Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1888-03-22
MARRIAGE ExTRAvAcANcE.

MARRIAGE ExTRAvAcANcE.
Need e = Great Amount Of Trimnins On
All Aloax the LIns.
A great deal has been written in 70.
cent years about the excessive amount
of money spent at funerals and most
of it unnecessarily and out of the
single desire to make q show. From
the costly ornamentcd coffin to tho
long array Of unnecessary coaches
there Is q succession. of expenses that
are in as bad taste as they are useless.
But ut the other end of the line thcrc
is even more extravaganza Ii there
is useless extravaganza at funerals.
what must we say of that which ac-
companies weddings! Here things arc
conducted with a display. lavishness
and an expense that casts every thing
else in the shade The father of two
or three manageable daughters may
well dread the ordeal which will take
his daughters from him. Their alb
sence from the roof-tree could perhaps
be borne philosophical y enough were
it not that, when they go, good deal
else goes with them that can not be
spared.
To begin with there is the wedding
trousseau to be provided. In these
days young girls have come to regard
this as about the most important
affair connected with their marriage.
How extensive and how costly it shall
be is matter not always regulated by
the financial ability of the patc,nal
parent, but how much an ambitious
mother and winning daughter can
persuade him to expend. Often the
sum is far beyond what prudence and
good sense will allow, but such is the
desire to make show and to keep on
Il level with what other fathers, NOV.
ing in the same social circle, have done
under similar circumstances. that the
parent may incur financial obligations
which it may require years of crimp-
ing and saving to make up.
The wedding gifts are not triflc.
either. 1t has become almost obliga-
tory nowadays upon parents. to give
their daughters good send of. and to
Go this often necessitates many sacri-
fees. The young people of the pres
ent day are not content to begin al
their parents did. but nothing less than
a start from where their parents now
stand will suit them. 1t is true times
are continually changing. and man
ners and customs with them, and an
advance on the previous generation is.
perhaps. inevitable; but the greater
that advance. and the greater the dis
play. the more correct the thing is sup
posed to be.
1t is very right and proper that pa
rents who have the means should start
the young people in good style. There
can be no objection whatever to this
course. except in SO far rs the intlu-
ence of the example may have lai
effect on those less fortunately circiim-
stanced. These later. in their at
tempts to keep up with the procession.
are led into u hundred extravaganccs
they can ill afford.
Then. too, We have the present and
ever increasing extravaganza Of we'd
ding presents. These are hardly Sec
ond to the actual marriage itself in inn
portance. in the eyes of the bride and
her ambitious mamma. Every effort
is made to make them many and
costly, and often the means employed
are hardly warrants. They arc
placed on exhibition. and as no one
cares to show up poorly. there is di-
rect bid for extravaganza. All this is
but preliminary. What follows is
often still more costly and extravagant.
and all for the purpose of making =
display. In Europe the only way to
marry off daughter well. IN worldly
sense. is to give her a handsome por-
ton. and fathers often cripple them
selves pecuniarily for life in the effort
to make the dot as large as possible.
Here we don't consider ourselves
obliged to give large wedding por-
ton. but we virtually do the same thin.
under another name and in another
way. There is wide field for reform
in this matter. But that we shall wit
ness any considerable movement in
this direction is altogether improbable
at the present time. The tendency ut
present is towards even greater ex-
(Pa.) Era.
MEETING THE EMPEROR.