, 1889-08-28

you ANAhAA hAit hohhNg AAAbAAIH.
THE beginning of the wedding" he
answered, with lofty majesty. ~ am
too young to have a past"
$50 you are. The wedding, then; and
do your very best this afternoon; be en-
tertaining, for lying still for so long in
clines n to blue dragons of the bluest
kind, and / want you to fight them of
for mo"
"St. George for Englandr" he cried,
laughing. 1.-The fight beginsl Imagine
a church, large, gray, n trile damp per-
haps, lights turned low, but over all n
gala air. The chancel is decorated 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 smilax."
'Smilax in pots?'
mo, not in pots, but everywhere else.
Enormous candelabra stand about, light
ed and festooned with greenery, and
high above everything is a great crescent
made with twinkling lights like little
stars. Now! Enter eight conspiratorsl
! am one. The sexton is there to admit
us; the organist and a few favored
friends are already in the loft. A mob
besieges every one of the doors. That is
the stufiing of the assembly, so to speak;
without it the hooks and crannies which
one could not fill with invited guests
would be vacant, and give the
church n cherries look which the
lights and flowers could not soften.
Now we admit this stuffing, and it tears
its component parts To shreds trying for
nlnHna from which 10 q GnAIf TI,
hooks and ~-crannies are filed, and still
they come, They are vandals. They
stand up in the seats; they walk up each
others skirts. These are ladies, you I'M
derstand; at least they were ladies until
the rumor of a wedding turned them
centuries back into barbarians.'
'Splendidl' interrupted his audience,
laughing. "Why do you not report for
the papers?"
"Too young" he answered, dryly. II
must have experience first"
II am blighted by your sarcasml' she
cried, continuing to laugh. please ex-
cuse 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 rs TO
be on time l cannot imagine. The organ
list begins to play, and the stuffing mash
es itself to paste. Igive my stalwart arm
TO forty stranded danes and damsels-
no, not all at once-one after another,
and they go ut all sorts of gaits. BY the
time | have escorted my share of the
witnesses, l could keep step with any
animal in a r~nenagerie. There are tall
ones who stalk like the stately deer
only it is not the deer who does the stalk
ing; but never mind; there are short
ones, who chat amiably up at me, trying
to appear unconscious of the gaping
crowd, and these trot like little foxes;
then there are some unaccustomed, half
fledged ones who are frightened, and get
over the ground like n pair of diyiders.
But | am up with them, neck and neck,
so to speak, as | turn them into their
places N stroll unconcernedly pack for
another victim in my natural manly
gait. And now they are all shown up
and a very comfortably gaudy gathering
they are-with fans waving and Jewels
~scintillating, How am l getting along?"
mot atall at present"
"But how was II"
"Grandlyl We had just arrived at the
interesting part. l was standing on tip
toe, ankle and all, to see the bride come
in"
He nodded. "Remain in that position.
if you please" he said. THE organist
is playing and leaving off az his pleasure,
and any ingredient of the stuffing would,
Mt this moment of excitement, be willing
to stand upon the forehead of its faint
ing neighbor to get a better view.
Presently we are summoned to the vesti-
bule. The bride has arrived. Miss Wal
dron has eight bridesmaids in green,
and a special your substitute) in pink,
who walks in beside her. They all have
bouquets as large as hay stacks, and are
positively silent with fright. Now
wraps off Here we gol boo! doo'
dy-doop That is the wedding march as
performed upon the organ; it must so
through that once, and then the doors
are thrown back. All the people in ths
church turn wrong side before, and
those at the sides sway forward, giving
an appearance of the walls falling in.
We leave four pews between each
two of us, and six between the last
pair Of bridesmaids and the bride
and special. No one comes after the
bride, which is fortunate, as her dress is
no less than a 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 pr rehearsal. Miller
and young Waldru:. there ready to
receive them. W l,r!' that is the
service"
Don't be nippant, said the audience,
re~provingly.
81 give you my wore that was all that
1 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!
! see the benediction. Up againi Good.
The organ roars 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
,rou.l s;,,ply r,;nls ;t.,le j., I;..lz -.