Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1882-07-12
A WEDDING SANS CEREMONY.

A WEDDING SANS CEREMONY.
Zone thing am determined upon,
remarked Mrs. Sue Hathaway, deci
sively; ''you, Fan, shall have decent,
ceremonious wedding. When think o
the harum-scarum way in which Charlie
and / were thrown at one another, thu
wonder is not that we haven't quarreleC
since, but that we were ever really mar
ried at ALL
Tell me about it, Sue DEAR" coaxet
Mrs. Hathaway's youngest and pet sis
ter, as she folded and replaced in thci
boxes the dainty articles which she wa
preparing for her own trousseau. 70,
have always spoken of your wedding da,
as the most unhappy day of your life
but / cannot conceive how that can be
when you and Charlie love one another
so dearly"
"And if we had not loved each Other
beyond all possibility of quarreling, we
would certainly have broken our engage
ment an hour before the ceremony wa:
really performed. sincerely trust, deal
Fan, that your married life may be a
happy as mine has proved, and tina
Heaven may defend you from wedding
day as chaotic rs mine"
"My remembrance of the affair is thai
it was perfect success. You are such 6
manager, Sue, you are always i'm request
for tableaux and private theatricals.
never knew an occasion which you were
not equal to, from charity bazaar to the
State dinner thel aides gave the foreign
deputation was only eight years old
when YOU were married; but remember
| that | was your bridemaid, and that
wore pulled null, with pink kid gloves.
They were the first kid gloves | ever had
and was rs proud as peacock Of them.
l wouldn't carry bouquet for fear OF
soiling and hiding them, but marched in,
arm in arm with Isabel oldest boy, with
my hands displayed as conspicuously as
possible
"And do you happen TO remember
what scamp that boy was? He was the
cause of more thai half of my tribula-
ton. He was regular little Ish-
mael--'his hand against every man, and
every mans hand against him. And
when think what Bohemian Isabel
has been all her life, and the wildly pre-
posterous way in which she was married,
dom wonder, She was studying abroad
when she met her husband. They had
both gone TO Europe for a number OF
years, and they concluded TO be married
at the American consuls and continue
their foreign residence, instead of COM
ing home for the ceremony. They were
married in the evening and took a
steamer Immediately after for some
Mediterranean port. Isabels trunks had
been sent on board during the afternoon,
but when they drove down to the wharf
at night, they found that the ship had
moved from its anchorage, and they were
obliged TO hire waterman TO row them
out. The water was very rough, and in
a sudden lurch of the little boat Isabel
was thrown overheard. She was prompt
ly rescued by her husband, and got safely
on board, but in a completely drenched
condition. Now comes the ridiculous
part. IL was a cargo steamer, which
only carried limited number of passen-
gers, and il so happened that there were
no other ladies on board. Isabel trunks
were buried i'm the hold, where il was
impossible to get at them, and the val
Use, which had fallen into the water with
her had gone to the bottom, and Isabel
retired to her state-room to improvse a
toilette out of some flannel undcr-cloth-
ing of the Captains and two Marseilles
bed-spreads.h
"How very dreadfulr' exclaimed Fan :,
choking with laughter.
She succeeded, too; she basted up a
wrapper of the bed-spreads with Wat
teau pleat in the back, trimming the front
with a Turkish towel torn in strips,
and breakfasted next morning in that
costume. Her husband told me he never
saw her dressed so becomingly."
~ always thought Isabel was a gen.
ius," Fan remarked, admiringly.
Yes, but what very singular pro-
ceeding! Isabel is five years older than
/ am, and | look up to her for certain
qualities. But she has no idea of cere-
mony or etiquette, and she utterly alb
hors convention. Now say that getting
married at all is a concession to conven-
tionality, and if you are going to ac-
knowledge the claims Of society so far
as that, you might as well do the thing
respectfully and in good form. i am a
manager, as you say, and it was for that
very reason that the entire arrangement
of my wedding was left to me. We were
living in the old family mansion in the
country, two miles from the church, aud
of course the wedding had TO be at the
house. This troubled me from the first,
for the ceremony is always so much more
solemn and impressive before the altar,
and l wanted to think of il as a sacra-
ment, to really feel the sacredncss of the
vowsI was taking upon myself. Instead
of this, l knew perfectly well that l
would be distracted by people whisper
ing and giggling during the minister's
very prayer, What restraint can there
be in parlors where one has danced the
German score of times, and where one
expects to dance again in few mo-
mentsp Besides, the house was TO be
crammcd with company, and l was NOR
ally certain that everything would be in
confusion. Charles family were COM
ing; they are very aristocratic; and was
more afraid of them then than am now,
especially of his sister Adelaide. She Is
the most cnvious and sptcful creature
in the world, did all she could TO spoil
the match, wanted Charlie to marry some
particular friend of hers. Then there
was Aunt Sue Stockstill, forwhom was
named. We were all very fond OF her,
and our love was tempered with a re-
spectful admiration which amounted al
most TO fear.
"Thc entire second floor was given up
To guests, aud we were huddlcd In the
little bedrooms under the Mansard roof.
You and had Bridget's room, and she
slept on pallet in the kitchen. Charlie
had n cot in the hall. All of our boys
slept in the stable loft Father swung
himself up i'm the hammock on the back
Nornuda. n WAS Inlu hut ha fool a hor-