The age-herald., 1899-03-05
A Good d........~
Fellows Wedding

All OiQ bldBeTt WtlOII IdN6 hho0h A0A many years, and who has told me good many things that are generally confirmed by my own experience, said to me at a recent wedding. at which both of us were present as lookers-on: Don't get the idea that a wedding is bore. my boy. Don't let that idea take hold on you. It's false and vicious'
 ''Really?" I said, rather surprised T didn't expect to hear you say that.'
 ''No," he answered, 'syou thought that an old bachelor of fifty-seven would regard weddings with the eye of the common fool cynie. That's where you're wrong again. Weddings are like the finest sort of classi- cal music; you can't appreciate the beau ties of them unless you take the trouble to think and notice"
 ''Id like to know what you notice and think about in this one.'' I said. Its very pretty, l allow. But it looks to me very much like other weddings have seen."
 Does it?' It was my friends turn to be surprised, or to seem so. "rhen you not only don't notice, but you haven't heard what 1 thought everyone had heard"
 And what is that?"
 Why, the romance of 1t. Oh. yes; a reg ular old-fashioned romance But why don't you keep your eyes open, my dear boy? You really ought to keep your eyes open. Didn't you see man faultlessly dressed and making himself particularly agreeable to the bridesmaid?
 There he goes now. Just watch his smile"
 Tt seems to me much like the average smile,' 1 said.
 "H-m! I should have called it a decided ly forced smile myself"
 Well, now that you mention it, it does look as if it had been ridden hard-rather."
 Just so.- He's been working that smile ever since the bridal party entered the church. Well. he's the other man."
 "Oh, he is eh? And the romance?"
 Come over by the palms there. It isn't near time to throw the rice yet, and the walters won't bother us with ices if we keep well out of sight behind the leaves.
 Now. You know the war we had last year?"
 said had heard about that war
 Very we'll In the spring of '9s Christine Malcolm was jolly, care-free, happy girl. Her greatest ambition was to have plenty of fun. Can't you see it in her eyes even tonight? Isn't there a glorious remnant of the old spark of mischief still left? Well, 1t was there when she first came from Wellesley, I can tell you and it was very fascinating. That was the trouble of it. it fascinated men.
 You may say what you like, but it isn't every girls ambition to fascinate No, sir. 1HIISllS WdHleu to QlN1Qe all men and all women into two great claSses-people with whom she could have fun, and people with whom she could not have fun. If she found you amusing she wanted to enroll you among her friends, and if she didn't find you amusing it mattered nothing whether you were in love with her up to your eyes or not, she would either make fun of you at you-or else keep out of your way. But one thing in this world she had no use for and I'll swear to it-and that was sweet heart
 "Then came the war fever. Christie caught it; how, I can't tell She must have seen some promise of sport in it at first, or she never would have troubled her head about 1t one way or another.
 That came on just after she had had serious, hot, up-and-down quarrel with one of her friends-a man. She did quarrel with her friends sometimes-but oftener with the men than with the women, be- lieve, because the men more often pro- voked her. The way they provoked her most commonly was by wanting to be low CTS instead of being contented as friends. Christie herself told me that what she wanted was to be a good fellow and have good fellows about her Lovers, she thought, were horribly slow We'll she was barely eighteen, you know.
 That was how MT -. l might as we'll not try to make a mystery about it. Yes, 1t was this very same bridegroom-Swain That was how Mr. Swain got his dismissal, and all through the Lent season of '9S he was not to be seen at Christie's little gath erings
 "Oh, they were gay gatherings, those! She let me come once or twice on the ex- press understanding that I was not to act the old fogy, and not to look shocked at anything. l never saw anything that tempted me to look shocked but I must say that the proceedings were, if not un- conventional, certainly interesting. They A1o I1Ix. 1fxt, reception than they were like grand opera. The first time I went Christie was not in the room when I arrived. The other young people were having a good time evidently, and they all told me in chorus that she would be back in few minutes, all laugh- ing very much at some joke of their own. very soon understood what the joke was; Christie came out in mans costume, with blackened face, white hat and banjo. had taken a seat in her cosy corner, but she made me regular minstrel bow and said, Oars my seat, if you please, boss And then she sat herself down there and sung My Gals Highborn Lady,.
 You can hardly believe it of this de- mure bride, can you? I just tell you so that you may form some idea of the good fellow Christie was. Yes, and really good fellow, too, for she would give away the rings off her fingers to anyone that needed help But that would make my story too long,
 Swain was all broken up when she told him in her most decisive manner-in an- swer to regular proposal, mind you-that if he couldn't come to see her like the oth- CT fellows without trying all this love- making business,' he'd better stay away al- together.
 "The worst of 1t was that Swain Is @ rich man and a man of leisure, like most of the other fellows and so he had no steady oc- cupation to distract him from his trouble no necessity of keeping on at the grind stone until he wore his sorrow out. All he could do was to run away to his mother s country place in Westchester county, and give himself up to fox-hunting. ''While he was away trying to break his own neck, apparently-for he rode reckless ly, everybody said-another man was wait ing and watching for his opportunity with Christie This other man-I showed him to you-profited by poor Swain's example, and took care not to push his lovemaking into prominence. I could see plainly that his plan was to make Christie like him partly for the very contrast between his comradeike behavior and Swain's ire pressible tendency to spoon The only dan- ger for him was that the young lady might