Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 221, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 September 1920 — UNFAIR TO GROOM [ARTICLE]

UNFAIR TO GROOM

Why ShouM Man Be Denied “Anoestral Harness?” ’ Bride Allowed to Take Frida In - •- mother Wm . Married, but for NIK Nothing 'Mng. 4. . . - —— , Why does a man never get married to Whees? asks a writer In the New lark Krening Sun. One reads in the report of a recent wedding In New Baren, Conn., that “the bride (Miss Dorothy W. Day) wore a gown which was worn by her grandmother when the latter was mart-fed fifty years kgo.” la other cases it is not the entire gown, but the “bridal dress was trimmed with rare old lace that was part of the wedding finery of the bride’s great grandmother when that estimable lady was married, about seventy-five years before.” But who ever read, “Mr. Bridegroom was quite handsome in a suit of black which was worn by his grandfather, the Hon. John Bridegroom, when the latter married Miss Mehttable Spanker In IMO?" Nor does one ever learn from a modern wedding report: “The bridegroom's feet were clad In shoes that his great-great grandfather, Capt Peddedlah Timkin, wore at Bunker Hill and Valley Forge. The shoes, with only slight restoration necessary, are tn marvelous condition and lent a distinctly revolutionary flavor to the bridal occasion.”

Tn fact, the bridegroom's clothing never gets mention, beyond “the conventional black.” If it did it would be only to relate some disaster too important, unusual or ridiculous to be omitted, even in a wedding narrative. Two chief reasons are advanced for the hick of ancestral male garments at the bridal altar. One reason Is the difficulty of making a man look even pssdkble In his grandfather’s rig. whereas a girt becomes more beautiful la the quaint garments of a bygone day. Moreover, a man appearing for his wedding in a John Hancock coat and knickers would claim more attention than the bride, and that would be fatal at any wedding. But the -real reason why a man does not marry in his grandfather's BCehery Is because it Is not. Grandmother put her wedding dress carefolly away and preserved it for her children- Granddad put his away for the nonce, but he was in no circumstances to preserve a perfectly good sulf for another generation. Re needed It In his own .business. 80 eventually bls bridal attire went the way ot an men’s clothing. But It would be refreshing, some critics of the times say. to read once in a while tn wedding reports: “The bridegroom's svelte shape was admirably set off by the bridal pants worn seventy-five years ago by Ms paternal grandfather, the celebrated Squire Binglewhlffle, on the occasion of his marriage to the beautiful Prudence Winterbottom.”