Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1903-07-14
MECCA FOR BRIDES
NATIONAL CAPITAL FULL OF
JUNE WEDDING COUPLES.
Most of the Young Wives Do Great
i Work With Their Cameras and All
Of Them Try Hard to Catch a
Glimpse Of Mrs. Roosevelt.

80 ~ SIS q.
Washington, July ,4AJune has
brought more to WAshinstonfthan the
sunshine and the fBMers and the soft
green of the ,parks.s The Juhes brides
are here. No other place in the coun-
try is SO popular with the newly mar
ried ones as the capital. city. Every
section sends it's quota and every type
is represented from the backwoods--
man, who pitts up at the hotel across
from the railway station, to the rich
Young man of the world who, when he
leaves the train, summons an "auto''
and then with his stylish bride is
whisked up the. avenue to the new
Willard Washington smiles on all of
them. 1t tolerates the politicians and
the grafters who follow in their train;
it welcomes the sentimental tourists.
The oldest guide at the capital,
whose keen eye no bride and groom
can deceive, says Washington is be-
every year. He attributes its growing
popularity in that direction is it's in
creased beauty. Liberal appropria--
lions by congress have enabled those
in charge of public Improvements to
put into effect elaborate plans for beau
tifying the city. Money has been Law
ishly expended in this way in the last
few years. Formerly every dollar
Washington received from congress
was grndgingly given and proposition
to appropriate money for improve
ments provoked parliamentary strug-
gle. 1t is different now Last year
congress appropriated nearly 100000
for White House improvements ala
and smiled indulgently at a member
who questioned the propriety of such
Legislation.
! The new conditions have also made
Washington the best advertised city
lin the country. Newspapers and mag
azines have printed detailed descrip--
lions of the new Washington" and
pictures which seemed to tell only part
of the story and thus appealed to the
i'm agination and excited the fancy.
Where would the girl like to go on her
wedding trip? Usually she hasn't
thought much about it, but she guesses
Washington will do.
The oldest guide is authority for the
statement that the White House is the
most interesting place to the brides
and groQms, and that, after the White
House, they seek the congressional Ii
hrary and then the capitol At the
White House they hope to get a
glimpse of the presidents wife and
daughter whose likenesses have be-
come familiar through pictures printed
and reprinted in the newspapers.
They seldom see, either, for they are
not admitted to the private part of
the mansion, where the Presidents
family usually remain during the
hours of public receptions Many of
the brides have cameras, and take
snap shots of the White House and
grounds, including the fountain on the
lawn, the shady views through the
trees and the sharp outlines of land.
scape gardening. The June brides this
year will see the White House grounds
at their best, for the freGnent rains
OF the spring have brought out the
foliage and mowers and made the
lawns fresh. and green. Across what
is known as the ''Winae lot is the war
state ard navy building and the Cor
oersn Gallery of Art. while in the dis
lance the Washington monument
stretches its shadows out over the wa,
tiers of the Potomac and the mall witt
its broad drives reaches away to the
capitol. There is opportunity for
great execution by the bride with a
camera
IF congress is in session when they
reach the capitol." said the guide. 'the
brides and grooms usually ask to visit
~ = NJ q