Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1903-12-07
CHAPTER VIII.

CHAPTER VIII.
They talk about it now in the
pretty, picturesque town of Wood
eaves-that wonderful wedding, the
like of which was never seen there be
fore or since. The wedding of the
young earl with Lawyer Temples
daughter. They tell you of the bright
morning; the blue sky, that had no
cloud; the golden sun, that seemed to
rain down blessings; of the western
wind, that might have blown straight
from the spice islands, it was sc
fragrant; of the birds that sang as
though the wedding had been in the
garden of Paradise; of flowers that
bloomed so fresh and fair, as though
in honor of the golden-haired bride
herself, the fairest flower of all.
Dim eyes are reading my page now
eyes that look back through the
long vista of years-eyes dimmed and
dulled with heavy tears; and they look
back through weary years of trouble
of toll, and of wrong upon the we'd
ding day The day that they believed
was to be the last of sorrow, the first
opening into a golden life of hope and
promise. They remember the love
that surrounded them-the fathers
face, the pealing of bells, the unusual
happiness, and they best know how il
has all ended.
Bright eyes bend over it. too. where
no shadow has yet lain; eyes where
love sits playing" Heaven send they
may never grow dim, as they recall
the wedding day.
They will tell you at Woodeaves
that such a gorgeous spectacle never
was seen, although the young bride
had shrunk from display, and almost
prayed that she might be married in
peace.
There were grand friends of the
young earl, officers in glittering uni
forms, lords whose names filed the
simple country people with awe. The
brijegrcom's mother was not there;
she, il was rumored, was busily en-
gagged in experimenting the wedding
fetes given at the Castle. There was
a whole string of bridesmaids, the
prettiest girls in the county, who were
proud of the honor of attending one
who was soon to be Lady Selwyn.
The old parish church, with it's
tai spire and gray walls, looked its
best; it was filled with a brilliant
crowd. Little children flung flowers
under the feet of the bride, flowers
whose thorns pricked her sOrely in
the sad afterdays; and then, as she
stood in the center of that magnificent
group, while the words of the mar
riage service were read over her,
every one saw from the eastern win
dow a golden sunbeam streaming in
and forming a halo round her fair
young head.
Some smiled as they saw it, but it
brought tears into other eyes. People
looked at each other and said:
Happy the bride the sun shines
on"
While, as they went into the vestry
to sign the books, Vivian whispered
TO his wife:
Even the sunbeams kissed you,
my darling. and no wonder"
Horace Temple was like a man in a
dream; he had been in a dream ever
since the night Lord Vivian Selwyn
asked him for his daughter, and he
could not recover from ii. and now
the grand climax had arrived; his
little Violante, his fair-faced, sunny
haired child. whose laugh and song
were both as wild as a bird. was mar
ried: married to a rich and handsome
young nobleman whom any lady in
the land might have been proud to
call her husband.
He was so bewildered that he did
not even recogniz his own house.
Lord Vivian had done as he liked even
with that.
Take no heed. give yourself no
trouble about the wedding breakfast, "
he had said. The easiest and
simplest plan will be for me to send
Gunter; he will supply everything
needful."
So Horace Temple. on his daugh-
ter's wedding day, sat at the head of
his own table-a table laden with
delicacies. with ripe fruits from every
cline under the sun. with rare wines,
the names of which had never penc.
trated Woodeaves-a table wherein
silver shone. and richly-cut glass
sparkled. and he said TO himself ii
must be a dream.
To be Continued.