Preceded by Miss Wilson's little nieces as flower-girls we entered
the crowded rooms, and in a few minutes the clergyman had pronounced
us man and wife.

As I am not writing for a society paper or fashion journal, I will
not attempt to describe the gown worn by the bride. It was very
handsome, no doubt.

But the woman who wore it! Ah, there was a subject for the pen of
a poet, the brush of an artist. Certainly I have never seen any
creature half so lovely; and as I looked into those eyes, beaming
with love, trust, confidence,--everything, that a noble woman could
give to the man she loved,--I thanked my God for the inestimable
blessing He had bestowed upon me.

I have made many mistakes in my life, most men have, and I have
done many things the wisdom of which was afterwards proven; but as
I write these lines, looking back over more than thirty-two years
of married life, I know that my marriage is the one act of my whole
career that stands pre-eminent as the wisest and best thing that
I have ever done.

In all these years my wife and I have been as one. In days of
prosperity she rejoiced with me, in times of adversity and bitter
trials she has stood nobly by me, always with absolute faith in
and unswerving loyalty to the man to whom she gave her heart.

Her love, courage, and cheerfulness have been the mainstays which
supported me when I would have fallen by the wayside, and her sweet
companionship and keen appreciation of refined pleasures have added