ts and the
six-button gloves. At the wedding-supper the bride's cake, rich, and of
formidable proportions, was the _piece de resistance_. Also there was
substantial fare; hams, turkeys, chicken, and game; besides fruits,
candies, and creams. In place of the champagne of later days there were
Madeira, Port, and Sherry. Round the table, illuminated by wax candles
and astral lamps, young and old gathered; the women of a past generation
in stiff brocades, powdered puffs, and tortoise-shell combs. From the
first to last the Fifth Avenue wedding of those days reflected the
patriarchal system that had not yet passed.

It was not a matter of denomination, but when the world was young, the
pioneers of the Avenue did not smile on the way to worship. The Sabbath
day still retained a good deal of the funereal aspect with which the New
England Puritans had invested it. The city was silent save for the
tolling of the church bells. At ten o'clock in the morning, at three in
the afternoon, and again, at seven at night, the solemn processions of
men, women, and children, clad in their Sunday best, issued from the
homes, and slowly wended their way to church. When the congregation had
gathered, and the service was about to begin, heavy iron chains were
drawn tightly across the streets adjacent to the various places of
worship. It was the hour for serious meditation. No distracting noise
was to be allowed to fall upon those devout ears.

Abram C. Dayton, in his "Last Days of Knickerbocker Life," left a
description of the service at the Dutch Reformed Church of that day. He
told of the long-drawn-out extemporaneous prayers, the allusions to
"benighted heathen"; to "whited sepulchres"; to "the lake which burns
with fire and brimstone." Of instrumental accompaniment there was none,
and free scope was both given and taken by the human voice divine. Then
the sermon! Men were strong in those days! Clergymen had not become
affected with the throat troubles prevalent in later times. No
hour-glass or warning clock was displayed in the bleak spare edifice. In
the exuberance of zeal often the end of the discourse came only with
utter physical exhaustion. Then the passing of the plate; an
eight-stanza hymn, closing with the vehemently shouted Doxology; and the
concluding Benediction. From that old-time Sabbath day the affairs of
the world were rigidly excluded. It was a day of rest not only for the
family but for the family's man-servant and maid-se