Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-04-19

fering is much more and enduring souve-
mir. Any gift which betokens long and
predetermined interest in the bride is the
most fattering.
Ostentation of Gift Giving.
The custom IF giving bridal gifts has be-
come an outrageous abuse of good thing.
From being very pretty custom, one which
had as its base the good reason of helping
the young couple 10 begin housekeeplng,
which is still observed in Holland and the
North, by presents of bed and table linen
and the necessary furniture of the house, it
has become but another form of ostentation.
There gets to be a rivalry between the
families; the publicity of the whole thing,
the notoriety and extravaganza, could we'll
be rebuked.
The wedding breakfast in America is a
stand-up affair, and it is proper to serve
every delicacy, such as salads of chicken
and lobster boned and truf1ed turkey and
pheasants, patti of game, cold partridge, pate
de foie gras, terrapin and oysters, Ices,
creams, iellies and fruits, champagne, claret
and punch.
The bride sometimes cuts the cake and
allows the young people to search for a
ring.
The prettiest wedding is one in June at a
country house, particularly if the bride can
walk to church over flowers and under the
blossoming trees. The massing of single
flower, the yellow daffodil or the pink and
white apple blossom, is very good idea.
Remembering the Domestics.
If choir boys could sing wedding choral
outside the windows it would be a happy
thought, and 1t is a pleasant feature of a
country wedding that the faithful domestics
who have loved the bride from childhood
can assist. In England they count on each
wearing favor made by the bride herself.
The cook, the maid, the nurses and the men
servants in England always expect a we'd
ding favor and a small gratuity, and in this
country all expect box of wedding cake,
At country wedding, if the day is fine.
little tables are set out on the lawn. The
ladies seat themselves around, the gentlemen
carry refreshments to them. The piazzas
can be decorated with autumn boughs, ever
greens and flowers, the whole thing becomes
a garden party, and even the family dogs
should have wreath of white flowers
around their good old necks. Many brides
of to-day leave the bouquet at home, and
carry an ivory prayer book to church. The
term honeymoon is derived from the Ger
man, who drank metheglin, beverage
made of honey, for 80 days after the we'd
ding. The bride cake is not so universally
sent about as formerly, but still one finds
the little narrow box of cake near the door
for each to take.
Better Cling to the Ring.
As the ring is the expressive emblem of
the perpetuity of the compact, and as the
bride cake and libations form significant
symbols of the nectar sweets of matrimoly,
it will not do to Danish the cake altogether,
although few people eat it and few wish to
carry It away.
Brides should send their future address, if
possible, with the wedding cards, else if one
is invited only to a church wedding, no one
knows when or where to call. 1t is con-
venlent and pleasant custom for the bridal
pair to send out after their marriage cards,
having the date of two or more reception
days at their new residence.
Quiet weddings either at home or in
church are very much preferred by some
families. The bride is married in travelling
dress and bonnet, and drives off in the
groom's carriage from a quiet wedding to
the honeymoon. People with large ac-
qualntance cannot always invite all their
friends, of course, to a wedding reception,
therefore only ask them to the church.
These invitations require no answer, but
people being at a distance, who cannot at
tend the wedding, should send their cards
by mail to assure their hosts that the invi-
tation has been received. Much i'll feeling
is apt to be engendered by the distinction
which is inevitably made in leaving out the
friends who feel that they were entitled to
an invitation to the house. 1t is better to
offend no one on so important an occasion.
The Wedding Stationery.
Wedding cards and wedding stationery
should be sim pie, white without glaze, and
with no ornamentation at all. Il is proper
for the bride to have her left hand bare as
= L. III
trouble of taking off long glove. Child
bridemaids are very pretty and very much
in favor These charming children, COW
cred with flowers, looking very grave and
solemn, are the sweetest Of heralds for q
wedding procession.
1t is very troublesome to be MARI ed in
France, especially ii one of the high con-
tracting parties be foreigner. A certificate
of baptism is required, together with that
OF the marriage OF the father ard mother
and o written consent of the grandfather
and grandmother, if either is alive and
the parents dead. The names of the parties
are then put up on the door of the Marie or
Mayors Office FOR IL days.
Getting Married in England.
In England there are four ways of getting
married. The first is by special license,
which costs ESQ., There is then the ordinary
license, which can be procured either at
doctors commons or through a clergyman,
who must also be surrogate and resident of
the diocese where the marriage is to take
place. Both the parties must swear that
they are of age, or if minors that
they have the consent of their parents.
But to be married by banns is considered
the most orthodox as we'll as most economi-
cal way of proceeding. The banns must be
published in the church of the parish in
which the lady lives for three consecutive
Sundays prior to the marriage; also the
same law holds good for the gentleman, and
the parties must have resided 10 days in the
parish, or the knot may be tied in Licensed
chapel or at the Office of registrar notice
being given three weeks previously.
AS the business of getting married is more
lenient than il is In France and Englan SO
is the liberty allowed to an engaged pair
greater than it is abroad. In England no
young girl is allowed to dine alone with her
fance. There must be a servant in attend
ance. Nor is she allowed to go to the
theater alone with him, or travel under his
escort, or stop at the same hotel. or relax
any OF those rigid rules which Spanish
duenna would enforce.
Il