_ignored._ And God suffered it so to be, for the time, just as he did
other forms of slavery and outcrying sins of various kinds.

It has been said that the marriage ceremonies and festivals were as
various as the several nations in which they were performed. A
description of a few of these may not be uninteresting.

Among the Jews, the period of betrothal having expired, the marriage was
celebrated by a feast, the bride being arrayed as magnificently as her
circumstances would allow. If the contracting parties were distinguished
personages, the ceremony was frequently celebrated at night, the bridal
party, carrying their lamps or torches with them, going forth in
procession to meet and do honor to the bridegroom.

With the Romans, the consent of the father or guardian of the maiden
having been obtained, a sacrifice was prepared. "The gall was carefully
removed," and the propitiatory offering made to the gods. To have been
emblematical, the gall should have been presented to the bride. In most
cases, it fell to her lot. On the wedding-day the bridegroom, with his
attendants, presented himself at the place designated for the
performance of the ceremony, where he was met by the bride, gorgeously
appareled, and her maids. Then, in presence of her father or guardian
and proper witnesses, the pair went through a formula of words as given
them by the officiating priest. On the completion of this part of the
ceremony, the company partook of a cake made of flour, salt, and water.
This was the original "bride-cake." After night, the bride, accompanied
by her relatives and maids of honor, was escorted with due pomp to the
residence of the bridegroom, the door of which she found bound with
strings, over which she was obliged to step. Having effected an
entrance, she received the keys of the house, and the bridegroom and