280 THE GREAT NORTH-WEST 



And yet he was over seventy years of age ! There were 

 pastors nearer, but this gentleman had married Mrs. 

 Dunford and many of her relatives — was the family 

 pastor, in fact — and he came, not only cheerfully, but no 

 man present enjoyed the frolic better than he. 



The actual wedding took place in the dining-room of 

 the farm-house, which was a wooden frame-building, at 

 eight o'clock in the evening, quite a usual time for 

 weddings in Canada and the States ; and I should think 

 that, among people of the moderately well-to-do, or 

 middle class, at least, fully two-thirds of the weddings 

 take place in the private houses of the bride's, or bride- 

 groom's, relatives. It is the custom of the land. Of 

 course the festivities had commenced earlier in the day ; 

 immediately after breakfast indeed, a barn-dance opening 

 the fun. Wine there was none, but anybody was at 

 liberty to swim in cider-royal and whisky; and some 

 did swim, pretty soon too. Here, as is too often the 

 case in the Old Country among the bulk of the people, a 

 wedding is made an excuse for excessive drinking ; and 

 as American whisky is, as a rule, most abominable stuff, 

 the results are often deplorable. On the present occa- 

 sion, I am happy to say, there was no quarrelling, but 

 some of the guests made themselves very ill. 



So many guests, most of whom remained two or three 

 days, and some a week, required a large quantity of food, 

 and there were slaughtered on the farm for their enter- 

 tainment half-a-dozen oxen, a few sheep, and I do not 

 know how many hogs and poultry. All the female 

 servants, and most members of the family, were engaged 

 all day long making bread and cakes ; and a hard time 

 they had of it to keep us supplied with those much- 

 demanded articles. Like the guests at a certain Welsh 

 wedding, each man had largely to depend on his own 

 efforts as cook, for the staff at the farm was not large 

 enough to provide all the cooked meat that was needed. 

 And I hope it will not be thought that I am emulating 



