Spirit Of Jefferson

MISCELLANEOUS.
The Marriage Outfit.
Old Deacon Brown started in life very poor.
He married his wife Susan before the days of
hoops, pads, &c. They had been happy in
their married life, and unto them was born a
beautiful girl whom they named Kate, who,
of course, when she grew up, fell in love.
Her choice was a poor, but noble young man.
The deacon and his wife had taught their
child to choose for herself, but to do it wisely.
and they were glad to see that she made
choice of an estimable young man, their neighbor's son.
Now, Kate took up a notion that she must
have a great many articles for her marriage.
and make a fashionable show of dress during
the honeymoon, and as they lived in only a
town, she wrote her father a note, requesting
him to furnish her a considerable amount to
buy her outfit, and stated in it that she expected
she would have to send to the city to get all
she needed, whereupon the old man made the
following reply:
"Dearest Daughter:-As you are my
only daughter, I may call you dearest truly,
for I love you very much. I have considered
your note, and this is my reply: I am sorry
to find you possessing a weakness of most of
your sex, viz: that you think you should have
a large outfit for your wedding and honeymoon.
When I married your dear mother she had
but two calico dresses and other things to fit.
and she thought herself well off with them
and I really thought her, as I took her in her
calico dress, the prettiest, sweetest girl in the
land, and have never thought otherwise. She
has made me a dear, precious wife, and has
been to me a helpmate indeed. Now, my dear
child, I will not refuse you what you ask, but
my observation in life has convinced me that
those girls who spend a heap of money to provide their outfits for marriage are generally
sure to spend heaps of it afterward, and that
often they keep their husbands' noses to the
grindstone of misfortune and toil all their
lives.
"A great many fine things for your wedding and its after incidents will make you no
sweeter or prettier to your husband, and may
make you a great deal dearer as to his pocket.
If the man of your choice really loves you, as
no doubt he does, it is not for what you have
on, but for the qualities of your person, head
and heart, and as he is a man of sense, I have
no doubt, he will think more of you when he
finds that you have not made any great preparations for your marriage. There are many
gentlemen in this country, now worth their
millions, whose wives, when they married, had
no more than your mother. By this I do not
mean that you should have no more, but your
mother tells me that you now have five neat
every-day dresses and four Sunday ones, and
really they are larger, finer and better outfit
than many millions of your sex are able to obtain.
"I make these suggestions for your consideration, but leave you to follow them or not,
as your judgment may dictate, and to show
you that this is the fact I enclose you a draft
for a thousand dollars on my cashier, which
you can use at your pleasure.
Affectionately yours,
John Brown."
Kate did not long hesitate as to her course
of action. Her mother gave her a few dollars
of her pocket money, and she bought only a
simple, plain white dress and appeared in it
at the altar, with natural flowers and her own
loveliness for adornment.
She drew the amount of the draft in gold.
and one month to a day after her marriage
handed the amount to her husband and accompanied the gift with these words:
"Dearest-I applied to my father for money to purchase what I supposed I needed
for my marriage, and he wrote me this letter
(handing it to her husband,) and enclosed in
it the draft upon which I drew this thousand
gold dollars, which I now present to you as
the money saved by a victory over a foolish
fashion. Have I done wisely?"
"You have, my blessed wife, and are a
thousand times dearer to me by your better
judgment."
It is needless to add that the husband of
Kate is now worth many thousands of dollars.
and in a delightful old age they often tell
their friends and children of the thousand
dollars as the foundation of it all.