicity of
tho honeymoon.
Stung TO Death by Bees.
One of the most painful and really
horrible local incidents which has
| ever been orr fOrtnna tO cbronicIa no.