The morning news., 1889-02-18
HER SECOND MARRIAGE.
WHAT FASHION PREsCRIBEs FOR
A WIDOWS BRIDAL GOWN.

A WIDOWS BRIDAL GOWN N.
Revolution in Etiquette Which Per
roits White Silk and Orange Blooms
en- a Widow Who Stands before the
Altar for the Second Time.
Copyright 1897
Nrw YORK, Feb. l6-A change comes
o,sr the spirit of our dreams. There's moth
inc short Of revolution in progress in the
otinuette of second marriage.
the color gray. 1t is against its deadly
.;rc tones that the arms of the rebels are
directed.
Powerful has 1t been to aveDge the spin
,ter on the pretty widow who dared to lead
a fresh captive in chains.
I'd wager three yards of pearl gray silk
that more than one bridegroom has felt the
love glamour fading into the common light
~ every day before the subdued tones, the
decorous. reminiscent festivities of a second
Marriage. The funeral baked meats did
coldly furnish forth the wedding feast. I'd
WAGER three yards again that Hamlet's
mother stood up with the wicked uncle
IN a nearl gray gown frightfully trying to
her complexion, and that bad as he was he re-
,1ented the murder when he looked on her.
Ebe had no bridesmaids, of course. There
xvere no orange blossoms, and she hid her
blrsbes under no maiden veil. She still wore
tbe ring OF her first marriage, and when
thev came to the proper point in the second
ceremony his fingers touched it, reminding
him of ghosts as he slipped another Just like
it to be its mate on the same finger. She
wore a bonnet probably and thoroughly
correct cuffs and collar. It's possible that
she avoided comparisons with the gayeties
of her first wedding by eschewing distinctly
bridal robes altogether, anc gowning her
self from head to foot in travelling costume
Unless she had the genius to seek this ref
uge she was all in half tones, not sorrow
ful, but as if, having emerged from grief,
she was vet unable again to taste joy. All
very well for Hamlet's mother, but hard on
Younger and more exemplary widows
In these days of Chicago divorce such as
a dress conspiracy against remarriage-
suggesting the tacit alliance OF Dame Fash
ion. the manners book and the minated
daInsel to serve the last named first in case
the men would not go round-could not be
expected to hold. The pretty widow has
rallied her forces. She seizes boldly on
white. the accepted marriage color, and she
carries the day. White velvet was her first
venture She got that far last spring. The
earth did not open and swallow her, and
one after another she conquers white bro
cade. white satin, white silk this winter.
She goes farther. If she be young
enough and pretty enough she claims
as her privilege the crown of bridal
blossoms, the train of maldens and-yes,
something not unlike the wedding veil. Ii
is by delicate gradations, by subtleties only,
that you would know the altar had seen her
in front of it before.
As regards the orange blooms she is not
without some show of precedent in her
favor. In England the bride who is a
bride for the second time may not wear the
myrtle or the orange. But we are not so
English as we were. In most parts of Ger
many it is the virgin only who twists them
IN her hair. But there are many German
and Swiss districts where a widow if not
too old a one, though she would not deck
herself with either flower separately, weaves
a wreath of the two of them and puts it on
with a smile. French widows never allow
themselves on a second occasion the long
trail of orange blossoms falling on the
shoulder and catching up the VEIL but So
ciety comedies them just wee tuft of the
flowers, modest in size and unassuming, but
enough to assert the right to assume the
marriage emblem. 1t is the French rule
which is beginning to find followers here.
A woman marrying the second or third
OF fourth husband, if she wears flowers at
all, is likely to content herself with a knot
Of white roses. But if she choose to tuck a
spray of orange flowers into the tangle of
her fluffy curls there may be those who will
call it a trife audacious, but there can be
none who will not admit she has had abun-
dant precedent in three or four OF the pret-
test weddings of the season. Lilies of the
valley, the other wedding flower. have been
seen on at least one occasion.