Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1882-10-06
MY WEDDING TOUR.

MY WEDDlNG lUUR.
| was only seventeen when Charlie
married me. and | wrote myself for the
first time Mrs. Charles Vail, Jc, and
saw the initials of the same blazonel on
the end of my new Saratoga trunk,
when we started on our wedding Jour.
ney. My wedding journey can speak
of it calmly now, but the time was
when it narrowed up my inmost soul
To this dav, Charlie becomes wroth
when it is mentioned, and SAYS it is my
" confounded Imagination - but he
knows, and know well, that that is
only one of those convenient little loop
holes through which big masculinity
can crawl on emergency and, the facts
remaining unchanged and undisputable,
| shall defy Charlie and state them to
tie world.
Imagine, then, reader or listener,
whoever you may be, that the last silken
train has swept itself out of Trinity
Chapel, and the last of the inevitable
Wedding March shuddered itself out
of the big groaning organ, and that
Charlie and ! are married. Also. that
the kissing and crying over is achieved.
and the voices of my husband = sisters
and my maiden aunts, hailing down
blessings on our heads, are happily lost
in distance-that the only sound we
hear is the rattle and roar of an express
train laundering eastward, and l am
looking out into the golden MONDAY,
watching the fields and roads and vii
lagos 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, OF
our foolishness either, that am going
to tell you-cC,r2,a.,zz Of the single adven
ture of our weutdihg tour.
Charlie hadn't told me where W,
were to go, and l rather liked Icing
left in ignorance, knowingLo more thar
that we were being swept away to som,
little paradise of our own-it might bt
an island of the Hesperides, or Crue
soe's kingdom. or Eden itself. W.
stopped at good many stations by tb,
way, that looked anything but rara
daisical ; but | saw everything through
d glass, rosily, as | sat there by Char
lies side. the shadows We're growi1C
short, and it was Just noon. when W.
stopped at come "ville" or other, whose
long, low, struggling, buildings, crowd
ing close upon the track, and the broad
dusty village street, branching off a
right angles, are photographed upol
my memory. Not for anything in
trinsically remarkable there were only
good many teams and farm wagons
and open carriages, and light carryaIl'
standing about, with the lazy horses
rubbing their noses against CID worm
eaten posts, and plenty of people on the
platform, crowding together for greet
ings and good.bJs; il was a common
place, every day picture enough, anc
not even a pretty one, except IN frag
ments. There was a general exodus
from the car, and rush dinnerward, a
we supposed, toward the swinging sigI
of some "house" or other down the
lazy little country street ; and Charlie
looking at his watch, said it was twelve
o'clock aud didn't want some lunch
OF course | didn't, but o. course bt
said | must have it, and Immediately
started up. He wouldn't be five min
utes, he said, and I mustn't move till be
came back. l was to guard our two
seats, and let no one come nigh them
and, above all, l was to sit still, and not
be led astray by any possible warnings
to change cars. "We're going through,
Charlie remarked, $50 just keep the
seats and don't pay any attention"
nodded obedience, and Mr.. Vail marchec
out of the car, leaving ME to peer aftel
him in the crowd and catch the las
glimpse of his straw hat vanishing dowI
the street.
watched the crowd, when Charlie
was ont of sight, and wondered over the
faces. and built up all sorts of dreamy
speculations upon them, as one does Il
a crowd when they have nothing better
to think of. Presently the door bangec
open, and the voice of some nnseer
functionary shouted, Change cars fol
Boston ~
Everybody began to scramble thell
bags aud bundles and canes together
and there was a rush among the few
who remained my fellow pa sengert
watched them go without emotion, an6
merely settled myself more comfortablI
for the solitary journey through whlcl
Charlie had dictate wondering little
where its terminus might be, out in NJ
wise disturbed or anxious thereaf
stared out at the people for five minutes
longer-or at least so said the at-facet
clock in the "ladies room" opposite M
window, though l made it fifty at leas
by mental calculation-and then th'
door swung open again. This time
head projected itself into the car, roarel
"All out evidently at me and vanish
ed. Il won't get out" replied defy
sng the empty air. "Charlle told me t
lit still, and L m going to. Oh, Charlie
why in the world don't you come back
But no Charlie came to answer me
and | began to stare out in the Grove
with rather more than anxious eyes, an(
to grow little hot and uneasy, and u
think, with certain unpleasant thrill
running down my back, what would be
come of me if the train should start
and Charlie shouldn't come back at all
At this awful point in my meditatons
the locomotive gave vent to an IN
earthly screech, which l took for pre-
monitory symptom of departure, and
was so terrified that l started up from
my seat, just as the little door swunt
back for the third time, to admit OF
last warning, like that of Friar Bacon
brazen head This time the face re