Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 20.pdf/125

 76

THE GREEN BAG

told that they must wait until 8 o'clock that evening. Fearing that the girl's 'mother upon dis covering the absence of her daughter would at once suspect the cause, find the eloping couple, and make a scene, the Gpvenor carried the young woman to the Govern ment House and kept her under guard there all day. This was not to restrain her of her liberty but to hide her from her mother. The stenographer hereinbefore referred to, whose name was Mr. Brower, and the undersigned lived in- the same house. When Brower came to breakfast, I told him what had occurred. He entered with great zest into the humor and romance of the situation, and during the day had the Court House decorated and even had the temerity to borrow from the village church a very long and elegant piece of carpeting which ornamented its central aisle. He also got hold of an American soldier during the day, a musician of the Cavalry Regiment constituting the garrison of the place, and contrived to have him teach the village band Mendelssohn's Wed ding March. He had also explained to the Governor our American custom of having a bride'fi maid and a best man. Brower and the Governor were very good friends themselves, so the Governor asked him to be best man. The bride had an Ameri can young lady friend in the town, a school mistress, whom she asked to be maid of honor. During the day the necessary investi gation was made as to the girl's age. It appearing that she was an adult, of course the consent of the mother was unnecessary. As a matter of fact the groom was a most excellent fellow, but the old lady feared he was a little too gay, upon the theory that "the more you have seen of the others, the less you can settle to one." The consent question being out of the way, there remained the work of making the proper translation of the Episcopal marriage ser vice. Mark Twain once wrote a description

of a trip up Vesuvius, and when asked how he went up he said he went up by proxy. I made a translation of the marriage service aforesaid by availing myself also of the services of others. It was a thoroughly idiomatic translation, so much so that all the Spanish-speaking people in the village were amazed and struck with admiration at my apparent linguistic skill. The real explanation of the feat was very simple. I had a copy of the Spanish Bible and also the ordinary Oxford Bible with a concord ance. Most of the phraseology of the marriage service being taken from the Scripture, it was easy enough with the aid of the concordance to trace the various phrases which arc so familiar, to their source in the Scripture, then turning to the corresponding place in the Spanish Bible and getting the Spanish equivalent. At the appointed hour we all met at the Court House, a large and goodly company. All of the American officers of the local garrison were present in full regalia. Even a number of priests in their picturesque attire consented to honor the occasion with their presence, though they had doubtless in the meantime told the members of their several flocks that the Lord would never bless such a union. All being in readiness, the marriage ceremony was duly performed, all the necessary accessories being at hand, in cluding Mendelssohn's March, the wedding attendants, etc. After the service we adjourned to the residence of the official who had performed it. where a wedding supper was served, followed by a dance which lasted into the wee small hours of the morning after. During the course of the wedding supper just alluded to, the Governor took occasion in responding to a toast, to elaborate upon his views concerning the marriage service and his reason for choosing a civil marriage, and he charged his friends and hearers to explain his views to all whom it might concern, so that the masses of the people