Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1885-05-21

Anglo-Saxons used these gemmec
rings and they In turn borrowed then
of the French. for one would like
10 know from whom the French bor.
rowed them, but history is silent on
this point.
The wedding ring has been worn
upon the thumb, and upon the right
hand. But the women of all nations
have been 10 busy as bees, and with
spinning and weaving to occupy their
fingers, it is easy to see why even a
princess should put her priced wedding
ring upon the hand and finger which
would KEEP it the safest. The fancy
that vein or nerve runs directly from
the fourth finger of the left hand to
the heart, is very ancient and no
doubt helped to makeit the bearer OF
the wedding ring, and there was in
the early days of the church curious
custom of recognizing the Trinity by
placing the ring on the first finger or
thumb, for the Father, on the second
finger for the son, and on the third
finger for the Holy Ghost. Then it was
placed upon the fourth finger, from
which loving and superstitious wives
never removed it,
Scholars are fond of telling MS that
the wedding ring meant the subiec-
ton of the wife, and the placing 1t up
on the left hand meant more subjec-
tion. But in the past the subsection
of women has needed no sign to
emphasize it. 1t was an accepted and
expected fact, and was perhaps con-
dition of safety.
In the middle ages, the wedding
ring was blessed or hal,owed by the
officiating priest. and the form used
seems to me very beautiful: ''Ha,low
Thou, Lord, this ring, which we bless
in thy holy name, that whatsoever wo-
man shalt wear 1t may stand fast in
thy peace, and continue in thy will,
and live, and grow, and wax old in
thy love, and be multiplied with
length of days Through Jesus Christ
our Lord"
The service of the Church of Eng
land, compels the use of ring, and
an odd story is told of two paupers
who too poor to buy ring, were Sc
cu:ely married by means of curtain
ring, supplied by the sympathetic
clerk. Two rings are used in modern
Greece. A gold one for the bride
groom, and a silver one for the bride.
The inferior metal marks the inferori-
ty of the wife, say the antiquarans
again, but it seems to me rather sur
vival of the old worship of the sun and
the moon. The ring fell under the
displeasure of the Puritans, as did all
signs and symbols used by Rome, and
during the commonwealth, they tried
to abolish it with Christmas AMI Eas-
ter observances, but the descendants
of those Puritans wear engagement or
hetrothal rings, if not wedding ring.
When a marriage between patrlcian n
families was celebrated in ancient
Rome, loaf of bread, made of wheat
and barley,wa solemnly tasted by the
bride and bridegroom before the
priest of Jove and ten Roman citizens
as witnesses. Children Of marriages
in which this ceremony was observed
were entitled to certain privileges and
offices, for this was the highest and
most sacred rite of marriage. Dainty
and sweet as it is, the bride cake is the
modern representative Of that wheat
and barley bread. Whence the Ro-
mans derived the custom, is not
known, but it came no doubt from
Asia. Dreaming upon wedding cake
is an old English custom
In Greece, the bride rode to her
husbands house in litter, seated be
tween the bridegroom and his friend
the best man. In Rome two boys
led the bride, but her attendant was a
married woman whose duty it was to
lead the newly married pair to the al
tar of the family gods. In the time
Of the Anglo -Saxons the bride was led
by matron, and followed by COM
pany of young girls, who were called
the bridesmaids. From them the
custom has descended to us.