times of greater advaucement and en- 

 lightenment ; but oh ! what a different 

 affair a wedding in the old times was from 

 one of the present day ! 



At the time of which I speak, a mar- 

 riage license cost the large sum of thirty 

 shillings (about ^7.50). As there were 

 very few Rothschilds or Vanderbilts in 

 the country then (although many have 

 appeared on the scene lately, especially 

 during the "boom") economy was prac- 

 tised, and the good old fashioned custom 

 was resorted to of publishing the banns. 



You will pardon me if I digress for a 

 second. I used the words "thirty shil- 

 lings" a moment ago, and the}' remind 

 me of a story told me by that prince of 

 genial and social old timers, the late 

 lamented Hon. John Norquay. The in- 

 cident which actually occurred, was this. 

 In the early days the currency was 

 pounds, shillings and pence, and when 

 at the time of the transfer it was changed 

 to dollars and cents, it was some time 

 before the old settlers could master the 

 new system. For instance, a certain 

 woman was asked to sell a wavy, several 

 of which her husband had just brought 

 home, and she was offered fifty cents a 

 piece for them. She indignantly rejected 

 the offer, stating emphatically that she 

 could not take less than one and six 

 pence apiece for them, wh'ch sum of 

 course was readily and cheerfully given 

 to the intense happiness and delight of 

 the worthy dame. The purchaser you 

 will observe, was ahead a cool 12^1 cents 

 on each bird he bought. Now to return 

 to the subject. 



A wedding in the olden times in the 

 Red River Settlement was not the tame 

 affair of the present day. It did not con- 

 sist in orange blossoms, ushers, a wed- 

 ding breakfast, congratulatory speeches, 

 the orthodox honeymoon trip. A wed- 

 ding breakfast they certainly had, and 

 several of them for that matter, and 

 dinners and suppers galore. Where such 

 an important event took place in the 

 settlement the friends and relatives of 

 both the high contracting parties were 

 invited. The mode of invitation differed 

 from the present style. Instead of send- 

 ing out a card something like this "Mr. 

 "and Mrs. Smythe request the pleasure 

 "of your companj' at the marriage of 

 "their daughter Mary Araminta Jane to 

 "Mr. Fred. Augustus Horatio de Jones 

 "on Wednesday the 15th of February, 

 "1893, at 12 o'clock, noon, at St. John's 

 "Cathedral" they adopted a surer way, 

 especially considering the postal facilities 

 of the times. The father of the bride 

 generally went personally from house to 



house and extended the invitation to 

 those he wished to have. I am told that 

 sometimes the bride and one of her 

 bridesmaids did the inviting. This 

 custom certainly did not obtain within, 

 our recollection. 



The festivities generally commenced 

 the day before the solemnization of the 

 marriage (which usually took place on a 

 Thursday). Eating, drinking, but princi- 

 pally dancing was the order. On the 

 eventful day proper the happy couple 

 drove to church, accompanied b}' a long 

 procession of invited guests, in carioles 

 and cutters, beautiful horses all bedecked 

 with wedding flowers &c., and every 

 "gallant" accompanied by a "partner." 

 Sometimes, it is said, "partners" were 

 scarce, and sometimes some young belle 

 was not a little embarrassed by the im- 

 portunities of her several admirers to 

 accompany him to the church. She had, 

 however, to make a choice, often weeks 

 before the event, and although she must 

 necessarily overwhelm several with dis- 

 appointment and grief she might safely 

 be trusted (as now) to choose the right 

 one. I have a very distinct recollection 

 of only succeeding in getting a "partner" 

 for a wedding, (the last of the kind we 

 attended) at Prince Albert, some years 

 ago, after four or iive unsuccessful at- 

 tempts ; and at that time when I was just 

 about that age when I thought — well: 

 that I was not a veiy bad looking fellow. 

 The return of the marriage party or 

 procession was generally made the oppor- 

 tunit}' for the young men to give an ex- 

 hibition of the speed of their horses (and 

 they had splendid horses then) and the 

 man with the slowest invariably brought 

 up the rear at the finish. There was one 

 invariable rule in these drives and that 

 was that no one would dare pass the 

 bridal party in the race, as to do so would 

 be to commit a breach of etiquette which 

 would neither be overlooked nor for- 

 given. 



We have now arrived at the house of 

 the bride's parents which was always 

 used for the feast. The house of a neigh- 

 bor was always cheerfully given up for 

 the dancers (all unnecessary furniture — 

 including beds sometimes — was bundled 

 out, and now in very truth the fiat went 

 forth " On with the dance, let joy be 

 unconfined." These festivities have been 

 known to go on with unabated vigor and 

 joyous hilarity for three days and three 

 nights. It is true they were rather hard 

 on moccassins but people very often pro- 

 vided themselves with more than one 

 pair, so that when one was worn out a 

 new pair was ready. But the dance went 



