Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-02-11

ne anu that the bishop in his 1o oI'
ments, Father Dan in his sur+i liS vest
white stole, and clerk CARVING and
ana a vessel of holy water. vero DOOR
ming the service oegln-
Surely never was there sads.
mony. Never did any girl undor ,, IeIe-
circumstances feel a more vivid 'ar
ment of the pains and penalties + b,eSent'
low on forced and ill-sorted r,... - 'o''
And yet there came to me in tba
OF the service such startling char
thought as wiped out for while 10
sadness, made me forget the COW, I my
that mad been put upon me. and littos 'OA
INTO realm of spiritual ecstasy 'N Tue
The bishop began with a Short ,...
winch asked Gods blessing on tho , o.u
mony which was to join togetber ,u oeFe,
His children in the bonds of bnJ,, IVY. %
| lock ''' we'd
Whne that was going on I was a.
sc1ous of nothing except the how'll WI,
the wind about the church window 5. .,
the far-off tolling of the bell on g H,. anu
Rock-nothing but this and voioo - ~
me which seemed to say again and arn'I
and again, 81 don't love him % s@','
love him!" ool IL
But hardly had the actual service o.u.
menced when l began to be oysrawa5 IL.
the solemnity and divine power NJ ~.
service and by the sense Of God ,oa,; Wv
over my littleness and guiding me oooa"g
ing to His will.
| what did 1t matter how unUor+A.. -
the preparations that had led IN IN r't,
marriage If God was making it, Ca
! MADE all marriages that were blassea ~
! HIS church, and therefore He overrrIaa
His own good ends all human jnnnlsos
however sordid or selfish they might ho
Bound Together. ...
After that thought came to me no+,,.,
else seemed to matter, and nothing, how.
ever Earring or incongruous, was sMa T.,
lower the exaltation of my spirit
But the service. which had this affa.+
upon me, appeared to have an avao.,.
opposite effect on Lord Raa. His rary.
BUSINESS increased visibly, though he did
his best to conceal It by a lightnacs .,
manner that sometimes looked like do.
rision
Thus when the bishop stepped down
to us and said:
James Charles Munster, wilt thou TAXA
|
according to the rite of our holy motber
the church., my husband halted and
stammered over the answer, saving he.
meath his breath, Il thought I was a
hereto"
But when the corresponding question
was put to me, and Father Dan thinking
1 must be nervous, leaned over me and
whispered, Don't worry, child. take vor
| 7 ~,
ing voice:
ct Wilt"
And again, when my husband had to
put the ring and the gold and silver on
the salver, he fumbled and dropped them
as he did so, and fumbled and dropped
them a second time when he had to take
them up after they had been blessed
laughing too audibly at his own awk-
wardness, and then repeat after the bish-
op:
with this ring l thee wed. this gold
and silver 1 thee give; with my body
thee worship, and with all my worldly
goods 1 thee endow," he rendered the ring
slowly and with an obvious effort
But l took 1t without trembling, be-
cause L was thinking that in spite of all
I had heard of his ways of life this sol
emn and sacred sacrament made him
mine and no one elses.
1t is all very mysterious; can not &C
count for 1t; only knew 1t was so, and
that, everything considered, it was per-
haps the strangest fact of all my life.
Father Dan read the epistle beginning,
Let wives be subject to their husbands
and then the bishop read the Gospel con-
Guiding, Therefore, now they are not
two, but one flesh; what therefore God
hath Joined together, let no man put
asunder"
Coming Down to Earth.
I had trembled when L thought Of these
solemn and sonorous words in the soil
tude of my own room, but now that they
were spoken before the congregation had
no fear, no misgiving, nothing but sense
of rapture and of conservation.
The last words being spoken and Lord
Raa and being man and wife, we stepped
| into the vestry to sign the register ana
not even there did my spirit fail me,
| took up the pen and signed my name
| without a tremor.
| But hardly had / done so when l heard
rumbling murrnur of voices about me
first the bishops voice Gin such diner
ent tone) and then my fathers and theA
my husbands, and then the light voices
of many others, in light conversation NM
gled with trills of laughter. And then IL
| moment, in a twinkling, as fasI d.
| snowflake melts upon a stream the SPV'
of the marriage service seemed to oTeaN,
1 have heard since that my eyes wei.
wet at that moment, and l seeneu "
have been crying all through the ce.
mony. l know nothing about that pu, ,,
do know that 1 felt a kind OF lil'sl .D',,
shudder and that it was just as II my sy
had suddenly awakened from an lh'oN'
| eating drug. lin,
The organ began to play the "eou, Jun,
march, and my husband, putting NY
through his, said Come"
| | remember that as I stood Oh
hearth-rug with my husband feCe''-,
their rather crude compliments ,"7o
gaiety came over me, and ! snil'eo ,ns
laughed, although my heart was grow
sick, for the effect of the wedding SCI ,i.,
was ebbing away into cold darkness ,, ,
that of a night tide when the moo'''-
has left ii. ,.-hond.
1t did not comfort me that my IuS'1 .,,s
without failing in good manners Nth
taking the whole scene and COMPANY .,cb
a certain scarcely yelled contempt
l could not help but see. ,,..s
And neither did it allay my une"ob