The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1882-08-02

Hard Pan Figures for Those Who Want TO
Get Married.

ehtAy very aiAuPle qutStiOl, A1uN huch
win it cost to get married ?" A very short
conundrum, the reader will observe, as is at
tested by this article The postal card
was turned over to good-looking girl
touched reporter, and he was ordered to get
full and complete reply on pain of having
his salary cut down so low that he could
never hope to ask any woman to go hal
yes with him. Fortunately, the young
man knew gentleman, now well advanced
in years, who had been married three or
four times, more or less, and to him he went
in his sorrow and told him what he wanted
Well, said the gentleman, who shall be
called Colonel b., 1--WE had some expert
ence in the business and if it is worth any
thing to you it is yours free of cost.
The young mans eyes Allied with grateful
tears, and he silently laid his hand in that of
his kind-hearted friend aud said with sob
"Tell me about tn
What do you want to know ?"
Everything, everything, so that the
postal card fiend may get full safety"
All right, here goes was married
four times, and have in my desk over there
receipted bills for all expenses incidental to
each occasion. The first time was forty-five
years ago, when was young and green, and
hadn't dollar but what l borrowed and
the girl didn't have any more than did, SO
it was necessarily a poor mans wedding.
Let me see (reaching into his desk after the
papers, here's the bill. l find here the fol-
lowing itemized account. One suit of
clothes, ready made, $40; shoes, $3.50; shirt,
70 cents; hat, 81; yarn socks, knit by
mother, no charge; no collar, no cuffs, no
neekties, no buttonhole bouquets, no gloves,
no carriage-hire; license, So preacher, SO
cents in money and four bushels of apples.
no present to the bride, and no anything
else SO far as l can remember Total, SIG.
70 and four bushels of apples"
"Cheap enough" said the scribe, "but
do they do it that cheap now2 ?"
Yes plenty of them, and some of them
cheaper but my wife and were pretty re.
spectacle young people, If we were poor,
and we thought We We're putting ON consid.
cradle style"
"Of course, but how was it next time ?n
The next one took place ten years later,
and l was a little better off in the world and
was clerking in store at $40 month My
bills on that occasion show the following
result One suit of clothes, 1925 boots, 81;
two shirts Il only wore one, however), $2..
so; hat, 50 gloves 80 cents; neektie. twenty
cents; collar and cuffs made on the shirt
without extra charge license, So preacher,
$3.50 in gold; present to the bride, gold
breastpin, 50; cotton socks fifteen cents;
no carriage-hire, no wedding trip; total,
$43S5
" That looks little heavier
Yes, but it is about an average, and the
thing is done daily at similar outlay.n
How was it about the third rouii Pr
Well, that didn't occur until fifteen years
after, and | was a partner with about 81, 200
or So, 500 Il year, and was a rising young
merchant. or course / was called on then
to put on considerably more style, and the
bills show up correspondingly, as follows
Suit Of clothes, $50; underwear. $40; boots,
$40; hat, (plug) Sc; gloves, So neckiie
81 buttonhole bouquet, % cents; wedding
ring, $10 and present to bride, jewelry
(S25) S32 earriage-hire, $40; license, So,
preacher $40 Gin gold, incidentals $l5;
short bridal trip 800; total $95l.25."
g Hum, said the reporter thoughtfnlly,
g that style costs little more, doesn't it ~
Yes, they come high, but we must have
them, and it is no more than ordinary in that
station"
"Bat what are the incdentals specified in
the bin ?"
Oh, that includes "a variety of unexpect-
ed items a man has to meet on holiday oe-
casion. like wedding, and cannot be defini-
tely enumerated. You win see what il means
when yen get there, but il you get married
in real quiet way You cnn avoid much of
IT,"
Thanks for the advice Now for the
fourth call"
The fourth event happened at only a
comparatively recent period, when had be-
come bloated bond holder, as It were, or,
to put it milder rich man. married
young wife, as most of us old fellows do, and
she wanted me to cut a wide swath, SO the
bill was heavy The figures were thuswise
Clothes, from the skin out hat and boots,
1925; gloves, $3.50; necktie, $3.50, the
finest iii themarket; boutonniere. Marechal
Neil rosebuds, &C., $l50; earriage-hre,
bridesmaids, and others, $50; license $150;
(price changed by statutory enactment);
preacher, $25; janitor at the church, So;
gloves and buttonhole boquets for ushers.
$40 wedding ring ($1o), and present to
the bride, diamonds $4,000, 1910; incident
sis $50 bridal trip, $500; to which must be
added a suit Of travelling clothes and extras
amounting to 300 more, and we have
alof 81, 1850"
GOOD Lordl" gasped the reporter, show
can poor young man ever climb hill like
that ~
He can't, my dear," replied the sympa-
thizing old gentleman, 81 but he can wait I'M
til he is a rich old man. then try it. But
that isn't anything to some of them.
know of one man whose actual wedding out
lay was $1,000, and he was plain American
citizen. Foreigners, you know, overgo that,
but they have snch an enormous amount of
extras"
g Now, you've told me the cost to man.
how is 1t, to state it briefly, on the othor
side ?"
" For the women, do you mean"
"Yes.n
q Well, there is no telling. My first wife's
dress cost SO, and it was mighty pretty
piece of goods too. l suppose her other
fixtures were worth So more, SO that SS or
$40 would cover it all My last wife's
tronsseau complete cost $4,000, but then
her father was rich. | saw a little state
ment the other day about a New York girl
who sent to Paris for two dresses only, and
the bill was 1900. Other stuff to match
this would no doubt cost S. 600 or more, so
there Is wide margin ON the woman's ex-
pense might say here that my experience
and observation have taught me that mar
riage, in more senses than one, costs wo-
man dearer than it docs man. very fair
wedding turned out for a girl in the average
circle of society could be furnished from
n sf.fl IL l.