The morning call., 1890-06-29

home to dinner, she chose for the text OF hel
wedding sermon, John came neither est
ing bread nor drinking wine. and We say
he hath a devil" Parson Smith, as in
honor bound. swallowed his discomfort as
best he could and preached his daughter
marriage sermon from the text she had Sc
lected. That hgh-spirited dam sci not only
bad the honor of seeing her husband become
President of the United States but of Civ
ing birth to son who followed in his
fathers footsteps.
In giving an account Of that Fourth OF
July wedding, the first solemnized by him,
my reverend ancestor gives the follow
ing transcript of the marriage covenant
which he used then and throughout
the remainder of his life. and
which. indeed, was then in general use
among the Congregational ministers OF
New England. In those days no one on
American soil ever questioned the sanctity
or advisability of marriage OF had ever con-
sidered the possibility OF its proving a
failure. In reading this covenant one is
forcibly struck with the delicate distinction
made between the man and the woman in
their separate vows and also with the
familiar solemnity attached by the phrasing
of the fourth paragraph to the promises
made. l copy it verbatim, punctuation,
capital letters and all.
''You John and Mary, who now present your.
selves Candidates for the Covenant of God and
of your Marriage before Him, in token of your
Consentlng Affections and United Hearts, please
TO give your hands to one another.
John, the person whom you now take by the
hand. you receive TO be your Married Wife; you
prOIuise 10 love her, 10 honor her, TO support
her. and IN all things to treat her as you are now,
or shall hereafter be convinced Is, by the Laws
OF Christ made your Dufy, a tender husband.
with unspotted fidelity till death shall separate
you.
MARY, the person whom you now hold by the
hand you accept TO be your Married Husband
you promise TO love him, to honor him, 10 sub
init 10 him, and In all things TO treat him
as you are now, or shall hereafter De CON
WINGED is, by the Laws OF Christ made your Duty,
an aiiectlOnale wife, with invlolable loyalty I'LL
death shall separate you.
"Ih5 solemn covenant you make, and in this
sacred oath bind your soul IN the presence OF the
Great God and before these witnesses.
~ then declare you 10 be Husband and Vile,
regularly married according TO The laws OF SOD
and man. Therefore what God hath thus joined
together let no man put asunder."
FOURTH OF JULY RACES.
The Southern colonies, and. after the
ratification of the Constitution, the South
ern States, were by no means behind New
England in their celebration of the glorious
Fourth. In the Old Dominion of Virginia
100 years ago the wealthy patriotic planters,
their friends, guests and servants annually
assembled in great numbers in the good old
town OF Richmond to celebrate our nations
birthday with the best horSe-raceS of that
period and other 0pen-alr diversions. A
letter written by my maternal grandfather
and dated Richmond, July ), 1900" which
now lies open before me, gives a most
graphic account of the scenes enacted at
the annual Fourth of July races on the
preceding day. From this much-prized
heirloom | make the following extract:
The variegated costumes OF a mass OF danes
and gentlemen gave the wide balcony the APP
pearance OF a flower garden, and the sparkling
eyes, red cheeks and smiling lips OF The young
ladies made the scene most enchanting one.
Little beauties IN diamonds aud lace rode by in
rich chariots, accompanied by portly old fellows
with enormous RIFLES. The horses were the
cream Of our Virginia racers. After being led
up and down through the crowd they were
stripped, saddled and mounted. The drum
tapped, and on they shot like meteors. When
the race was won by horse bearing our new
national colors-red, white and blue-iu honor
of the occasion being Independence day, L
thought the people would have gone wild with
enthusiasm.
One of the most remarkable old-time cele-
brations of the Fourth of July that ever
took place in New York State have often
heard described by a great-aunt of mine,
who died decade ago at the ripe age of 90
years. 1T was ID 1899, and it happened in
the old Indian valley of OquagO, now Wind
sor, in BrO0me County, New York." she
used TO say. before the Revolutionary War
our valley was the famous residence of an
Indian tribe, and sort of halfway ground
or resting place for the six Nations at the
north and the tribes of Wyoming at the
south when they visited each other. LII the
year have named these Indians accepted
proposition from the Government to re-
move TO lands set apart for them in the
then far West, and on that Fourth of
July we celebrated at one and the same
time the Declaration Of Independence and
the departure of the Indians. The poor
creatures joined US in the celebration as a
way of taking leave of their old home, and
they made it just the ljveliest Fourth ever
seen anywhere. They danced all sorts of
queer dances and went through all sorts of
queer ceremonies. Toward nightfall they
all got pretty we'll filled up with fire water
and then they rushed about with nothing on
but American flags for breech-clouts, bur
raining for the Fourth Of July and yelling
good-by to US all. Some Of US were fright
ened half to death for fear they would scalp
us, but the liquor only seemed to make them
playful. not ferocious. AS soon as it was
dark they lighted bright tire, around which
they danced wildly for several hours, so that
Fourth OF July went out in blaze of light"
GEoFFREY wILLIsroS CHRISTINE