The Opelousas courier., 1900-10-06

SNNSScS IA CNCAJ P0A NtSAJ
body kissed the bride and all the me-
folk present wrung the hand of thu
groom and congratulated him with
fervor not all assumed, for Jessie wa
really lovely in her bridal gown. Ant
then came the preparations for thu
wedding Journey.
After the ceremony had been per
formed it occurred to Tom inasmuci
as Flora was to accompany the party
it would sort Of even matters up a little
If Ned might so with them also, ant
accordingly the subject was broachet
to Ned, who demonstrated that ht
couldn't possibly go because he had
obtained leave of absence for only one
day. Tom offered to pay the expense
Of a long-distance telephone message
to Chicago If he would s it in asking
permission to be gone a few days
This was an argument not to be gain
said, and the message was sent, with
the result that Ned obtained permission
to be gone a week ii he wanted to.
1t vas a very merry party that left
the depot, bound for Oconomowoc, and
it was not until their destination was
reached that Ned gave a gasp as he
recollected that he had IN engagement
to take a young woman friend in Chi
cago to the theatre that evening. 1t
took him but an instant to decide what
to do, and he rushed to the telegraph
Office and sent the following message
to the young lady with whom he had
the engagement:
Cannot take you this evening. Am
away on wedding trip"
Quarters had been engaged for the
bridal party at a comfortable hotel on
the edge of a little lake, and there was
no difficulty in arranging for the ac-
commodation of the fourth member of
the party. The other guests at the
hotel had been duly warned Of the ex-
pected advent of a bridal party. but
when the quartet arrived 1t was the
hardest kind of a Job for the guests
to pick out which were the bride and
groom and which the interested
friends, as this had been q civilized
wedding and the clothing Of the bridal
party was not full Of rice, nor did their
trunk have any facetious tags attached
thereunto, and nobody held hands or
put any heads upon other peoples
The next day was devoted to fishing.
Ned and Flora very generously offered
to 60 by themselves and leave the brid-
al pair to enjoy each others uninter-
company, but Tom and Jessie
insisted that this was just as much q
trip for the benefit of their guests as
for themselves and they would not
listen to a separation. Ned was in
hard lines. He had left Chicago ex-
to return the same night and
50 carried no baggage, and here he was
confronted with the prospect Of going
with his best suit of clothes on.
He compromised by leaving his coat
and vest, collar and necktie at the
house and borrowing an old pair of
oYeralls from the landlord for the fish
ing trip. and indeed for the rest of his
his regular program was to don
his coat and vest and collar and tie
rs he came to the house for meals
md then carefully remove and hang
hem up again as he started out on an
,vnoI;@sOa arD,tnA %hn I0za
By the third day Ned and Flora be-
ran to insist that the bridal couple
must positively be given some time to
and 90 they took to going
,f in q boat by themselves, leaving
he bride and groom to follow or not
Is they wished. Tom winked at Jessie
md Jessie winked at Tom, and it was
Easy to see that they saw how things
we're going, and Jessie said she always
loped so, anyway. and wouldn't 1t be
oyely IL 1t should turn out SO, and then
he whole four of them could rent q
fiat and life would be one
rand, sweet song.
1t now became the bride and groom's
urn to arrange to be alone, ostensibly
or their own benefit, but really in
rider to help along the progress OF the
affair. Flora remarked in
to Jessie that she never had
ny idea that Ned was SO nice and
It just about the same time Ned re
to Tom that Flora was a
~rackerjack.
On the fifth day of the wedding trip
yed was silent at breakfast. After
breakfast he removed his collar as
lsual and donned the customary over
lis, and without saying a word as to
lis intentions strolled of up the road
vay alone and sat down upon q little
ulvert which spanned a ravine a short
istance of. The other three waited
or him to reappear until they begun
0 fear it would get too hot for good
and then Tom and Jessie went
or the boat, leaving Flora to wait fop
led to finish bis meditatng. But Ned
idn't finish worth a cent. After wait
until nearly noon. during which
me she had done q heap of thinking,
Iora strolled up the roadway and n
ountered Ned still sitting upon the
dangling his legs over the lite
sgeam beneath.
whats the matter, Ned. s!ckfn sha
louirad, as she snatched the farmers
traw has fr0m bis hAad~