The National tribune., 1900-09-06

days before he was to have been married,
and his tinancee, disappointed and anxious
| at the turn things had taken, decided to
follow him, despite his protests. This she
did unknown to her lover and was in the
neighborhood when the great battle was
fought.
After the victory she failed to gain any
| news of him, SO, thinking he must have
fallen, employed peasant, and together
they searched the field before the work
of rescuing the wounded was begun. At
ter some hours she came upon him, lying
half buried beneath bloody heap of his
own comrades and dead horses in that
part of the field where the conflict had
ragged iercest. He was not dead, and at
his request she sent the peasant for q
priest and not long afterward they were
mated, where he lay, only to be separated
a little later by death.
A burly guardsman furnished the next
case in point, which was q happier one,
for beyond q wound in the right arm tho
bridegroom was in excellent health and
spirits. The marriage was celebrated at
daybreak on the morning after the battle
and was conducted by the priest who had
moment before been reading mass over
the slain.
Even the misery which existed in the
trenches before Sebastopol during the
dreary Winter of 1854 was broken by
wedding celebrated in actual BATTLE the
desultOry firing from the city forts and
the corresponding booming of British guns
taking the place of the Wedding March,"
The bride was connected with the nurs-
ing department, and had for some time
previously been under Miss Florence
Nightingale, until sent nearer the scene of
hOstilities, where she met and fell in love
with Corporal III one of the regiments
of foot. Furthermore, one of the first
functions held in Sebastopol after its fail
by British troops was wedding ceremony
between young Lieutenant and Il Rus
sian girl of noble birth, who had some time
prior to the event turned against her cOun-
try and come over TO the British camp.
She returned to England with her hus-
band, who eventually became a soldier of
reputc.
During the siege of Strasburs by the
Germans in the war of 1870 no fewer than
~ weddings were solemnized in the city,
even while the enemy's shells were falling
in the streets. All of these We're safely
carried out despite the perilous surround
ings with the exception of one, and in
this case shell fell near the happy couple
on their wa. home from the church, kill
ing the bridegroom among a number of
others. In another instance a shell struck
the church while the ceremony was in
progress, bringing down 4 portion of the
tower, but fortunately no one was injured.
Nursing sisters have frequently been
welded to their Soldier lovers scarcely be-
fore the echoes of battle have died away.
After the taking of Cabul in 1879 and the
entry of British troops into the city n
mosque was utilized for this purpose, the
service of course being performed accord
ing to the rites of the English Church. The
bridegroom was a young Lieutenant, who
had but just recovered from n wound re-
ceived in one of the earlier engagements.
During the time he was in the hospital
he had fallen in love with the lady who
nursed him and, finding his affections were
reciprocated, took the first opportunity Of
leading her to the hymeneal altar. Many
of the officers were present, the remainder
of the building being packed with the hum
bier members of the victorious army, and
after the ceremony n regimental band ac-
companied the couple through the city to
the lively strains of the Wedding March,"
Although such marriages have naturally
been rather hasty affairs and without the
parental permission of the parties con-
cerned. it is astonishing how few have
proved unhappy.