Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-07-20

| ABOUT It. Begin at once"
i .'oh, certainly" he acquiesced, with reckless
gaiety: THE spinster and the bachelor will
now discuss the wedding. As you know. was
| one Of the ushers, and il you have ever been
glad that you are young lady. continue to re-
| Jolce, for no one can turn you into or usher"
| lis it hard work p she asked
| do not tell me that you have ever attended
wedding without seeing that il must be
drudeery. Imagine a fellow-shall i start
there, or go back to the very beginning?'
The beginning of your existence, do you
| meang she asked. laughing.
| The beginning of the wedding" he an
sWered, with lofty majesty. i am too young
| to have past"
so you are. The wedding then; and do
your very best this afternoon; be entertaining
| Tor lying still for so long inclnes one to blue
dragons Of the bluest kind, and want YOU 70
| fight them of for me-
st George for Englandr' he cried. laugh
ing. 'The fight begins! Imagine a church.
large, gray, trifle damp perhaps, lights turned
| low, but over all gala air The chancel is dec
GRATED in its white garments, and forty million
| roses throw their beauty and fragrance over all;
| together with potted things of course palms
and hydrangeas, tall lilies, and miles Of smi-
| lax"
''smilax in pots?"
mo, not in pots, but everywhere else Enor-
nous candelabra stand about lighted and fes-
| tooned with greenery, and high above every
! thing Is great crescent made with twinkling
hghts ike little stars. Now, Enter eight conspi-
| ratorsi am one. The sexton is there to admit
| Us, the organist and few favored friends are
already III the loft. A mob besieges every one
OF the doors. That is the stuffing of the as
sembly, SO to speak; without it the hooks and
crannles which one could not fill with invited
guests would be vacant and give the church a
cneerless look which lights and flowers could
| not soften. Now we admit this stuffing. and it
TEARS lts component parts to shreds trying for
places from which to see. Good The hooks
ana crannies are filed, and still they come.
Lhey are vandals. They stand up in the seats;
,hey walk upon each others skirts. These are
ladies, you understand; at least they were la
dies, until the rumor OF wedding turned them
centuries back into barbarians
splendid! interrupted his audience, laugh
ing why do you not report for the papers?"
Too young" he answered, dryly. II must
| have experience first"
Il am bhghted by your sarcasm' she cried
continuing to laugh. please excuse me for
| living, and go on with the story"
Listen, then. for the plot thickens. Now
arrive the least important of the guests; how
they can be so foolish as to be on time L cannot
imagine. The organist begins to play, and the
stuffing mashes itself to PASTE l give nv
stalwart arm to forty stranded danes and dam
sels-no not all at once-one after another, and
they go at all. sorts of gaits BY the time
have escorted my share of the witnesses could
Keep step with any animal in a menagerie
lhere are tall ones who stalk like the stately
deer-only it is not the deer who does the
stalking; but never mind; there are short ones
who chat amlably up at me, trying to appear
unconscious of the gaping crowd, and these
trot like little foxes then there are some unac-
customed, half-fedged ones who are fright
ened, and get over the ground like a pair of
dlvlders. But l am up with them, neck and
neck, SO to speak, as l turn them into their
places and stroll unconcernedly back for
another victim in my natural manly gait. And
now they are all shown up-and a very COM
fortably gaudy gathering they are-with fans
waving and jewels scintillating. How am
getting along?"
'Not at all at present"
but how was II"
"Grandly! We had Just arrived at the inter-
esting part. 1 was standing on tiptoe, ankle
and all, to see the bride come in
He nodded. Remain in that position, If
you please" he said 1.-The organist is playing
and leaving off at his pleasure, and any ingre-
dent Of the stuffipg would, at this moment of
excitement, be willing to stand upon the fore
head of its fainting neighbor to get better
view. Presently we are summoned to the ves-
THULE The bride has arrived. Miss Waldron
has eight bridesmaids in green. and a special
(your substitute) in pink, who walks in beside
her. They all have bouquets large as hay
stacks, and are positively silent with fright
Now-wraps off Here we go! boo! doc.
dy-doo! That is the wedding march as per-
formed upon the organ; it must go through that
once and then the doors are thrown back. All
the people in the church turn wrong side be-
fore, and those at the sides sway forward, CIV
ing an appearance of the walls falling in We
leave four pews between each two of u.s. and
six between the last pair of bridesmaids and
the bride and special. No one comes after the
bride, which Is fortunate, her dress is no
less than mile long behind. We reach the
chancel steps; the eight maids in blue slide
before us eight youths in black. The bride
and her special are next the rail, as per re-
hearsal. Miller and young Waldron are there
ready to receive them. 'Wur-r-r-rp that is the
service"
Don't be fippant," said the audience, re-
provingly.
II give you my word that was all that heard
OF it. The organ continues to play softly; the
bride gives her hay-stack to the special and
'wur-r-r' on it goes. There is some Juggling
with the ring, and the brides brother-in-law
| nearly dies of stage-fright as he gives her away
Now they kneel. Well done! l see the bene-
diction. Up again! Good! The organ rcars
| its loudest, and the bride faces about without
turning her train under side up, which is the
master-stroke OF the performance, and sails
down the AISLE Miller and all, while the crowd
| simply grinds itself to little bits and goes away
piecemeal."
~ think You are very frivolous" she COM
mented, laughing.
'And think that you are very ungratefuI.
Have not amused you and fought your blues
with might and main?"
les, certainty; out
"Do not distress yourself over nv friyolity:
1t was frivolous wedding No single person
there was awed or even serious-not one The
bride was obliged to count the pews and be
careful that her train did not turn over As for
the crowd, they could hear nothing and de-
voted themselves to trying to see, that they
might not have come entirely in vain. We had
two rehearsals, and 1 do assure you that the
service is the very least part of the whole"
II should not wish any one to say that Of my
wedding" she confessed, seriously.
"Nor /, he answered speaking as seriously.
but with q daring light in his eyes. Il shall
try to have very different kind, If you
approve"
Five minutes later the grating of carriage
wheels on the gravel drive at the other side of
the house made itself heard, succeeded by
hasty footsteps, which followed the sound of q
calling voice.
Papa, papa" cried the voice, "come here!
come here as quickly as you can. Papa, this is
MIR. Brooks, and he has asked me to marry
him, and he kissed me, and won't say that he is
sorry: Tell him your opinion of such conduct"
There was an instant of silence. stern,
steady gaze on the part of the older man; a
firm front and as steady gaze on that of the
younger. Then this terrible father this tyrant
with the violent temper, turned quietly toward
his child and took her hand in his.
"Iell me what You think of the request lit
tie daughter" he said, bending over her, land
will tell Mr.. Brooks what think of the other"
"You behaved magnifcently," she said to her
accepted sutton. III you had seemed a bit
afraid, should have been provoked with my
self for caring for Won. YOu see. I have never