Evening star., 1898-12-10
QUEER WEDDING RINGS
Some Odd Substitutes That Have Been Called
Into Service.
brides Who Have Been Compelled tu
Go without the Traditional
Hoop of Gold,
From Tit-Bits.

Considering the smailness of its size and
its comparatively insignificant intrinsic
value, 1 suppose few products of the gold
| smiths art exert greater influence than the
plain gold wedding ring, recently said an
Old clerical acquaintance to the writer.
Setting aside altogether the wider ques-
ticns of lifelong veal or woe, of which it
| Is so strikfngly significant, it is remarkable
how large a collection of ideas and Incl
dents connected with the wedding ring one
accumu1ates In the course of lifetime
spent in christening, marrying and burying
the inhabitants of a popuious parish.
Incidents in which the marriage service
mas TO be temporarily suspended while
priuesToom and best man tumble over one
another and murmur strange notbines as
they vainly search for a missing ring are
by no means so uncommon as one might
imagine. This fiasco Is usually brought
about through an excess of caution.
The groom being afraid perhaps to trust
| to his own memory upon such a momen-
tous occasion. hands over the precious cir
cIet to the best man for safe custody. The
latter, who, by the way. is 10 more in the
fGbit of carrying loose wedding rings about
than Is the groom himself places the
ring foc safetJ in as out-of-thc-way place
as he can possibly think of in the brief
time at his disposal. Before he has had
time to properly commit the hiding place
to memory he is seized by half dozen i'm
Fortunate small fry and hurried off to at
tend TO something else.
The consequence is that the adn1onitory
stage whisper of the officiating minister to
have the ring ready" falls upon him ike
q bolt from the blue. Where the dickens
cd he put it? 1t was somewhere close
handy, he is sure Of that. But where, oh,
Where?-and a cold perspiration breaks out
all over him as he realizes hat the service
las stopped. and the reproachful g!anceS
of the whole company are turned upon
him, the rascally cuprit who has mislaid
the ring.
1t is useless to pursue the scene further.
Any one possessed of the slightest fund of
imagination Will readily picture to himself
the frantic scene of furry which inevitably
follows, move especially if the contracting
parties are sufficiently well known to Sc
| cure large ard fashionable attendance at
the church. Suffice it to say that it is a
position In which not few best men find
themselves in the course of n year: and
many are the eEpedients by which they
erdcavor to extricate themselves from
what is at the best of tines a particularly
unpleasant dilemma.
One case which occurred quite recently
at a fashionable West End church ended in
a particularly ludcrous manner. AS usual,
the hest man was the culprit. But although
both he and the groom turned out their
pockets several times over and groped
along the FOOT of the altar ratings on their
hands and knees In vain attempt to dis
cover the missing trinket, the lady had
finally to be welded with ring borrowed
from an onlCoker.
No sooner however, had the party
reached the vestry than sudden exclama-
ticn from the best man caused all eyes 10
he turned upon him. Then it was seen
that, in order TO keep the ring secure, he
had carefully passed the folds of his white
silk scarf through it. He had, in fact,
ransacked his brains and pockets to dis
cover an article which had all along re-
posed literally beneath his nose in the tenn
porary capacity of a harmless, necessary
scarf ring.
In the above case the ceremony was per
formed with the conventional ring. Other
brides. however have not always been so
fortunate. The Duchess of Hamilton IS said
to have been married at Mayfair with cur
| tain ring; while some years back, bridal
party at Colchester We're forced to faD
back upon the ring of the church key.
Even this case. however, was capped by
one which occurred al Stratford in Octo-
| ber. 1850. when tho only ring obtainable
was an eXtenPore one of kid. cut upon the
| spot from the bridegroom glove.
| East End couples are particularly inn
| provident in this respect. One couple. wha
were at their wits end what to do for
ring, considerably relieved by in
spiration of the best man. Calamity pluck
ing forth huge horseshoe scarf pin from
his tie of many colors, he broke off the pin.
beat the soft metal shoe round his finger,
and, with the air of an Angelo aGmiring
his chev doeuvre. handed the brazen cir
clet to his pal Another couple got over
the difficulty by using a coin from which
the center had been removed, and which,
curiousiy enough, the groom was carrying
| IN his pocket at the time.
The most curious ring of all, however,
was that employed by a dock laborer. who,
by some means or other. had mislaid tie
more conventional article on his way to
church. Casting about in his perplexity
| for a suitable object wherewith to em5el-
| lish the finger of his charmer. his eyes
suddenly fell upon one of the quoitS with
which he and the best man were subse
quentiy matched to play for the price of
the dejeuner at a neighboring tavern.
Despite the protests of the lady and the
outlaws of his companions. the groom in
sisted upon going through the ceremony
with the aid of this ponderous playt hing:
and since the only alternative was TO in
| definitely postpone the event, the lady put
| the best face on the matter by accepting
the uuoit-apd the docker.