PUBLIC WEDDING

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 2128, 23 October 1896, Page 1 (Supplement)

PUBLIC WEDDING

The spring marriage mai bet has been • risk, unprecedented in quantity, magnificent in quality, say the experts. Again and yet again have we, the outsiders, been bidden to the wedding ti'ast, our part being to give first and to personally attend afterwards. Patience and purse alike exhausted, we have openly announced that this would he our last appearance, only to find ourselves assuming the correct attitude on the very next occasion; It is curious to note the deep resentment aroused by an attempt at defaulting on a wedding invitation. No one minds, the hostess least of all, the refusal to assist at a dinner or a luncheon. But try to wriggle through the meshes of a matrimonial aoquaintauce net, and you are 'marked,' and not with a white fctone.

An ideal wedding—and the ideal should here govern —is primarily a Supieme Emotion for two. But this emotion must not only be shared by the scanty group of onlookers who alone should be bidden ; to it they must distinctly contribute. It need not be a soul-stirring, much less a countenance distorting one, but ' moved ' must every person be, or th« ' blend ' will be a failure. Above all, barren criticism must stand afar off. and never gain foothold within the church doors. The man who would himself have chosen to fill the male role should be on the spot, and along with him the maiden who sighs lightly as she greets the bridegroom, she who 4 would an she could,' their joint contribution being of great value. Of the greatest importance is simple primitive feeling. The mother who parts with her son and ' minds ' is wanted ; so, too, is the father who cannot keep a certain wandering feeling from out his eyes as he looks at the man who is going to carry off his • little girl.' If anyone desires to curb a too exuberant optimism let him examine the countenances of the crowd as it in its turn examines the labelled gifts on the billiard-table. Said, sympathetically, a guest at the close of one of theae dismal four hours' shifts to the haggard mother as she stood amongst the rice and the footmen, vainly trying to reenter her own house, ' You must be so tired.' ' Tired !' replied the lady with grim humour ; ' and now I've got to go and pack up all those horrid presents"' Strange and sad revelation this of the real reason for these hideous and unseemly carnivals. Were it not for the substantial charity evoked, neither quests nor hosts would submit to the degradation.