Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-06-18
GROOM BEST HAN.
Custom of Attendance is of Scottish
 Origin.

10 know that the phrase best man. the bridegroOm's nearest attendant-Is { of Scottish origin. Tn the north, also, the principal bridesmaid used to be [ called the E.best maid.'' Neither ex- r pression has much to recommend it. | It is 3 great pity, indeed, that best ! man, an unintelligent and in itself [ meaningless phrase. should have so completely. busted from our common everyday speech the good old English 1 name of "brideman" or ''bridesman.' Another old name is "groomsman," and in days gone by the bridegroom was attended, not by one friend, but | several, who were known as the bride 1 men or groomsmen. The term pest man. came into use, presumably to in- | dicate the one of these who took the lead in performing their various duties and was in closest attendance on the bridegroom Tn recent years the GUS tom Of hayino groomsmen has been oc- casionally revived, but it has not be- come general. At fashionable we'd ding, four or five years ago, the bride was content with five bridesmaids and two pages, whereas the bridegroom was supported by nc fewer than nine groomsmen.
 But at the present time such an arr ray has by no means the same mean
 
 so much use as in days of old The forerunner Of the brakeman was the brideleader, whose duty it was to bring the bride to the bridegroom. Tn most countries where the rear or pre- tended pture of the bride was an es sentiaI part of the ceremony, and wherever traces of the very ancient custom of bride capture existed, tAe ] friend CT friends of the bridegroom had the important office of capturing the lady and bringing her to her lord.
 Tn one of Dryden's plays there is the 1 line sBetwixt her guards she seemed l by bridemen Ied'' and Brand tells lls h+ha+ at any old English wedding the
 bridegroom was led to the church be- l tween two maids. and the bride by two i young men holding her by the arms as if unwilling. This was evidently a l survival of the idea of capture.
 The same idea somewhat more S- > i guised can be traced in the custom I which not unknown at old fash-
 toned weddings less than | century
 ago, in the north Of England and in
 the west of Scotland. of the bride
 groo1n's .sbest man. escortiug the bride l to the church It has been disputed.
 naturally. whether the groom's nearest friend was chosen as escort with the idea of protecting the 1adv from seiz-
 ure by others. or whether he might be
 regarded as the leader in the act of 1 capture But whichever idea lay at the l back Of the pra ctice. it was clearly q I survival connected with the custom af marriage by capture. Later, the bride men had various functions to perform
 which have now become obsolete.
 There was still a trace of the capture idea in the old duty at one time as- r V A -I--- Gg-~s~v3 v1rr 4 trrN bride away. He led her to the church I and then acted the part now filled by 4 the Iady's father or other near male aI relative
 In the old seventeenth century ballad
 of the Golden Glove which used to \ be a great favorite at rural gatherings
 in all parts of the country i'll the old,
 unsophistfcated days, before the melan-
 choly monstrosities of the modern mu-
 sic hall had driven the genuine old
 English ballads and songs out of use
 and memory--in this ballad there are
 the lines which allude to the custom
 named:
 Thought you had been at the we'd
 ding sne cried,
 ssTo wait on the square and give him [, his bride.'
 And it has been pointed out that the same custom may be hinted at in the
 marriage service rnhric ."The minister | receiving the woman at her fathers or friends hands,
 Among the Shropshire Deasantry. in |. quite recent years something of the old custom seems to have prevailed | Miss Burne in her delightful book on Shropshire Lore" says that at the X weddings in humble life the brides
 father is seldom and her mother never f present As 3 rule. the only compan. | ion to church Of the bride and groom | are the best man and the bridesmaid | Tn such circumstances II is obvious H that the lady must Ie given away by II her lover's friend. on whose arm she Il has walked to the church still
 more curious thing is that 1t is consid
 cred lucky. Miss Burne tells us, fol
 either the best man or the bridesmair I to be already married. T have recent Il Iy seen" she writes, z a married wo Il man acting as 'bridesmaidr Les: N than twenty years ago a Newpor : newspaper describing a village wed Il ding. said that MT and Mrs So-and-st Il of saccomDanied the happy Il connie and performed the offices o II best man and bridesmaid resnectiyely.' H Another old function of the bride H men or brldasnuires. as they wer. II solnetiines called was to carry around II The cake and the bridehowl Tht 2 bridehow1, or sup, was handed rount : af wedding. so that the friends nigh
 drink the health of the newly married T pair-a kind of loving-cuD ceremony Il Butsbefore the proceedings had reached Il this pleasant point 1t had been ln, II duty of the bridemen to lift the brid. II over the threshold. This is an ancien H and widesnread custom, the meanine H of which has caused much she1ding o Il ink. Tn the west of Scotland of old Il says Mr Napier, in his book on the fol il lore of that region. .sthe threshold O Il the house was disenchanted by charms H and by amounting it with certain unc Ii tuous perfumes but as it was consid II cred unllcky for the wife to tread upo1 H the threshold when first entering e Il house, she was lifted over it ant H seated upon a piece Of wood, a sym Il bol of domestic industry
 II The custom is not confined to Euro III nn9n sTlnArlnE o