The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-02-03
COWBOY WEDDING 1N 1896
lft IhiP MD IT'S INCIDENTS WHICH MADE THE WEDDING A
REAL COWBOY AFFAIR.

!one before the dining room door was
opened. and the genial old gentleman.
IN night shirt and trousers, led the
"aN 10 The table. We had fried
chicken. hot ~cornhread. coffee, cakes,
ana ! don't know what else.
II would IA Ike me back forty wears
TO sac a cook. reused at midnight, to
prepare sncll a meal, presume she
even took herself 10 the roost and
caught her Young chicken by the legs
and wrnng its neck before she
reached the newly made fire. Major
Hail" Knew VIC had not broken our
fast at the town hotel.
II was late the following day when
We all assembled to just as fms a
breakfast. and heard the major say.
your turnout is gone. l sent to sec
about the condition of the creek. 1t
so8s down bou as fast as il rises.
When You are rested ny carriage is
at your disposal. Your driver was
not used To these roads. hut mine
knows every crossing in the creek"
Ii WAS a four-rnile drive, even after
We had crossed the waters. The we'd
ding house was found in commotion.
There We're no caterers or experts
even in New Orleans in 1876. The
wedding supper WAS in process of pre-
rara,ion, under the superintendent
of a noted old cake maker from
/ Woodville. nine miles off.
Everybody was busy. Only the dear
old master OF the house was quietly
seated By his parlor window. a very
old man. but a soldier withal who
could rise to emergencies when re-
quirrd: 7 drew up a chair and en-
piaincd u delay, and told how grand
II hospitable his neighbnr was. The
two old men were the last remaining
ones OF their company of the battle
Of New Orleans.
. Their homes Were in payment for
their services. Tho dear old gentleman
said they We're neither general nor
major; they were simple soldiers who
had discharged their services and ac-
Irish, both poo boys. They worked
hard. oon exhausted tho old red soil
of their ncighborhood. Later the gen
eral moved his forces to the river bot
toms. while living for health's sake in
the old homo. the house of which he
originally helped to build. His income
came from Bayou Fordoche, many
miles away.
The majors family was small, only
two daughters; they lived at the old
home. n a short time after the date
of this wedding they all passed away
and passed away shortly after that
the primitive n hospitable old home.
Time few: neighbors had arrived, the
table was spread in the long back
porch.
The guests. many of them, lived
miles and miles away, in common
country roads, often through dense
woods-a long drive under best cir
cumstances, a perilous one at night.
everybody waiting, everybody in a
hurry. everybody getting tired and
frctful. 1t was long after the appoint
ed time. and the New Orleans preach
or had missed the train!
Old Dilscv il the kitchen mad be.
cause her pig was getting too brown:
Elfey in the porch Worrying that her
ice cream was waiting too long: ladies
in the parlor trying to kill time: men
wandering around the front yard in
restless groups. Carriage had been to
the depot; no appearance Of Jahleel
Woodbridge, the New Orleans minis
ter; He was endeared to the family,
had been for years their minister at
Woodville. Bride, in all her regal at
tire, upstairs in tears. no Presbyterian
preacher nearer than ten miles away,
So We waited n waited.
AT last the general sent for his
especial groom. ordered him to take
the buggy and go four miles through
the woods where there is a Methodist
l%tinerant. and tell him to come with
1900 AbS SoAllCs vi
course there was wait and wait,
The accommodating preacher came.
just as he was. He had been blowing
his field. wife off to see a sick child,
carried the keys with her. He could
not even get II clean handkerchief, but
he came in his workaday suit. The
company hastily assembled. He per-
formed the ceremony, gave them his
blessing, congratulated her on her
escape from the quicksands and
shoals Of celibacy."
Recognizing his own condition at
the time. begged to be excused from
refreshments. toos a rapid and hur-
ried departure. The kindly man was
scarce gone when Jahleel Woodbridge
arrived in a coach, most astonishinely
like the one We had used the previous
day.. Only a year or two later the
hospitable major passed away: shortly
AFTER the general followed him, and
the lear old homes have passed away
ialso from h face of the earth.