St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1908-08-01

about it? l must get this matter
Strengthened out"
For Richard Broadhurst was the last
man on earth who was thinking Of
marriage.
But, after all, why not? The bold
Ress Of the thought both startled and
amused him. 1t came back. Why not?
He could not answer the question, al
though he called up all his old-time
prejudices and all the arguments
which to him had seemed to prove
conclusively that he should never
marry.
He remembered that Miss Virginia
was not bad to look upon, that she
gave evidences of refinement, and that
her manner was pleasing. True, he
had noticed certain haughtiness in
her bearing, but that, he thought,
would be for the world and not for the
man she loved His old ideas about
marriage might be all right SO far as
the rest Of the women in the world
was concerned, but Miss Virginia.
well, that was another matter. A wife,
after all-if Miss Virginia were the
wife-might not be the worst thing in
the world.
After accepting his offer Of marriage
which he had not made-Miss Vir-
ginia had written that she would re-
main with her aunt in New York till a
week before the wedding, the date of
which, he learned from her letter, was
three months hence.
I suppose" she had written, that
you will call upon your old friend Mr.
Gay to act as groomsman. "Mr. Gay
was the friend who had introduced
them.
Evidently" Broadhurst laughed,
''there isn't much for the modern
groom to do but to appear at the right
time and put his neck into the yoke
The bride-to-be picks out the groom,
hints at whom she would like to be
best man, names the place and date
of the wedding, and looks after things
generally. But for the fact that there
couldn't very well be a wedding with
out a groom, suppose they would
eliminate him. But I'll let Miss Vir-
ginia manage this little affair"
Then he notified his friend Gay that,
being inexperienced in such matters,
he was going to put himself into Gays
hands, and asked him to look after
such little details as his bride-to-be
had not thought to arrange.
He was in a fever of excitement till
Gays answer came, but it treasured
him. II was as follows:
"OId hand at the business, and will
see you through it. Congratulate you
on the bride you are to get Now, old
man, keep cool and Cont get excited.
Above all, don't do foolish things. Just
buy your wedding clothes, be sure to
get here on time, and don't worry
about anything else. l will attend to
all little details"
He then gave minute instructions as
to the clothes the groom should wear.
Really, he's an accommodating fell
Iow," Broadhurst thought, "but I
should like to have something to say
in this matter. The groom seems to
be almost as unimportant a factor in a
wedding as an unpreferred creditor
where the assets are ten cents on the
dollar"
Then followed three months OF &c.
stasy, intermixed at times, it Is true,
with the fear that something might
dash the cup of newly-found bliss from
his lips.
4 The weeks passed without Broad
hurst hearing again from Gay or from
Miss Virginia. A week before the date
of the wedding, he thought that per.
haps he ought to go over and see them,
but feared to intrude. They were
busy, no doubt, with the arrangements,
and would not care to be bothered by
one who was to play the minor part OF
groom. So, impatient though he was,
he concluded 60 await his cue before
appearing or the scene. Then, there
were his own arrangements to look
after. For the fftieth time he received
the solemn assurance Of his tailor
that his wedding clothes were perfect
Finally, his wedding day arrived
and he was at the railroad station two
hours before the time for the train to
leave. Once on the train, he took q
seat, but soon left it, to find the con-
ductor and ask him when he would
reach his destination. True, he had
been consulting the timetable for
days, but now feared that he might
have made a mistake in reading it;
and then it might be necessary to send
message asking them to delay the
ceremony until he could arrive. His
| fears On this point quoted, he again