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��Tlie Wedding in Ye Days Lang Syne.
��THE WEDDING IN YE DAYS LANG SYNE.
By Rev. Anson Titus.
��The story of courtship and marriage is ever fascinating. It is new and fresh to the hearts of the youthful and aged. A few words upon the marriage day in the early New England will not be without interest. September 9, 1639, the General Court of Massachusetts Bay Colony passed a law ordering in- tentions of marriage to be published fourteen days at the public lecture, or in towns where there was no lecture the "intention" was to be posted ■vpon some poast standinge in pub- lique viewe." On this same day it was ordered that the clerks of the several to-vvns record all marriages, births and deaths. This was a wise provision. It at once taught the people of the begin- ning and of the designed stabihty of the new-founded government.
The course of true love did not run smooth in these early days any more than to-day. Parents were desirous of having sons and daughters intermarry with fami- lies of like social standing and respecta- bility. But the youth and maid often de- sired to exercise their own freedom and choice. On May 7, 1651, the General Court ordered a fine and punishment against those who " seeke to draw away ye affections of yong maydens." In the time of Louis XV, of France, the follow- ing decree was made: "Whoever by means of red or white paint, perfumes, essences, artificial teeth, false hair, cot- ton, wool, iron corsets, hoops, shoes, with high heels, or false tips, shall seek to entice into the bonds of marriage any male subject of his majesty, shall be prosecuted for witchcraft, and de- clared incapable of matrimony." The fathers of New England may have made
��foolish laws, but this one in France at a later time goes beyond them. The seductive charms of the sexes they deemed could not be trusted. Wonder- ment often comes to us of the thoughts and manners of the sage law-makers when their youthful hearts were reach- ing out after another's love.
The marriage day was celebrated with decorum. The entire community were conversant of the proposed marriage, for the same had been read in meeting and posted in " pubhque viewe." The earliest lawmakers of the Colony were pillars in the church, and though they did not regard marriage an ordinance over which the church had chief to say, yet they desired an attending solemnity. In 1 65 1 it was ordered that "there shall be no dancinge vpon such occas- ions," meaning the festivities, which usually followed the marriage, at the "ordinary" or village inn.
The marriage of widows made special laws needful. Property was held in the name of the husband. The wife owned nothing, though it came from the mea- gre dowry of her own father. When the husband died the widow had certain rights as long as she "remained his widow." These rights were small at best, though the estate may have been accumulated through years of their mutual toil and hardships. We have notes of a number of cases, but give only a few. We omit the narhes of the contracting parties. " T — C — of A — and H — B — of S — , widow were married together, September ye 28th, 1748. before O — B — J. P. And at ye same time ye s'^ H — solemnly declared as in ye presence of Almighty God &
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