The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-02-07

some cheap port wine All Is ready and
the guests begin to arrive soon after night
of voices fill the little house. Most of
them are talking. everybody is Laughing,
and nobody is listening.
There are no long faces in that company.
Some are wrinkled with age or are hard
ened with care, but every one is CLOSED
over with a glow of mirth and good-fellow,
ship. Well. they have come TO dance ana
they are not long in setting about II: me
hddles begin to squeak, the fddlers teet 10
beat time, the dancers for the first inquire
form up. The leaders calling off, which
can be heard up the road quarter or
mle-sends them off and the BAN mas com
menced. The square dance Is the RUE
for the dreamy waltz is discouraged by
their cure. and the influence of the spirituai
guide extends even to their little parties
Up and down, around and cross over, tney
go; faster squeak the fiddles. until 1t be-
comes a race. and they romp through
till all are out of breath. But the floor Is
not long idle. Another set is uD and away
goes the music and the hurrying feet. and
the gray dawn of the winter morning alone
puts an end to the nights festivities.
OF course there is the supper: one or TWO,
or rather there is supper all night long. Tor
little groups keep coming TO the table when
ever they wish refreshments and rest.
There is plenty to eat and drink, but no.
body is the worse for either, and all go
home in the frosty morning TO sleep and
dream of the next soiree.
THE WEDDING TIME.
At Lent approaches the weddings come
on, and for a week or two they sputter all
over the face of the parish. The jolly old
rubs his hands with satisfaction and
pockas his modest fees with a mellow
smiled wedding is like all the other So
cial functions rolled into one. No happier
event can ever occur. TO be happy one
must have great faith in the future. He
must believe in miracles, and in the par
ticular miracle that care and sorrow are
to be blotted out of his life; that all these
things are left behind forever, and that
the path ahead is strewn only with peace
and felicity. A habitant wedding makes
one feel that he has found people who
believe all this-or believe it at this particu-
lar time.
Morning has scarcely dawned before the
long procession OF burbank and low box
sleis MS start for the parish church. The
shaggy little horses enter into the spirit OF
the event and make their big string of har-
ness bells jingle all the merrier by their
prancing along the creaking snowy road.
The ceremony at the church is solemn and
impressive. Marriage TO a Roman Catholic
is sacrament of the church, and the
French-Canadian knows that ii ties a knot
that no earthly power can loosen. The
onurch sets her face firm and fast against
divorces, and in Canada a special act of
Parliament is required to dissolve the mar
riage tie. No habitant would think of in
curing the wrath of the church and pay
ing the enormous bill of costs divorce
would entail
The ceremony over there comes the feast
is to the contracting parties and the near
relatives the first meal of the day. Moth
ing is eaten by them before going to the
church. The guests swarm about the house
like bees about a hive. Every relative of
both bride and groom who can possibly
reach there are present, and many of them
stay for two or three days And 1t is dan
cling and fcasting and rollicking from morn
ing till night, and from night till morn
ing. If marriages are still made in heaven,
the celestial match-makers give the
French-Canadian lovers the brightest and
merriest ones.
But along comes Ash Wednesday. and
Lent puts an end to all festivities. Those
who live near the church attend service of
some kind every day. The whole parish
gives itself to religious observances, and
none eat meat except on one day in the
week Easter breaks the fast and the fes-
tival is celebrated both religiously and So
cially. But the long-drawn-out Canadian
spring Is now at hand: the roads break up
and for a few weeks the mud now sticky
as glue and now frozen into an uneven
mass as rough heap of cobblestone.
makes travelling all but impossible. Warm
April days send the teams afield. and plow-
ing andz seeding begin. The habitant takes
up his twork again and bushes himself
about the farm until another years crop
Is harvested. And so his life goes by, its
routine broken now and then by some spe-
cial event like a trip to Montreal or gen.
eral election. He is very mucn alive then,
for no one is more fond of politics than
he. but Jean Baptiste as an elector would
make as some one might observe, quite
another story.