Evening star., 1938-06-19
By John Clageff Proctor.

- - o'''" ssS SsS L OSSOt
GREAT deal of stress is usu-
n ally put upon June as the out
~ standing month of the year in
4 a which people usually get mar
ried, and it is common to hear some
one speak of newly married woman
as a June bride if she happened to
have selected this particular time of
the year for her wedding.
Naturally, there should be rela-
lively large number of people who
pick out this. the first month of sum-
mer, to be united in holy wedlock,
because of all things it is one of the
most delightful seasons of the year.
But its selection is far from general
when We consider the large number of
important people who have selected
some other month in which to be mar
ried.
The earliest wedding to be per-
formed in the White House. that of
Miss Todd. cousin of Mrs Madison,
and Representative John G. Jackson
of Virginia, probably took place on
March IL. 1911, and the second one.
which included as the contracting
parties Thomas Todd. an associate
justice of the United States Supreme
Court, and Mrs. Lucy Payne Wash
ington. sister of Mrs Madison, also
took place in March. one year later,
as we find by the National 1ntelli-
eencer of March 81, 1912.
The President and Mrs. Roosevelt
also thought kindly of March and Sc
lected St Patrick's Day. 1905. while
Calvin Coolidge selected october 4.
the ceremony being performed at
Burlington, VT. in a neat and modest
house at No. 3l2 Maple street. John
Nance Garner and Miss Mariette
Rheiner were married in November,
as was the late Vice President, Charles
Curtis.
1T WILL be found from a casual
survey of the dates of marriages
of some of the great and near great
that the time selected for this i'm
portant event was probably based en-
tirely on convenience, without regard
to any particular season of the year,
and so We find from other out
standing marriages that President
James Munroe's daughter, Maria Hes
ter, married Samuel Lawrence Gou-
veneur in the White House in No
vember: John Adams, the son of
John Quincy Adams, married his
cousin. Mary Helen. in February, and
President Van Buren's son, Maj.
Abram Van Buren. married Miss An
gelica Singleton in November.
President John Tylers daughter,
Elizabeth, married William Waller OF
Williamsburg, Va, in January; "Prln-
cess" Alice Roosevelt selected Febru-
ary for her wedding to Nicholas Long
worth, then a Representative in Con-
gress from Ohio. And this wedding
In 1906 was an unusually grand affair,
with more than thousand guests
present, and the world was then at the
feet of the President and his warm
hearted impulsive daughter. How true,
indeed, as we look backward over the
occurrences of our own brief lives. are
the words of the poet, Gray. when he
says in his 'Elegy Written in Coun-
try Church Yard:
THE boast of heraldry, the pomp of
power,
And all that beauty, all that wealth
e'er gave,
Await alike, the inevitable hour
The paths of glory lead but to the
grave"
OF President Woodrow Wilson's
daughters, Jessie was married to Fran
els Bowles Sayre in November, and
Eleanor to William Gibbs McAdoo, in
May.
Alexander R. Shepherd was married
in January; Abraham Lincoln, in No
vember; Stephen A. Douglas, in No.
vember; Marcia Burnes in May, and
Theodore W. Noyes in August.
ONE OF the most notable Of all local
weddings having an international
bearing, was that of the Baron Alexan-
der de Bodisco, Russian Minister to
the United States He was married to
Harriet Beall Williams during the
month of May, 1841, and of the many
charming romances that have had
their setting in the Nations Capital,
none has been quite so glamorous as
this joining in wedlock of these rep
resentatives in age of May and De-
cember.
She at the time was the handsomest
girl in old Georgetown, when the West
End was separate municipality and
John Cox was mayor She was tall,
probably had sandy or reddish hair,
and an adorable complexion that pow
der and rouge would have detracted
from. She was sweet Is and probably
had never been kissed; he was so plus
just how many plus the writer
cannot say.
In love affairs, particularly. the want
of good looks subjects the honiely in
dividual to big handicap; and from
this standpoint at least, If all reports
have had much ground to cover before
catching up with classy field of hand
some fellows 1t is said the baron was
old, ugly and stout; had broad Kali
muck face, much wrinkled, prominent
eyebrows and shaggy whiskers, and
wore wig to hide his bald pate. But
he was fascinating, captivating, and a
lover to the nature born, and one of the
brainiest diplomats ever sent to this
country.
He was fond of young company
especially of Miss Williams-and fire.
queptly found it agreeable to escort
her to school. He proposed; she ac-
cepted. Pa and Ma Williams did not
approve of the idea, and offered, as
principal objections, her youth. his
looks and his age. But love won out,
and in May, 184l, they were joined in
lawful wedlock at the home of the
brides father, amid splendor such as
never had been seen here before, and,
perha~e r~'A~.,, einre Tho t,~idAsr,a ids
WIZ ~--~C..,. ifunl .ile yuu..gtr Sc, 10
harmonic with the age of the bride,
and the same consideration was given
In selecting the men who took a prom
ment part at the wedding.
Jessie Benton, agede14 later Mrs.