Democratic Sentinel, Volume 11, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 July 1887 — The Honeymoon. [ARTICLE]

The Honeymoon.

It may not be generally known that the word “honeymoon” is derived from the ancient Teutons, and means the drinking for thirty days after marriage of metheglin, mead, or hydromel, a kind of wine made from honey. Attila, a celebrated King of the Huns, who boasted of the appellation, “The Scourge of God,” is said to have died on his nuptial night from an uncommon effusion of blood, brought on by indulging too freely in hydromel at his wedding feast. The term “honeymoon” now signifies the first month after marriage, or so much of it as is spent from home. John Tobin, in “The Honeymoon,” thus refers to it: This truth is manifest—a gentle wife Is still the sterling comfort of a man’s life ; To fools a torment, but a lasting boon To those who wisely keep the honeymoon. —All the Year Bound.