Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1883-04-20
MATRIMOEI,
Tne Case Of a Lover who had conscientious
Scruples" at the Hour of Marriage.
4 MODERN DEsDEMONA AND
OTHELLO.

, oTHELLO.
There was once an enterprisinc
Scotch widow. who, failing the al
pearance at the eventful mou.ent o1
her intended second husband. utilized
the occasion. the clergyman. and the
company in a way which must call
forth the admiration of the most
skilled diplomatist. She was a
bouncing young widow of -, and
had a~reed to marry No. ," as she
pla. - ly termed him. i'll year and
a day from the demise of No. t.
The happy day fell on Wednesday,
and the ceremony was to take place
at the brides house. A magnificent
wedding feast was provided. and
about sixty guests invited. The
hour fixed for the marriage was 6 L.
NJ. In the forenoon tho bridegroom
arrayed himself in his best, and went
off to invite few friends in the
country who had been overlooked.
Whether he happened to take with
him copy of the "Pickwick papers, -
and came across Mr. Weller's fam ous
advice to his son Sam on the subject
OF 'vidders," will probably never be
known; but by this or some other
means he appears to have been re-
dnced to a peculiarly vaccillating
state of mind with regard to the i'm
portant step he was about to take:
for by the afternoon post his bride
elect received from him an intimation
to the effect that he had conscientious
! scruples as to marrying a woman SO
recently widowed He would make it
matter of careful consideration. and
abide by the result 'of his subsequent
| feelings. She was not to take this
as positive declinature; but if he
had not arrived by six o'clock she
might consider the marriage off.
The widow did not faint or go into
Mysteries. but decked herself IN her
bridal robes, and smilingly received
the guests who had been hidden to
the feast When all the company
had arrived the lady read to them the
communication she had received from
the recreant bridegroom Loud and
long were the denunciations it
elected, and the heroic bearing of
the widow under such trying circum-
stances was marked and commended
10y all. This need not prevent the
feast" she said, and the banqucting
began. The feasting over. the room
was cleared tor dancing. and every
thing went merrily as if the wedding
had passed off under the most ia
vored auspices. The result of it all
was that an elderly bachelor. who had
opened the ball with the irrepressible
widow, became SO enamored of her
that before the evening was far ad
vanced he had proposed and, what
was more, had been accepted The
minister was recalled; and at IL p NJ
the wedding, though not the one for
which the guests had been assembled,
was solemnized. The ceremony had
scarcely been performed when the
door bell was violently rung. and in
stalked the superseded bridegroom
Careful consideration" had at length
overcome his conscientious scruples,"
and he had come back to claim his
bride-only. however, to be intro
duced to her as the wife of another
Served him right.
Extremes of many kinds are so
common that We need not particular
ize them here. Unless on the theory
of the saying tnat "extremes meet"
it is by no means easy to account for
some of them. Here is a somewhat
curious though far from unpleasant
illustration which was communicated
to us some time ago by a lady who
had Just returned from q voyage to
India with her husband in the vessel
of which he was skipper. The cook.
a negro, was general favorite with
all on board; and in the course of the
return voyage not only our lady
friend, but all the passengers. and
the crew as well, became deeply in
terested in Sambo's matrimonial af-
fairs. for nothing afforded the honest
fellow greater delight than to talk of
the pretty little English wife who. he
said, was waiting to welcome him on
his return to England. Some, espe-
cially the ladies. were disposed to be
skeptical. suspecting that Sambo was
either romancing or indulging in one
of those elaborate equivoques in
which the negro mind delights The
precedent of Desdemona and Othello
Notwithstanding the idea of a nice
looking English girl actually falling
in love with and marrying S:mbo
was not to be accepted without con
siderable reserve. In the restricted
community on board vessel small
matters are often investigated with an
altogether exceptional Importance,
and so the question of Saml o's wife
was nagnified into one of the great
problems of the day. 1t WAS at
length resolved, in order to crafty
the general curiosity and put the
story to the test, to have a party of
some sort on board ship as soon as
London was reached and invite
Sambo to bring his wife. who he de.
clared, resided there. She party was
arranged accordingly. The long
talked of guest of the evening duly
appeared And would You believe
?" the Captains wife afterward re
marked with great animation, she
was actually pretty!' Sambo was the
hero of the hour; and everybody de-
clared that a prouder husband or a
more happy, conte nted, and devoted
little wife had never beeL seen.
The very act of marrying at all is
in some instances a most eccentric
proceeding. What, for example.
could be more absurd than the recent
marriage, in small agricultural vii
lage in England, of couple whose
united ages came to 15S, the bride
groom being II and the bride 81. Nor
was this the only peculiar feature of
this extraordinary union. The