Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1899-09-14
HOW THE FRENCH MARRY
THE BRIDE AND GROOM
DURING CEREMONY
Saturday Is the Favorite Day For tho
Ceremony--The Presents Givea
Are Always Numerous
and Costly.

Getting married is very trouble.
some affair in France. Officialism Is
rampant in every department of life.
Even the peasants have endless papers
t. produce before they can satisfy M,
lie Marie" One of Il mayors most i'm.
portant duties is to act as registrar.
The important knot is tied-twice over
in the case of the faithful-with i'm.
mense care. First, there is the civil
ceremony at the town hall, then the
religious one in the parish church.
Sometimes the two events come off on
the same day, but it is more usual for
two or three days to elapse before the
benediction is pronounced over the
bridal pair to the accompaniment Of
some intricate mass sung by q profay-
sional Fabulous sums are occa sion
ly given to singers from tn Grand
opera house on such occasions bv
wealthy people.
One. curious thing is to see the bride
and bridegroom comfortably seated
during the greater part of the service
in large arm chairs placed in the cen
ter close to the altar rails. Brides
maids play very different part to
what they do AT an English or Amen-
can wedding. In the first place, even
the chief bridesmaid does nothing to
help the bride in her struggles with
veil and gloves. Then they are never
dressed alike. Each one carries A
| quaint little bag matching her gown.
in which she collects the offerings for
the poor. Indeed, it is much more
usual for girl to say. "So-and-so has
| asked me to collect for her" than to
announce an invitation to become de-
moiselle d'honneur Cbridesmaid),
Saturday seems the fayorite day for
weddings. The ceremony takes place
as rule about ] o'clock The closed
| carriages used by the bourgeois class
are large and 50 much glazed that the
occupants and their toilets are dis
| tinctly visible One frequently sees
strings Of these vehicles in the Champs
| ElySceS. making their way toward the
! Bots de Boulogne where they will pa
| rade about until the hour of dinner.
! In summer time, especially. the yari-
| GUS restaurants in the Bots are greatly
restored TO- Persons in society seldom
do this they usually return to the
! house of the brides parents, where
reception is held and light refresh
! mentS offered during the rest of the
! afternoon. In any case a wedding is
an expensive affair. but it has compen-
sation in the way of beautiful pres
ents. In France ii is the custom for
the bride to bestow gifts upon her in
innate girl friends these souvenirs
taking the form of iewelry or elegant
trifles for the toilet table.
Apropos of mayors, here is little
incident which was amusing. One day
on entering friends fiat n lady was
much struck by the lugubrious aspect
of the cook who admitted her and re-
marked upon ii TO her friend.
"Oh, don It you know? She is trying
80 get married
is that such tragic AFFAIR."" she
asked
We'll you see, there is hitch. The
woman's name is DeIphine 4: at
least, that is what she is always called.
but on the register in her village she
is entered as Marie Louise 4, like
all the other girls"
How IN the world is thatF What a
| strange idear'
1T IS the mayors doing. When a
birth had to be recorded. whatever the
parents might desire, he always put
Jean for a boy and Marie Louis t1r
"A girl. Perhaps he was conservative
and diSapproyed Of fanciful dIg..-
sion"