The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-03-20


Bridezrooms IS how One OF These
Sentimental Journeys Ended in
Financial Difficulties.
From the Eer1 York World
So far as the modern fashionable we'd
ding IS coacernsd, there seems TO be only
one thing about it which is STEPPED in nlys-
stery. From the time the engagement is
entered into up to the hour, not 10 say the
moment, when the ceremony is performed
in church in the presence Of scores of init.
mate friends and some hundreds of az
quaiutauces, everything connected with
the affair. whether directly or indi-
rectly, intimately or remotely. -
made the subject Of discussion
among members of the family, and finds its
way ont into the general social world to fur
nish abundant material for comment. for
gossip, and for criticism. The bride and
her claims to beauty are considered. How
wealthy her family may be is stated with
arithmetical exactless. How much money
the father of the bride will settle on her.
and whether or not he has purchased a
house for the so-called happy pair, is stated
with the utmost clearness.
At the same time the bridegroom comes
in for his share of description. Who he is
and TO what family he belongs, whether or
not he is in business, and what are his
sources of income are all made known in
some way or other to the clubs and draw
ing-rooms Of the town, and after few days
the men and women who congregate in such
places are able to put forward an intelligent
and interesting digest of the entire situation
Then the wedding cards are received, the
wedding presents are inspected and dis
cussed, the wedding march is played, and
the whole affair ends with the wedding
trip, which is the one mystery already re-
ferred to.
The wedding trip is regarded now in DO
lite society just as it formerly was-as a
necessary part Of the proceedings. AS soon
as Miss Jones becomes Mrs. Smith she is
whisked away from her home and from the
scenes of her youth, and the world knows
nothing of her until she is established again
In the home which her husband has made
fer her. Where she goes after leaving the
church is something wholly unknown to
her friends and acquaintance. Presumably
the immediate relations of the family may
be informed on the subject, but if this is SO
they are in conspiracy to maintain what
may be described as the modern fashion
able mystery-that is to say, the
hiding place to which the bride and bride
groom disappear after they have entered
into tine earliest stages of their matrimonial
experiences A fashionable authority SAYS
that it is the custom now for young people
just married to repair to the country house
OF some friend, or, if the wedding IS in the
winter time, as it very frequently is, they
are apt to go TO the country house which
either the family of the bride or bridegroom
occupy during the summer. Whether or
not this is true nobody has any means of
knowing, although curiosity on the subject
Is usually SO rampant that it would be
necessary in order to satisfy it that the
schedule of the trip, along with railroad
time table, be exhibited with the wedding
presents.
THE FASHION HAS CHANGED.
This is all very different from what it
used to be. Fifteen or twenty years ago a
young couple about to be married told their
friends long before the marriage occurred
exactly where they were going Niagara
Falls was the favorite destination, but in
many cases an elaborate trip was projected,
including some of the principal cities of the
country and the principal show places pre-
csely as married people arrange them now
long after they have been married and have
families growing up around them. AT the
time mention Washington was favorite
place for people newly married, and their
route was so thoroughly advertised that the
hotel keepers in Washington and Philadel-
phia, and other towns through which they
passed, were as well informed of their
coming as though the bridal con-
tingent were a theatrical company with
dates announced several months ahead. In
many Gases the bridegroom stopped at no.
tells that had been familiar to him during
his bachelor days, and the proprietors put
aside what were known as the bridal cham
bers for these distinguished guests and
insisted on opening wine to celebrate the
event, and insisted also on adding to the
celebration by showing them every atten-
ton in their power. Ward McAllister once
said that he stopped at the Continental
hotel in Philadelphia on his wedding trip,
and it was all he could do to keep level
headed during the time he was there, and
he had a great deal more difficulty in get
ting away than he had III getting there
But the wedding trip as announced and
carried out after the fashion here described
is decidedly thing of the past. The bride
and bridegroom do not announce their
plans, and the hotel-keepers know nothing
about newly married couples coming along,
and when they do, make no more effort to
entertain them than they do ordinary guests.
The bridal chambers, which were once the
showrooms Of every well-regulated hostelry,
do not exist now, either in fact or in name
In the old times the bridal chambers were
supposed to be the most sumptuously fur
nished rooms in the house. Under the con-
many sumptuousiy furnished rooms, al d so
great a demand for splendid surroundings
and conveniences of all kinds, that it would
be impossible to favor people about begin
ming to walk along the path of life hand in
hand.
MoDEsTLY DISGUISED.
The steamers which m axe daily trips I'D
the Hudson river and along Long Island
Sound offered bridal rooms for rent long
after the hotels had stoppedit, but even the
managers here gave it up finally and no
longer describe their rooms in this way Old
hotel men remember the bridal rooms in the
hotels over which they once presided, ard
they tell to-day the numbers of them in
some of these old-time hostelries. For
example, the bridal chambers in the old St. |
Nicholas hotel, in lower Broadway, We're
numbered 6, 0, and 1876. The apart |
ments had been held for the |
purpose indicated by their name during |
long course Of years, and it was no I'M |
usual thing for young mon to come along |
end engage them in advance, and say that |
their fathers had occupied them on their |
wedding "trip years before. On the Fail |
River Line of steamships the term bridal" |
was changed two years ago, and the rooms |
are now called parlor staterooms. One of |
the handsomest staterooms to be found on |
any loaf is room 116 on the Connecticut. |
This has a brass double bed, with bamboo |
EASY chairs and is hung with richly colored |