The Mineral argus., 1884-07-24
BRIDAL TOURS.
why They Should be Abandoned-Heithe-
Popular, Eor Commendable.

We have all been laughing at LIES
Waning of the Honey Moon In
Dumaurier's Pictures of English So
ciety" there is another illustration bear
ing the same title, in which the young
couple arc represented as seated on a
lonely sea-shore. Angelina Suppress
ing an inclination to yawn)-@Howniceit
would be if some friend were to turn
up; wouldn't it, Edwin" Edwin latter
yawning elaborately)-"Ye-e-s-or
even some enemy!" If, as an amusing
French writer assures us, the Chinese
were the inventors of the honeymoon"
then should that ingenious people in
deed be kept away from American
shores, lest they introduce among the
Occidentals other pernicious customs
and inventions of the Orient. Can
the civilization of the nine
teenth century evolve nothing bet
ter for a newly married pair than a
wedding journey! Are the publicly of
railway trains and the curiosity of
chance guests in hotel drawing and
dining rooms necessary adjuncts to the
draw of coniugal felicity? Does the
bride imagine that she is pretty and
winsome with all the dust of travel
clinging to her hair and eyebrows?
That her voice is sweet and tender when
talking in a noisy train? That huge
hotels were especially adapted to the
indulgence of loves young dream? Is
an ocean steamer, with its unpleasant
motion and odors, its crowded deck and
sitting cabins, the place where she and
her lover husband are seen each to the
best advantage? Can the pale demon
of seasIckness be associated for a mo-
ment with the rosy son of Venus? Are
the nervousness and irritability engen-
dered by rapid and continuous travel {
the moods in which Arabella seems an !
angel, and George the young hero a
bridegroom Is supposed to appear--at :
least to his bride? Z
The English proceeding is even less 3
attractive than in our OWN, George and q
Arabella slip quietly away to some sea-
side %crevice. or a drowsy continental
town, and for a long month love each {
other to extinction. Not a soul comes s
to break the monotony; the world at i
large does not wen know the retreat.
Letters and papers from the family :
alone serve to enliven the long days d
that creep more and more slowly, as o
the moon of honey dwindles and disap- Ii
pears; when the last day of exile is over, b
both George and Arabella hail it as hap "
pier than their wedding day. b
Because the young couple have each b
regarded the others society as the chief t
pleasure In life, they fondly and fool 81
ishly imagine that a tete a tete of a Ii
months duration must naturally be the g
most delicious of all conceivable things. S
They never take the changed circum- IL
stances into consideration. George /
has lost the eager excitement of pur- n
suit and stands committed to his bliss the
prize is won, the reaction sets in, and d
Arabella, in her ignorance and mex c.
perience, watches with dire dismay the "
signs of incipient ennui, and believes Il
the fault is in herself rather than in the n
situation. No active man can be taken g
away from his business and forced to g
spend a month of complete idleness in 81
the society of one person without wish e.
ing for more variety and occupation in n
his life. As for the poor bride, what n
with the excitement of all the wedding a
preparations and the ceremony itself, fl
Che ieave-taking of home and family, W
and the startling novelty of her new b
position, she is in q state of bewilder- VI
ment by no means conducive to a calm
self possession, to the mastery of all II
her little resources of entertainment and II
fascination. a
1t is wonderful that young people "
continue to follow a fashion so bad. m
How much longer the sweet illusions of 81
love would last if the bridal pair went 3
at once into a little home of their own. n
a veritable mid d'amour prepared by y
friends for their reception, where Ara Ia
bella would take her place at the break d,
fast table, shining with silver as bright 81
as her wi eyes, china as delicate as the n,
pretty morning dress, appropriate in te
her own home, but quite impracticable a
in a hotel. All the gifts of kind friends, h,
instead of growing furnished in dark b.
beautify at once a spot conse- w
grated by tenderest affection. George 81
breakfasts in e~cstatic admiration of the A,
pretty creature blushing behind he cof- ic
Zee cup, goes down town and about his or
business as airily as if he walked OF
IN thrones, and returns at evening in iii
ime to investigate, hand in hand with ar
lis queen, the little kingdom in which n,
hey reign supreme, and so the days slip m
" until the precarious pleasures of the OF
on eymoon are well over, and the set an
led satisfaction of a congenial marriage al
} an established fact. Arabella, for co
-