The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1898-03-26
Courage to Face the OrdeaI-One Mar
Could Not Utter the Vows Because OF
His Extreme Nervousness - Som :
Amusing Incidents. xs.s F s
OssIBLY So every
man about to mar
ry experiences a.
novel inward futter
when crucial hour
arrives and brings
the altar into sight,
but it is not often
that one hears of a.
prospective hus-s
band whose nerve
4 49,

extent that he fights shy of the cere-!el
mony at the last moment and allows
the birds to leave the church without.
having changed her name, says Happy
thoughts. Hitches of this startling.
kind do, however, now and then occur.
Inc bridegroom has not the courage
10 race the public ordeal, and the sit
uatlon becomes both humorous and
dramatic. A most amusing attack of
nerves" of this order was witnessed
NY large crowd at a country church
not long since. The bridegroom was
late IN arriving. When at length he i
came abreast of the church gates, heat
ed and flurried, the sight of MS xhite-:
roped life partner in the midst If an
imposing party fairly scattered what
courage he had summoned for the
occasion. He turned and made off
across country as fast as his shaking
legs would carry him. The crowd and
a number of his indignant friends pur-
suing him, he took refuge I'D tree
ana no remonstrances would induce
hlm TO descend and go through the GER -
emony. He paid rather dearly for his .
coWard1ce, however, for the bride
promptly Tilted him and walked 10 the
same church with holder man few !
months later. At another church. in
the nelghborhood number of peoplesa
WHO had hooked to see popular local
couple made one were curiously dis
appointed. When it came to the turn
or the bridegroom to give utterance 10
his VOWS he was found to be tong1e-
tled by sheer nervousness. The longer
tney waited for him to recover tie
worse he became, and finally. white as
ghost, he wheeled about and ran out
" lie pulldlng. AS no amount of jeers
or encouragement served to induce him
TO attempt the ordeal a second time he
per1orce remained in single misery.
Plenty OF humorous instances have
Deen' recorded where the intended hus-
pand, brave enough in his wooine hes,
found himself unable to stand and no
publicly married. One gentleman be-
came so unnerved at sight of the swell y
ing assembly and the preparations that
ne snpped into the vestry and locked
hlmself in until the registrar LOST ma
lence and the ceremony had "a he
abandoned. In another case q t,issi1,os
bridegroom was discovered locked il
MS bedroom at home and Sheer force,
mad to be used by his friends before.
ne could be induced to walk tc the
church. AS it turned out he was. ton
late. The bride felt herself justified in,
declining to fulfill her part Of the con-
tract with so difdent partner. Bnt
perhaps as unique an example of what
may be termed "altar fright as anv
known was one which caused quite a.
sensation in midland town some
years ago. The circumstances we're
peculiar enough to bear repetition. A.
young man, standing at the altar with
the future participant of his joys and
sorrows, suddenly tainted when asked
to declare his willingness to take wife
and had to be carried home in q cab.
Later he essayed to enter the lists of
matrimony with more success. but
strange to say, his nervousness again
reached such pitch that he swooned
at precisely the same part of the pro-
ceedings. When on a third occasion
the same weakness overcame him as
soon as he entered the church it he
came evident that his physical collr-
age was not equal to the ordeal. Wtcth-
or the bride declined to Look foolish
for fourth time or whether the cere-
mony was subsequently performed in
private was not told. Brides. it is in
teresting to note, do not appear 10 suf-
fer from any such backwardness.
Their nervousness seems to he of a
different order and it is seldom or
never that one hears of case where
the lady has failed to come up to the
Zine through mere dread of public
itv y 1s@s@3fI *s2 II b: ~: ~ .S&a.