Summary
“God, the best maker of all marriages,
Combine your hearts in one!”
Henry V.I was present at four weddings in the United Spates, and at an offer of marriage.
The offer of marriage ought hardly to be so called, however. It was a petition from a slave to be allowed to wed (as slaves wed) the nursemaid of a lady in whose house I was staying. The young man could either write a little, or had employed some one who could, to prepare his epistle for him. It ran from corner to corner of the paper, which was daubed with diluted wafer, like certain love-letters nearer home than Georgia. Here are the contents:—
“Miss Cunningham it is My wishes to companion in your Present and I hope you will Be peeze at it and I hope that you will not think Hard of Me I have Ben to the Doctor and he was very well satafide with Me and I hope you is and Miss Mahuw all so
“thats all I has to say now wiheshen you will grant Me that honor I will Be very glad.
“S. B. Smith.”
The nursemaid was granted: and as it was a love-match, and as the girl's mistress is one of the tender—the sore-hearted about having slaves, I hope the poor creatures are as happy as love in debasement can make them.
The first wedding I saw in Boston was very like the common run of weddings in England.
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- Information
- Retrospect of Western Travel , pp. 92 - 105Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010