Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1888-02-04
DIARRIAGE EXTRAVAGANCE.
Need a Great Amount of Trimming
off all Along the Line.

VII u 1htouk II III
Lancaster Era: A great deal has been
written in recent years about the excessive
amount of money spent at funerals, and
most Of it unnecessarily and out Of the
single desire to make a show. From the
costly ornamented coffin to the long array
Of unnecessary coaches there is "A success.
sion OF expenses that are in u bad taste as
they are useless. But at the other end Of
the line there is even more extravaganza.
If there is a useless extravaganza at fu-
ncrals, what must we say of that which
accompanies weddings! Here things are
conducted with a display, lavishness and
an expense that casts everything 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 absence from the roof
tree could perhaps be borne ph%ilosophic-
ally enough were ii not that, when they
go, a good deal else goes with them that
cannot 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 a matter not al
ways regulated by the financial ability
of the paternal parent, but how much an
ambitious mother and a winning daughter
can persuade him to cXpend. Often the
sumo is far beyond what prudence and
good sense will allow. but such is the de-
sire to make a show and to keep on Il
level with what other fathers. moving in
the same social circle have done under
similae circumstances that the parent
may incur financial obligations which it
may require years Of crimping and saving
TO make up.
The wedding gifts are not a triflc.
either. 1t has con almost obligatory
nowadays upon parents TO give their
daughters a good send of, and TO do this
often " rcssitatcs many sacrifices. The
younA Moplc of the present day are not
content 10 begin as their parents did, but
nothing less than Il start from where their
parents now stand will suit them. 1t is
true, times are continually changing. and
manners and customs with them, and an
advance on the previous generation is,
perhaps, inevitable, but the greater that
advance and the greater the display the
more correct the thing is supposed To be.
1t is very right and proper that parents
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 as the influence of the
example may have n bad effect on those
less fortunately circumstanced. These
later, III their attempts 10 keep up with
the procession, are led into IA hundred cX-
travagences they can i'll afford.
Then, too, We have the present and
ever increasing extravaganza of wedding
presents. These are hardly second to
the actual marriage itself in importance,
in the eyes of the bride and her am
bilious mamma. Every effort is made to
make them many and costly, and often
the means employed are hardly war
ranted. They are placed on exhibition.
and as nc one cares to show up poorly.
there is "A direct bid for cXtraaagance
All this is but preliminary. What fol
lows is often still more costly and eXtrava.
CANT. and all for the purpose Of making a
display. In Europe the only way to
marry off 4 daugotcr well. in a worldly
sense, is to give her Il handsome portion,
and fathers often cripple themselves
pecuniarily for life in the effort To make
the dot as large as possible. Here We
don't consider ourselves obliged to give a
large wedding portion, but we virtually
do the the same thing undcranothcr name
and in another way. There is a wide
field for reform in this matter. But thai
We shall witness any considerable move
ment III this direction is altogether i'm
probable ut the present time. The tend
ency at present is towards even greater
extravaganza.