The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-01-01

questions of lifelong veal or woe, of
which it is so strikingly significant, it is
remarkable how large collection of
ideas and incidents connected with the
wedding ring one accumulates in the
course of lifetime spent in christen-
ing, marrying and burying the inhab-
1tants of populous parish.
Incidents in which the marriage SER
vice has to be temporarily suspended
while bridegroom and best man tumble
over one another and murmur strange
nothings as they vainly search for a
missing ring are by no means so I'M
common as one might imagine This
nasco is usually brought about through
an excess of caution, says Tid-Bits.
The groom, being afraid perhaps to
trust to his own memory upon such a
momentouS occasion, hands over the
precious clrclet to the best man for safe
custody The latter who, by the way
is no more in the habit of carving loose
wedding rings about than is the groom
himself, places the ring for safety in as
out the-way place as he can possibly
think of in the brief time at his dis
posal Before he has had time to prop
erly commit the hiding place to mem
- ~ ~ SNiSSO Wy nall Il dOLtll I'LL
Fortunate small fry and hurried off to
attend to something else.
The consequence is that the adnonit-
ory siage whisper of the officiating.
minister to have the ring ready" falls
upon him like a bolt from the blue
Where the dickens did he put it? 1t
was somewhere close handy, he is sure
of that. But where, oh, where ?-and a.
cold respiration breaks out all over
him as he realizes that the service has
stopped, and the reproachful chances of
the whole company are turned upon
him. the rascally culprit who has mis-
LAID the ring.
1t is useless to pursue the scene fur
ther. Any one possessed of the Slight
est fund of imagination will readily
picture to himself the frantic scene Of
furry which inevitably follows, more
especially if the contracting parties are
sufficiently well known to secure a
large and fashionable attendance at the
church. Suffice it to say that it is a DO
sition In which not a few best men find
themselves in the course of a year; and
many are the eXpedients by which
they endeavor to eXtricate themselves
from what is at the bes; of times a
particularly unpleasant dilemma.
One case which occurred quite re-
Gently at fashionable west end
church ended in d particularly ludi-
crous manner. AS usual, the best man
was the culprit. But although both
he and the groom .urned out their
pockets several times over and CROPPED
along the foot of the altar ratings on
their hands and knees in a vain at
tempt to discover the missing trinket
the lady had finally to be welded with
ring borrowed from an onlooker.
No sooner, however, had the party
reached the vestry than a sudden ex-
clamation from the best man caused
all eyes to be 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
1t. He had, in fact, ransacked his
brains and pockets to discover an ar
ticle which had all along reposed lit
orally beneath his nose in the temper
airy capacity of harmless, necessary
scarf ring.
In the above case the ceremony was
performed with the conventional ring.
Other brides. however, have not al
ways been so fortunate. The Duchess
of Hamilton is said to have been mar
ried at Mayfair with a curtain ring;
while, some years pack, a bridal party
at Colchester were forced to fall back
upon the ring of the church key Even
this case, however, was capped by one
which occurred at Stratford in Octo-
Der 1860 when the only ring obtain
able was an eXtempore one of kid, cut
upon the spot from The bridegroom's
glove
East end couples are particularly i'm
provident in this respect. One couple,
who were at their wits end what to do
for ring, were considerably relieved
by an inspiration of the best man. Gal
lantly plucking forth huge horseshoe
scarf pin from his tie of many colors,
he broke off the pin, bent the soft
metal shoe round his finger and, with
the air of an Angelo admring his chef
doeuvre. handed the brazen oirclet to
his pal Another couple got over the
difficulty by using coin from which
the centre had been removed. and
which. curiously enough, the groom was