Part 23

on Tuesday, June the first

at the Church of The Incarnation_

A combination-card of bride and groom, with their address, and perhaps her at-home day, may be inclosed with the announcement.

If, for any reason, the announcement-cards are not issued by the bride’s relatives, they may be sent out by the engaged pair, using the bride’s maiden name

_Mr. George Hart Bagot

and

Miss Mary Elizabeth Peck

have the honor of announcing their marriage

on Monday, June the seventh

at the Church of The Incarnation

Albany_

Unless the invitation to a wedding carries the letters R.s.v.p., it does not require any reply, but an invitation to the reception or breakfast should be acknowledged by two visiting-cards, sent to the bride’s parents, when attendance is not possible or convenient. An acceptance or declination is written in the third person, and follows the corresponding form in reference to a dinner-invitation, with the necessary verbal change, substituting, wedding-reception of their daughter, for dinner.

No acknowledgment is required for announcement-cards; but it is well to call on, or leave cards for, the bride’s parents.

It is impossible to state exactly all the details in connection with the marriage-ceremony, since the variations in personal taste and circumstances are such that the wedding may be fittingly celebrated in almost regal state, with a dozen bridesmaids and everything else with like profusion, or the rite may be carried out with a plainness and simplicity that yet perhaps yields a significance more touching than that of the gorgeous spectacle. Each circle in every community has its own accepted traditions, and it is always better that these should be followed. The vagaries of fashion may often tempt its votaries to extravagances in following the fads and fancies of the moment. But there should be no frivolous tampering with the marriage rite, which is proclaimed as a sacrament by the church, and should be always esteemed as the most sacred act in the lives of those who thus make their covenants together.

It need only be added that for an evening wedding the bridegroom wears the regulation evening clothes, while for an hour earlier in the day his costume includes a frock-coat of black or dark blue, a black or white waistcoat, and striped trousers of a lighter shade than the coat. The scarf should be a white ascot, caught with a pearl pin.

He wears patent-leather shoes and gray suède gloves. A silk hat forms the headgear to accompany either the evening dress or the other.

A maiden bride should wear white and a veil of tulle with orange blossoms. The gown may be decolleté and sleeveless for an evening wedding. A woman who has been married before may wear any color pleasing to her, but not white, and she must not veil herself, nor display the orange blossoms. A train properly distinguishes the wedding-gown.

On receipt of an invitation to a wedding, any gift should be sent to the bride without delay. There is no obligation on the part of a merely formal acquaintance to send a gift when invited to a church wedding, but it is permissible. Such an obligation exists for one invited to the breakfast or reception, as well as one to be among a limited number present at the actual marriage on the occasion of a home wedding. Sometimes, those invited to a church wedding compromise by sending flowers.

The distinction between the maiden and the matron is again emphasized in the matter of the bouquet carried by the bride, which for the maiden should be of white flowers, such as lilies of the valley, while for the woman it must be at least touched with color—perhaps of orchids.

THERE is no royal road to learning.

IT is an old saying, and a true one, in a sense: for prince and peasant must alike travel the path.

YET, there are many paths, and great differences among them, as they lead to the temple of knowledge. In some, the going is easy: in some, hard. In some, the journeying is pleasant and profitable: in some, toilsome—a weary scramble over many stumbling blocks.

THE builder of the road is the teacher. It is his task to smooth the way, and to make it straight: or to leave it all cluttered, a twisted, haphazard course, that runs roughly and reaches nowhere.

IN the “Made Easy” Series, it has been the publisher’s purpose to provide for the student the best possible road to learning—a road truly royal in its simplicity, its worth: a road wide and direct, and free from foolish, needless litter.

THE various writers of the books in the series have been chosen for their special fitness. Such fitness includes, in the first place, mastery of the particular subject: in the second place, ability to interpret knowledge to others.

RIGHT teaching makes easy learning. Few subjects are really hard to learn, when properly set before the pupil. These volumes are the product of a painstaking care to simplify every detail of instruction, yet to make it complete. The result for the student is, indeed, a learning made easy, yet none the less exact, thorough, wholly adequate for his needs.

* * * * *

The volumes now ready, or in the course of preparation—price $1.00 each—are: