Great Falls weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1894-1???, 1896-11-27
QUEER WEDDINGS,
OCCASIONS WHEN ODDlTY WAS AN
IMPRESSIVE FEATURE.

uCCS uot uSIco Win INC TASTES OF som
people, and OCCASIONALLY very eccentric
and sometimes romantic marriage cere.
monies are solcmnized. Men and WON.
EN- entirely opposite in disposition and
character frequently unite in tho holy
bonds of NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. much
to their mutual regret. This peculiar
fact, it would seem, also applies to oddi-
ties of human nature. In many of the
travelling shows tho freaks who help to
draw money from the public intcrmar-
ry, and it is not an unusual thing to
find the fat man welded to tho skeleton
woman and the tattUood man to tho
bearded lady.
Mrs. Hannah Battersby, who one
time toured the country as % fat won.
an, was married to a PENNSYLVANIA
man, and it Is stated as q curious fact
that no soOnc1 were they married than
she began to lose flesh and he to gain
it. His weight increased so rapidly that
he soon took to exhibiting himself as a
fat a An exception to this rule of
contrast, however, was Colonel Glover,
the giant who stood 6 feet r inches. He
was welded to Martha Peabody, the
American siantcss. Several years ago,
when they appeared in public together,
they used to receive as much as $3.50 a
week.
The Italian consular agent at Cincin-
natl performed tho most peculiar mar
riago ceremony on record. The groom
was 4 we'll to do resident of the Ohio
city, and his bride lived in Italy. The
contracting parties were thousands of
miles apart when the wedding was per-
formed, the marriage being by proxy.
The consul filled i'll a blank certificate,
which he forwarded to authorities in
Italy, who in the presence of the parish
priest exhibited it before the bride, who
affixed her signature, accepting it as her
action. The marriage was perfectly
binding.
A very similar ceremony was per-
formed some time ago. The affair took
place by proxy, and Miss Maple was
married by Il clergyman in New York
to a man who at the time of the mar
rlago lay dying in q Texas town. The
bridegroom was represented in the ccre-
mony by the brides cousin, who made
he necessary responses and signatures
as his proxy. The two lovers had been
engaged for Il long time, and Miss
Maple wished to bear the name Of her
betrothed even though she could do so
only as a widow.
The all important ring is sometimes
forgotten, and in moro than one case
the door key Of tho church has had to
do duty, but it is not often that portions
of tho marriage service arc omitted. In
a southern town, however, a little while
ago, after the party had left the church,
it was discovered that the Clergyman
had forgotten the words, with this
ring l thee we'd" etc, thus relieving
the bridegroom of the most serious part
Of his obligations, and tho fair bride
was minus q wedding ring. Instead of
sitting down to the breakfast the party
hurried back to the church and were thus
practically married twice in one day.
Cupid ran amuck some years ago
among the old folk Of a Georgia town.
An old soldier, rs years Of age led to
the altar an aged damscl who had seen
70 summers. There were three brides
maids, whose ages respectively were GO,
6o and 70. They were all spinsters.
The best man, who was Is, brought the
combined ages up to 423 years.
An unusual kind of marriage was
celebrated in New York recently. This
was between a couple both deaf and
dumb. They held prayer books while a
friend pointed out the different passages
In the service as they were spoken by
the clergyman, and they made the Gus
tomary responses in tho deaf and dumb
alphabet.
An ingenious couple once conceived
the idea Of being married by phono-
graph. In the place where the BRIDE
groom resided he and the minister went
over the marriage service, and he recited
the proper responses into the instrument.
The phonograph was sent to the lady,
she willingly supplying the requisite,
Il WILL" and II do" III the presence Of
her pastor, who then pronounced the
pair united in matrimony. No explana-
ton is given Of how they got over the
difficulty OF the ring.
A we'll known anthropologist, in de-
scribing various marriage customs, re-
fers to a strange sort of symbolical mar
riage which is supposed to have origi-
in India. 1t is q marriage with
urees. plants, animals and inanimate
objects. If any Il proposes to enter
upon a union which is not III accordance
with traditional ideas, it is believed
that ill luck which Is sure to follow
may be avcrtcd by a marriage of this
kind, tho evil consequences being borne
by the object chosen. In various regions
a girl must not marry before her eldest
%sistor, but the difficulty is overcome by
the eldest daughter marrying the branch
of q tree. Then the wedding Of the
younger daughter may safely be cele-
brated. Buffalo Express.
Contradictions.
1.-THE more the merricr." Not so.
One hand is enough in a purse. "Noth-