ites you to be seated. She
must not have occasion to think of the possibility of any impropriety
on your part. You are her servant, protector, and guard of honor. You
will of course give her your hand to assist her in rising. When the
sylvan repast is served, you will see that the ladies whose cavalier
you have the honor to be, lack nothing. The ladies, social queens
though they be, should not forget that every favor or act of courtesy
and deference, by whoever shown, demands some acknowledgment on their
part--a word, a bow, a smile, or at least a kind look.

V.--WEDDINGS.

We copy from one of the numerous manners books before us the following
condensed account of the usual ceremonies of a formal wedding. A
simpler, less ceremonious, and more private mode of giving legal
sanction to an already existing union of hearts would be more to _our_
taste; but, as the French proverb has it, _Chacun a son gout_.[K]

For a stylish wedding, the lady requires a bridegroom, two
bridesmaids, two groomsmen, and a parson or magistrate, her relatives
and whatever friends of both parties they may choose to invite. For a
formal wedding in the evening, a week's notice is requisite. The lady
fixes the day. Her mother or nearest female relation invites the
guests. The evening hour is 8 o'clock; but if the ceremony is private,
and the happy couple to start immediately and alone, the ceremony
usually takes place in the morning at eleven or twelve o'clock.

If there is an evening party, the refreshments must be as usual on
such occasions, with the addition of wedding cake, commonly a pound
cake with rich frosting, and a fruit cake.

The dress of the bride is of the purest white; her head is commonly
dressed with orange flowers, natural or artificial, and white roses.
She wears few ornaments, and none but such as are given her for the
occasion. A white lace vail is often worn on the head. White long
gloves and white satin slippers complete the costume.

The dress of the bridegroom is simply the full dress of a gentleman,
of unusual richness and elegance.

The bridesmaids are dressed also in white, but more simply than the
bride.

At the hour appointed for the ceremony, the second bridesmaid and
groomsman, when there are two, enter the room; then, first bridesmaid
and groomsman; and lastly the bride and bridegroom. They enter, the
ladies taking the arms of the gentlemen, and take seats appointed, so
that the bride is at the right of th