Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1896-10-04

inmate with Possession OF the
Coveted Paper.
/ When people come TO pay their taxes In
the county building they do it in motley
/ crowds where many nationalities are rep
| resented. but al the window where mar
| rage licenses are procured all nations are
/ found from day 10 day. young and old.
\ rich and Door. Here is the counter over
| which they receive their passports TO mat
J rimony. that mysterious country from
! " hose bourne So many travellers return
\ by way Of The divorce court. The news
/ papers publish from day TO day the lists
/ OF those who are about TO take or who
l have taken the plunge ald il is notice
/ able that the most Of those applying for
licenses are young and inexperienced. The
number Of ladies' whose ages appear as
/ o and % IS increasing every year at an
alarming rate. Twenty-nine is the great
marrying age for women. and the new lady
| as we'll as the old sans bloomer feminine
woman Of other days. still cllngs TO that
most precious prerogative Of her sex. the
right to be %.
Al the marriage license desk many com
/ edies are enacted. The young fellow from
one of the country towns comes in with
his best friend. and after a whispered con-
sultation they approach the opening where
the suave official who presides over the
destinies Of Hymen beams forth and be
gin 60 make Inquiries.
BUCOLIC EMBARRASSMENT.
what can 7 DO for you?" inquiries the
| Official He IS man Of many tongues.
metaphoricallv speaking FOR he Is q lin
| gliisr OF remarkable attachments. The
young fellows are Inclined 10 be sheepish.
] They stammer at the question. and one
/ OF them. the prospective bridegroom,
grows very red at the chatting Of his com
panion
How old Is the LADY,"
sixteen"
"Why-oh, no." hurriedly speaks up the
/ friend. shes To-"
How DO YOU know?''
"Why she's nv sister"
The groom gives her name rs though she
were already his wife. and then blunders
ont his excuse. They go away finally with
the license. and may be seen in the hall
adjacent TO the office reading il over care
/ fully. and the groom friend is still Josh
1 ing" him and apparently much elated over
the fact that he is not going 10 he one OF
I the prime factors I'm the intended ce-e-
nony.
Next a suspicious sutton drops in. He
I does not know lust when ne and his girl
/ are going TO get married. but you can't
/ tell YOU know. II might come of sudden
and it might not be for a year. He is a
/ type Of the American young man. Merry
[ Gus. alert. a trihe cynical but with great
pride i'm his girl-the best Walter on the
west side and "can cook a meal Of Wet
uals that would knock you silly" He
/ moons up TO one Of the other windows and
asks: Where's the marriage license
geezer?"
on being directed there he does not i'm
mediately make inquiries. but stands
around and watches for developments
I At last he saunters mp and begins to put
questions After he has admitted that he
/ doesn't want one right away. and has
found out the price of a license and lit
| tle about the way 10 get one, he shuts
/ himself OUT and goes away with the pleas
! ing hauucination that he has broken the
i ice as regards the tutufe wedding
/ An excitable crowd Of foreigners next
/ pour IN. all gestures and animation. and
/ commence 10 chatter and point their fin
I gers and create more confusion i'm the Of
/ fee than "a flock Of blackbirds on a foggy
/ morning The more they talk the higher
/ grows the key of their voices, but Mt
, length the official brings them mp TO the
/ rack as 70 their wants and then the vicin-
~ IS Illuminated with smiles and dimples.
and very volubly and rapidly the questions
are answered. the license obtained and
they file out and away.
THE COOL BUSINESS MAN.
Then comes i'm man Of about 49, with n
business-like air and makes straight for
the window without any preliminary halt
ing or confusion. No dilly-dalying with
him. No sham sentiment or namby-pam-
byism. He wants a license to marry Miss
Ella Sanford. agod 2S. His name Is Henry
r. I.etwich. aged 90. For MIN the brave
DAYS when he WIS q are long since past
and ne brings 20 bear on the marriage
question the experience Of n man who
looks calmly 20 the legal phase of the
matter. vet who may in his heart hold
very deeply and tenderly the appreciative
sense Of what the ceremony will mean to
himself and the woman who will be his
wife And ne is 40.
+ Forty times over let NIichaelnass pass.
Grizzling hair the brain doth clear,
/ Thcn YOU know a boy is an ass.
/ Then YOU know the worth of a lass,
/ once YOU have come 10 forty year
/ Tho nev+ candidate for matrimonial hon
| ors is very elegantly attired young man,
accompanied by an elderly lody a little
1 inclined to Dee fearful She is going 10 see
/ Robert taken from her to marry a girl she
/ rather gruddingly approves Of
My son. Robert Cto his mother God
/ bless herD has all the physical attributes
( Of Apollo and all the mental gifts of Sha-
/ kespeare. He Is 20 her the glass OF fash
I ion and the mold Of form and all that sort
Of thing Bob" IS all right enough in his
/ way. trihe narrow and priggish. but
\ not wholly TO blame for it. His intended
7 sees him In q haze created by his mothers
opinion Of him and therefore reverences
him good deal too much. The prelim-
mary question being put. Robert assumes
/ that magisterial dignity only observable
j I'm very old and very young men. He "Ro-
hertizcs" his mother more than ever by
I the man-of-tho-wcrli air in whicN he an
syvers the queries and she honestly wond-
ers If there ever was such son before
born 20 a loving mother. When the Ii
ceuso is gotten they march away together
and are lost in the crowd which trails and
surres about In the wide halls and corri-