The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-03-24
TO Get MARRIED
is The PARIS FAD
One Day of Late There Were
2,2OO Weddings in That
City.

City.
In Paris-the city of great enthusiasn1s
they have new fad"
1t is marrying and giving in marriage.
10 be a bride seems to be the imme-
date ambition of every French girl and
the young men are lending all reasonabI
assistance. 1t might be remarked that
this ambition is not confined TO French
women-but there is a difference.
In Paris everybody seems possessed
win the desire to be married at once
Immediately. "instanter" And anofbs[
feature OF the 'tfad" is that every one
wants to be married on Saturday.
A sage observer has remarked that IL
tnere were law requiring French mar
TlageS to take place on Saturday the
french people would insist on being mar
RED ON other days in the week even il
they We're obliged 10 90 out of the couu-
try to secure their wish
Ihere being no law requiring it, French
custom has selected Saturday as the prom
er day of all days for the ceremony ON
one Saturday the marriages numbered
100 and Paris was filled with brides
ana Drldegrooms. As 1t is a part of French
character not to attempt cOncealment
In affairs of this sort. as the Anglo Saxon
pride ami groom are apt To do. but t.
99 Hrlu9 IL aS openly as possible. the EVIL
dehceS OF these 2.200 weddings were seen
on every hand
Matrimonial Records Broken.
Reports from all over the country indI-
cate that there mas been record breaking
dctlF!Iy III the matrimonial line and that
marriage has indeed reached the proper
TONS OF a fad"
On the first Saturday Of this month
mere We're 10000 marriages in France
This number is set up as the greatest
number of weddings which have occurred
on one day since France became a nation.
IN ne only persons who regard this eX-
uaoru!nafY enthusiasm with miSgiVingS
are those who are worried by the actlvi-
ties OF the French divorce courts and
who fear that reckless marriages will
increase the number of divorces.
When one considers the connection
which one marriage IS apt to produce
III community one may realize some
thing of the appearance Of the Partisan
streets on the occasion of 200 weddings
on one day. On the Saturday which saw
TINS record Of 200 weddings achieved
one could not walk In any portion of the
city without running into orange blossoms.
From every church wedding professions
We're emerging. The streets We're filed
with bridal parties. About the arrondls-
sement buildings was a still more inter
esting scene. In many cases the crush
of wedding carriages was so dense that
the bridal parties were Obliged to leave
ing and pick their way through compact
masses Of citizens gathered through Curl
osity.
Honeymoons In Public.
If 200 weddings had taken place in
New York or Chicago in one day they
might have passed without attracting gen
edal attention. owing to the general de-
sire of the newly welded American couple
| to escape observation so far as possible.
In Paris it would be impossible for a
large part Of the city not to know il POO
weddings took place. When a French
girl IS married she wants every one to
know 1t. Everything Is studied for that
purpose.
Even the wedding carriages are con-
structed to serve that purpose. They
are never used for any other purpose. and
even couple from the poorer classes
ride away from the wedding in a wedding
landau.
These vehicles have their sides almost
entirely framed in glass. so that the oc
cupants are plainly in view. Big silver
mounted lamps swing not only from the
front but from the four sides of the We
hicle The entire inside is lined with
white damask.
Generally the front seat is ,massed with
cut flowers and the driver wears a white
roseatte in his coat lapel, while white
ribbons fly from his whip.
Thus when you see a white yelled young
woman seated beside a white cravatted
young man in such a vehicle you know
that they have just been married and all
Paris knows it with YOU When 2.200 such
young women are seated beside ZOO such
young men in 200 such landaus Paris
taking place.
~ ''SNN''S 'NSSooiNio'
No matter how humble the bride and
groom may be their wedding coach Is fol-
lowed by five or six other vehicles. so
that the chances of a wedding process
sion passing through the streets Of Paris
without being observed IS extremely
small
wedding in Paris is Invariably fol-
lowed by two .'functions;' The first is
which has been referred to-. The second
is the merry making luncheon or dinner.
Spring and summer weddings generally
involve drive through the Bots de Bou-
logEe to the Jardin d'Acclima ton or
geological garden, where the party aiights
from the carriages and strOllS through
the grounds, the bride and groom leading.
Most Partisan weddings of the smaller
bourgeois class end with the dinner at
one OF the famous suburban restaurants.
The most famous of these resorts are
Icons at Nogent-sur Marine and Robin
son 5. At Robinson on a fine Saturday
it Is no unusual spectacle to see fifty sep
arate wedding parties sitting at the diff
ferent tables. The place is famous for
such scenes.
The restaurant Is set in the middle of a
great grove Of cedar trees. Fifteen or
twenty of these trees have wide StairWayS
clrcling them. leading up to platforms at
different heights.
Each of these platforms constitute a
separate dining room equipped with dumb
walters. On fair Saturday afternoon
every one of these eleVa ted dining rooms
will have wedding party banQueting
After Ine luNCneOn OF dinner the party
will proceed 10 an enormous dancing hall
where other wedding parties join them.
and by night there is a conglOmeration Of
wedding parties I'm progress. all joining in
a general celebration.
The possibilities of these general we'd
ding dancing parties have not been over
looked by French comedy writer's and
the fCtionistS. Many novels and comedies
have been written with these dance halls
"a the principal scene of action. the chief
situation of which Will consist of gro
tesque mixing up of newly welded coup
les.
While the pessimists fOresee fresh cal
antilles in this wedding fad" which has
seized Paris with the strength with which
fads can seize the Parisians. the opti-
mists see only bright possibilities
Anything which makes marriage popu-
lar is welcomed by the French patriot
who fears race suicide Chicago Trib-
une.