The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1881-03-09
MY wEDDiNG TOUR.

MY WEDDING TOUR.
/ was only seventeen when Char
lie married me, and | wrote mysel
for the first time Mrs. Charlie Vail
Jr., and saw the initials OF the same
embiazoned on the end of my new
Saritoga trunk, when we started OF
our wedding journey. My wedding
journey! L can speak OF it calmly
now, but the time was when it har
rowed up my inmost soul. To thi:
day Charley becomes wroth when il
is mentioned, and says it is my
blamed Imagination; ;" but he knows
and | know well, that that is only
one of those convenient little loop.
holes through which big masculini.
ty can crawl in emergency; and
the facts remaining unchanged and
indisputable, l shall defy Charlie
and state them to the world.
Imagine then reader, or listener,
who ever you may be, that the last
silken train has swept itself out OF
Trinity chapel, and the last note oi
the inevitable Wedding March"
shuddered itself out of the big groan-
ing organ, and that Charlie and |
are married. Also, that the kissing
and crying over is achieved, and the
voices Of my husbands sisters and
my maiden aunt's, hailing down
blessings on our heads, are happily
lost in distance-thatthe only sound
we hear is the rattle and roar of an
express train laundering eastward,
and | am looking out into the golden
MONDAY, watching the fields and
roads and villages and woodlands
race past us, and sweep back into
a stream like running water There
we sat, two blissful young fools
but it isn't of our bliss or our fool
ishness either, that / am going to
tell you-only of the singula- adj
venture of our wedding tour.
Charlie hadn't told me where we
were to 90, and / rather liked being
left in ignorance, knowing no more
than that we were being swept away
to some little paradise of our own
it might be to an island Of the
Hesperides or Crusoe's kingdom of
Eden itself. We stopped at a good
many stations by the way that look
ed anything but paradisical but |
saw everything through a glass,
rosily, as | sat there demure and
mute, by Charities side. The shad-
ows were growing short, and it was
just noon when we stopped at some
vile" or other, whose long, low,
strangling buildings, crowding close
upon the track, and the broad, dusty
village street, branching off at right
angles, are photographed upon my
memory. Not for anything intrin-
sically remarkable; there were only
a good many teams and farm wagons
and open carriages, and light carry
ais standing about, with the lazy
horses rubbing their noses against
worm-eaten posts, under the row OF
dropping green trees, and plenty of
people on the platform, crowding
together for greetings and good-byes
it was n commonplace everyday
picture enough, and not even n pret-
ty one, except in fragments. There
was general exodus from the car,
and a rush d;nnerward, as we sup
posed, toward the swinging sign of
some House or other down the
lazy little country street and Char
lie, looking at his watch, said it was
II o'clock-and didn't | want some
lunch ?
OF course | didn't, but OF course l
must have it, he said, and immedi-
ately started up. He wouldn't be
five minutes, he said, and | mustn't
move till he came back. / was to
guard our two seats, and let no one
come nigh them, and, above all, /
was to sit still, and not be led astray
by any possible warnings to change
cars. .We're going through" Char
lie remarked, $50 Just keep the
seats, and don't pay any attention"
| nodded obedience, and Mr.. Vail
marched out Of the car, leaving me
to peer after him in the crowd and
catch the last glimpse of his straw
hat vanishing down tht street.
/ watched the crowd, when Char
lie was out of sight, and mused and
wondered at the faces, and built up
all sorts Of dreamy spcculations
then. as one does in crowd when
thew have nothing better to think of.
Presently the door banged open, and
the voice of some unseen functionar
ry shouted, "Change cars for Bos-
ton p
Everybody began to scramble
their bundles and canes together,
and there was rush among the
few who remained my fellow-pas-
seneers. Iwatched them go without
emotion, and merely settled myself
more comfortably for the solitary
Journey through which Charlie had
;ndicafed-wondering a little where
its terminus might be, but in nowisc
disturbed or anxious thereat. l
stared outat the people five minutes
loneer-at least so said the iat-iaced
clock in the ladies room opposite
INV window, though / made it fifty
at least by mental calculation-and
then the door swung open again.
This time a head projected itself in