Year: 1869

since Maria and myself were har-


messed.


/ | refer to the event now because


times have so changed that the
Ipresent generation will be inter-


ested to know how marriage GER


emonies were performed in the
olden time.


Wives were got differently in


those days; counting was altogeth-


Ter different; matrimony was anoth-


er thing entirely, not being strict


ly matter of money.


l courted my wife, generally
speaking, in church pew, over


the rough edge of an old singing


book. From where she sat l could


now and then catch her eye, as /


squinted over the top of the book,


and, though | am in principle op-
tposed to courting in church, ]


couldn't very well help it then


What courting was done at her


house was mostly in the presence


of the rest of the family. Once
in a while, however, / got the


best of the old gentleman and his
wife, and had surprise party
with the girl in the front room


These isolated cases were inter.


esting. / suppose there has been
no change since that day in the
general aspect of front-room
'courtship. The beauty of the


thing wasn't SO much in what we
said as in what we didn't say


l have heard good deal of con-


versation about popping the ques-


ton, as if it was sort of crisis


in matrimonial work to be dread
ed-where timid man had no bu-
siness-but my experience never
revealed anything serious in that
direction. If there ever was any
popping done, it wentof gradually


and l was engaged to marry the
girl before | knew it. / Idon't have
any recollection of squaring my
self for a speech to the young
woman on that particular topic.
All | know about it is. that both
of us, without any dramatic effect,
came to the understanding that
the thing was fixed. say, there
fore, that the dividing line between
waiting on a girl and being en-
gagged to her, is as difficult to find
as it is to discover where lamb
ceases to be a lamb and becomes
a sheep. / stop the comparison
right there, because l have known
men who were engaged to be mar
ried to sweet little lambs, who
not only after marriage got to be
sheep, but were first-class mules
in to the bargain. To be a lamb
courier is one thing; wife lam
mer is another.


Well, as | was about to re-
my engagement being a
fixed fact, Maria and myself de-
cided to be married in church,
The banns were published accord
lngly, and that was very good
which, / am almost
sorry to see, has gone out of fash
ion. But I suppose it saves con-
fusion In these days; for many
times, as the world runs now, it
wouldn't be safe to announce a
marriage a week ahead, lest there
should be some mistake about it.
Then again, there are so many
married folks nowadays, who
ion't know that they are going
% be until somebody tells them
Of it, that upon the whole perhaps
t is the best that the advertising
business should be dropped.


To be married in church forty
1ears ago was an event not to be ,
passed by without special notice.
By the way, / take to myself the
credit of being the first man mar |
led in the sanctuary in Connect
,ut. Certainly, the thing had |
never been done in my town up
o the date of my appearance.- {
)f course the affair was noised all
'ver town for a fortnight before |
he ceremony took place, and the l
attendance was immense. The |
'ditor of the Eagle, a local paper l
# that place, sat upon the gate 1
'ost outside, and jotted down in
lis notebook the styles as they
wept by. He, ] am happy to
ay, was the first newspaper man {
n this State who SO thoroughly /
the duties of his /
position as to make speciality of &
tyles. He has often told me that s
lis enterprise in that direction In I
reased the sale of his paper a {
Iozen copies some weeks. When


passed in and saw him sitting
n the gate-post, | little thought 7
hat he would one day be the {
uthor of these touching lines: