Volume I Part 9 (1/2)
To have lived fifty years together, to have shared for fifty years each other's sorrows, joys and hopes, is to have enjoyed one of the greatest gifts life has to offer. It is an occasion well worthy of the most elaborate celebration.
A golden wedding has a touch of the romantic, a touch of the sentimental about it. Poets like to write about it; people like to dream about it. When it becomes a reality, all the world likes to watch--and wonder. It is a solemn and dignified event and should be treated as an occasion of the utmost importance.
The couple should issue pure white cards engraved in gold, announcing the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of their wedding day. It is touching to have the maid of honor and the best man present, if they are both still living. As many of the original bridal attendants as are available should be invited, and all the old friends and acquaintances of the family. There must be no levity, the couple must be treated with reverence and honor, and the occasion must be given every appearance of dignified importance.
Unlike the silver wedding, gifts are always presented to the aged couple at the golden wedding. Delicate pieces of gold jewelry are always pleasing to the ”bride.” The ”groom” may be presented with gold s.h.i.+rt-studs, cuff-links or rings. Gold services, gold chased cups, golden goblets and golden candle sticks are most appropriate.
The dinner should be elaborate. A huge wedding cake, inscribed with a frosting of the surnames and wedding date of the couple is worthy of holding the place of honor in the center of the table. Once again the ”bride” enjoys the privilege of being the first to cut the cake--and in or with each slice that is given to the guests there should be some little golden token, a ring or thimble or tiny jewel box. If this is too costly, a golden flower such as a daffodil may be placed on each plate.
A beautiful and touching sentiment to be observed on the golden wedding is for the bride to wear something from her wedding day. Perhaps it is a treasured bit of the bridal veil. Perhaps it is a fan, or a pair of gloves, or even the wedding dress itself. She also carries a bouquet of white flowers--as she did fifty years ago on her first wedding day.
THE GOLDEN WEDDING A GLORIOUS ACHIEVEMENT
Beautiful indeed is the celebration of the golden wedding. With her children and grandchildren and friends grouped around her, with her husband at her side, doing her every honor he might pay a newly-won bride, the bride of fifty years can be naught but inexpressibly happy--though memories of lost youth rise constantly to haunt her. It is glorious--this reaching fifty years of married life--and any couple may well be proud to commemorate its occasion.
And, after all, isn't it happiness that makes life worth while? Of what use is wealth and power and position if we cannot have the ones we love, the ones who love us? The man and woman who have lived together in happy companions.h.i.+p for fifty years have more in their love of each other than the man who has lived alone for fifty years and ama.s.sed tremendous riches.
CHAPTER VI
THE BRIDE'S OUTFIT
ORIGIN OF THE TROUSSEAU
One must study the marriage customs of many countries before the development of the trousseau idea can be fully traced. But it is interesting--especially to the bride--to discover that at her impressive marriage ceremony to-day she is merely repeating the ancient customs of her ancestors, so very far back that Europe itself was not yet known.
We find the first trace of it in the book of Genesis (Gen. xxiv. 53).
Perhaps you remember the story. Abraham's servant Eliezer brought handsome jewels to Rebecca as a seal to the marriage compact. It is one of the earliest evidences of outfitting for the wedding. And then we find a trace of it among the early Eskimos, where the bridegroom must supply his bride with all the clothes necessary for the ”honeymoon.”
Later, in Roumania, we find the clothes and shoes are a very important part of the gifts to the bride. Largely from the customs practiced in this latter country, but also from Italy, Sweden, and Greece, the idea of the marriage trousseau sprang.
The development is most marked in Roumania. Here we find the tiniest girls, some of them as young as five years, working on bridal finery--each one striving to outdo the other in beauty and elaboration of work. Each finished article is laid carefully away in a huge chest, until such time as a suitor appears. In days gone by, the bridegroom had the privilege of examining the trousseau and deciding whether or not it was complete, and often his choice rested upon the worth of the bride's outfit.
Perhaps it was because a complete outfit was so very necessary to the young girl starting out upon her new duties as a wife that the development of the trousseau has been so rapid. In the year 1308, at the wedding of Edward II to Isabella of France, the trousseau played an important part indeed. Here is a description of the bride's outfit, as taken from E. L. Urlin's book, ”A Short History of Marriage:”
”She (Isabella) brought two gold crowns ornamented with gems, gold and silver drinking vessels, golden spoons and fifty silver plates.
Her dresses were made of gold and silver stuff, velvet and taffetas. She had six dresses of green cloth, six of rose scarlet and many costly furs. For linen she had 419 yards, and the tapestries for her chamber were elaborate with the arms of England and France woven in gold.”
Elaborate, yes, and certainly ”fit for a queen.” But perhaps we find the trousseaux of our misses of the twentieth century more interesting!
THE TROUSSEAU OF TO-DAY
It would be ridiculous to attempt to list the articles that must be included in the trousseau of the bride of to-day. This matter must be entirely dependent upon circ.u.mstances, means and convenience. There can be no definite set of rules to govern the contents of one's wedding outfit. But there are certain conventionalities we can discuss that may be of value to the bride in preparing for her wedding.
There is, of course, something very beautiful in the thought of making one's trousseau entirely by hand. And there is an old tradition about ”sewing happiness into the wedding outfit” that brides like to believe.
But when we glance at the shop windows with their lavish displays of the daintiest creations, and when we think of the professional modiste with her developed sense of the artistic, we must admit that it is not a practical custom.