The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1894-10-01
ARP ON HAPPINESS.
GRAND PREPARATIONS FOR Il WE'D
DING At us HOUSE.
When Not Worrying About the Little
Arps He Is About the Country.
Tho Presents He Has to Buy.

q silver cup or silver spoon or something
by way Of remembrance. 1t used to be cups,
but it has got down to spoons now ana
reckon viii get down to safety pins after
while. My wife is a maternal ancestor
and is proud of her grandchildren ana
these little mementos have got to come,
money or no money. And there are the
birthdays that keep on multiplying ana
she knows every one and wants something
for them Just little something" she
whispers as she follows me to the door
1t is these little something's that keep me
on strain. but I'm going to keep on that
line as long as L can. She has been telling
me for a month that l ought to have
new suit of Clothes especially as there was
a wedding to come off in the family very
soon and | would nave to escort the bride
adown the long drawn aisle in the pres
cnce of a multitude. And so L tried the
clothing stores in Atlanta tor Il suit with
the tariff off, but didn't find it. That kind
hasent come yet, and SO l shall brush up
my old ones for the occasion. Nobody ~
going to look at me nohow, for there are
To be ten beautiful bridesmaids and as
many groomsmen and church full OF Wit
nesses end the wedding march is to De
played, and l could just drop out of 1t ana
never be missed. But l did buy my wife a
silk wedding dress and she is as proud as
she was at sweet sixteen, when she stood
up by me with her Augusta clothes on.
She dident have but one bridesmaid, either,
and there wasent much fuss made over II.
There We're no presents at all, but lew
days after we went to housekeeping seven
likely dariIieS came tramping up TO the
house and sat down on the front steps
until 1 came from the store. My pretty
young wife was sitting at the window pre-
tending to sew. She had mischievous
smile on her face as i stopped IN front or
the smiling darlSies. What are you all
doing here" said l. what have you come
after, Tip--you and Mary and ALP And
Tip said: cold master sont us up here to
Miss Octavy and she tole us to sot down
here tweH you come. Old master tole us
we all blong to you and Miss Octavy
now"
Wen, L never felt as helpless in my life.
What to do with them l didn't know. [
had no plantation and no negro houses ana
It never occurred to me that 1 could hire
them out So after consultation me and
my wife or my wife and / sent them all
back except Tip and Mary and begged the
old gentleman toy keep them until later.
He enjoyed the joke and said he only
wanted to make delivery OF
them. for they had long declared
that when Miss Octavy got married they
were "Swine wild her"
No, We didn't have our share of wedding.
My wife cost me just $l1.50-$l0 to old Broth
err Patterson, the preacher. and dollar
and a half for the license. Cheap, 1
tell you. \ good wife is the cheapest thing
in the world, for she has done been raised
and clothed ard schooled when you get
her. Old Jacob had to work fourteen years
for the girl he loved, but he got some OF
that back by cheating old man Labon in the
cattle trade. But nowadays a wedding costs
as much as q funeral-costs old folks l
mean. From the way things are going on
at my house it looks like the whole family
are to be married, even down to the lit
ubd9uuhtprS WI a a hn dressed
up as cherubs and mngle with the angels.
1t takes dry goods and lace amazing. And
the Snfolks are coming and some dear
friends. and all have to come I'm bridal
array, and the cake baking business has
begun and old Aunt Ann is as much excited
as if she was to be married, too. and de-
clares that "nobody's cake amt swine ter
beat her cake. The house has been swept
and Farnished-not a cobweb or a specl6 in
it. The rooms in the cabin have been
cleaned and carpeted, and for while one
of them was assigned to me, but l am
ruled out now and Will have to hang up
somewhere or sleep on the hay in the barn.
1t is a mighty big thing, l tell YOU for
baby girl is going to step Oft and leave
uS-goiug off after "a young man who is
no kin to her and never did anything for
her but give her a ring and a book and
some French candy now and then. But it
is all right and according to nature and we
can die more happily if the girls are happi-
~ married before we go But our time viii
come yet if we live four years
longer. We will have a golden we'd
ding-no silver in ours. We are for the gold
standard right now in advance Just a
gold dollar from each of our friends will
do, for we are goIdOlaters now In anticpa-
ton. We don't want to break nobody.
These silver wedding presents from the
generous donors are mighty nice and highly
appreciated by the happy donees, but they
give the old folks fits-I mean the paternal
ancestors who have to foot the bills. If an
old man has q popular son or daughter
who has to play bridesmaid or groomsman
10 somebody three or four times year its
rs aggravating as town taxes. ] know a
handsome bachelor over i'm Rome who died
nsolyent, and it was making wedding
presents that broke him. lie wanted TO
marry to get out of the business, but
couldent make up his mind, and all his set
of girls married while he was making up his
mind and he had to give every one a beau
tifuI present. At last he died and not one
Of those girls went to his funeral But it is
the fashion nowadays to make wedding
presents, and ii is all right il they come
willingly and don't strain the old mans
pocket IL is sort of tax on income that
has to be endured. In our young days we
dident get presents, but we had as fine a
wedding supper as can be had now, and
next day we had an Unfair, that was as fine
as the supper. The Unfair was a swell din
ner at the house of the grooms father, and
both families and all their kindred were
there. That ended the show. There was no
London or Paris New York or Saratoga
in it, but the young couple went to work.
Me and my wifc-that is to say my wife
and Ibid go to Tallulah falls about the
close of the honeymoon. The honeymoon
is the first month after marriage, and 1t
closes about the time the young man quits
calling his wife honey. We went in an old
fastened carriage that swung high and had
folding steps in the casing of each door
and had a high dickey seat for the driver
and q place behind for q little mig to stand
on Old Virgil was the carriage driver, and
was proud of his vocation. lie then
over fifty, and is living yet gray as a
rat and blind as a bat Yes, We went 10
Nobody lived there but man by the name
Of Bcall, VINO was in the war with Mexico
and had named his two boys Churubusco
and Monterey ana his little girl Buena Nis-
Ia Tallulah was then awfulIy magnetic. /
reckon il is yet. | held to nay pretty
young wife desperately when she ventured
q look over the awful precipice. read a
few years ago about a beautiful bride los
ing her consciousness right there and in a
swoon she fell over the brink and down,
down down until she was gone from
sight and her husband became almost in
sane and the people ran down there in
horror and despair-and as they descended
by the winding and dangerous way to find
~ ,DaOglpd remains. they saw her hang