THE WEDDING
The wedding was in May, exactly a year from the day of the poison ivy
luncheon. All Dogtown was invited, and filled the gray stone church on
the hillside to overflowing, even though the dogs attended by proxy,
except in a few rare cases. Laddie was one of these, for Mrs. Carr
never went without him, and he sat quietly beside her like a little old
man, with bent head and silvery locks.
Mrs. Carr herself was resplendent in a new black cloak, and a close
silk bonnet of the bride’s making took the place of the old pointed
hood. Her gift was her precious old Lowestoft teaset. “I’ve had my
pride o’ it,” she said, when Miss Jule had remonstrated with her, “and
when I gie a gift I like it o’ gude stuff.”
Anne was maid of honour, and Tommy wept bitterly because he could not
be best man. However, he managed to be quite prominent as it was.
The day was perfect, and both the church and the quaint, low-studded
rooms at the Hilltop Farm were turned into gardens by the great sprays
and wreaths of white lilacs and dogwood with which Miss Jule and the
Happy Hall people had covered even the walls.
The dogs of all three families had been brushed, and their collars
decorated with immense bows of white ribbon; but they were carefully
locked up during the ceremony, to be ready to appear at the breakfast,
for if Waddles had gone near enough to the church to have heard the
organ play, his baying would have certainly brought the wedding march
to an untimely end.
As it was, all promised well, and as Miss Letty crossed the vine-draped
church porch, the people who watched thought that never had there been
a sweeter girl bride. On the side nearest to Anne a dimple that would
come and go, and threatened to end in a smile, broke the seriousness of
her face, and the cause of it was at first hidden by the folds of her
veil and train. It was Tip, the devoted spaniel, who, climbing out of
the window of the room where he was prisoned, had dropped first to the
porch and then the ground, and caught up with the procession just in
time to slip into the church unnoticed, except by her he was following.
[Illustration]
However, he behaved like a gentleman, and sat sedately on the top
step during the ceremony. This, together with the white bow he wore,
caused some of the village gossips, who were not invited, to say that
the whole thing was planned, and was a disgrace to the town; but wise
people know that such remarks are as much a part of a wedding as the
ring and veil.
[Illustration]
Tommy, who with his mother and father occupied one of the front pews,
crept out and drew gradually nearer to where stood the family lawyer
and friend, on whose arm the bride had entered. In another moment
he had climbed into a chancel chair that was partly concealed by a
column; from this place he had an unimpeded view. It was the first time
that the child had ever been to a wedding, and the doings had all the
fascination of entire novelty.
So when the clergyman, looking up, asked distinctly, “Who giveth this
woman to be married to this man?” Tommy shouted “Me!” without the
slightest suspicion that it was not what was expected of him, adding
indignantly to an usher who made haste to lift him down, amid the
natural ripple of laughter, “I had to, of course, ’cause she’d rather,
and now she isn’t my sweetheart any more.”
The wedding breakfast was very jolly, at least everybody said so, and
all sorts of jokes were mingled with the congratulations. The minister,
who was very bashful, astonished himself by saying that he was glad
that they had finished with all the barbed wires of life before the
wedding, and then suddenly kissed the bride, amid general applause.
The wedding cake boxes were white with initials, and a dog’s head,
Miss Jule’s crest, in silver. And the gossips had a second spasm when
they learned beyond dispute that there were souvenirs, of Miss Letty’s
invention, for all who owned dogs--small-sized Bologna sausages wrapped
in silver foil, and tied with white.
After it was all over,--and the bride had gone away, and the last shoe
been thrown, while Miss Jule was removing rice from her neck, saying to
a rather mournful relative, “Of course they will be happy, they can’t
help it, for they not only like but dislike the same things,”--Tip
appeared from upstairs with a crestfallen air, and in his mouth a white
slipper, one that his idol had just discarded, which had dropped to the
floor of her room.
Coming out on the porch, after several efforts he succeeded in
sitting upright, a trick Letty had taught him in imitation of Hamlet,
supporting his unsteady spine against the post. Then, as no Miss Letty
came to applaud him, he dropped the slipper on the step as a challenge,
and mounted guard over it until night came, when he carried it with him
to bed unchidden.
[Illustration]
* * * * *
“Mistress,” said Waddles, as he sat watching her that night while she
put away her trinkets, and brushed and braided her hair, “I wish that I
hadn’t eaten so much of that round black lumpy cheese that Miss Letty
cut with the great knife.”
“So do I,” said Anne, with a sigh; “but then, Waddlekins, you see Mr.
Hugh and Miss Letty will never be married to each other again, and
we must be willing to bear a little pain inside for the sake of our
friends!”
Then the Mayor of Dogtown and Diana his mistress slept the sleep of
wedding cake, which is heavy with dreams!
[Illustration]
Here end the Annals.
Four-Footed Americans and Their Kin
BY MABEL OSGOOD WRIGHT
Edited by FRANK M. CHAPMAN. Illustrated by ERNEST SETON-THOMPSON
Cloth. Crown 8vo. $1.50, net
“It deserves commendation for its fascinating style, and for the
fund of information which it contains regarding the familiar and
many unfamiliar animals of this country. It is an ideal book for
children, and doubtless older folk will find in its pages much of
interest.”--_The Dial._
“Books like this are cups of delight to wide-awake and inquisitive
girls and boys. Here is a gossipy history of American quadrupeds,
bright, entertaining, and thoroughly instructive. The text, by Mrs.
Wright, has all the fascination that distinguishes her other outdoor
books.”--_The Independent._
Citizen Bird
_Scenes from Bird-life in Plain English for a Beginner_
BY MABEL O. WRIGHT and DR. ELLIOTT COUES
Profusely illustrated by LOUIS AGASSIZ FUERTES
Cloth. Crown 8vo. $1.50, net
“When two writers of marked ability in both literature and natural
history write to produce a work giving scope to their special
talents, the public has reason to expect a masterpiece of its kind.
In the ‘Citizen Bird,’ by MABEL O. WRIGHT and Dr. ELLIOT COUES, this
expectation is realized--seldom is the plan of a book so admirably
conceived, and in every detail so excellently fulfilled.”--_The Dial._
“There is no other book in existence so well fitted for arousing
and directing the interest that all children feel toward the
birds.”--_Tribune_, Chicago.
Birdcraft
_A Field-Book of Two Hundred Song, Game, and Water Birds_
BY MABEL OSGOOD WRIGHT
With eighty full-page plates by _Louis Agassiz Fuertes_
“One of the best books that amateurs in the study of ornithology can
find ... direct, forcible, plain, and pleasing.”--_Chautauquan._
“Of books on birds there are many, all more or less valuable, but
‘Birdcraft,’ by MABEL O. WRIGHT, has peculiar merits that will
endear it to amateur ornithologists.... A large number of excellent
illustrations throw light on the text and help to make a book that
will arouse the delight and win the gratitude of every lover of
birds.”--_Saturday Evening Gazette_, Boston.
Tommy-Anne and the Three Hearts
BY MABEL OSGOOD WRIGHT
With many illustrations by ALBERT D. BLASHFIELD
Cloth. Crown 8vo. $1.50
“This book is calculated to interest children in nature, and grown
folks, too, will find themselves catching the author’s enthusiasm.
As for Tommy-Anne herself, she is bound to make friends wherever
she is known. The more of such books as these, the better for the
children. One Tommy-Anne is worth a whole shelf of the average juvenile
literature.”--_The Critic._
Wabeno, the Magician
_The Sequel to Tommy-Anne and the Three Hearts_
BY MABEL OSGOOD WRIGHT
Fully illustrated by _Joseph M. Gleeson_
Cloth. Crown 8vo. $1.50
“Mrs. Wright’s book teaches her young readers to use their eyes and
ears, but it does more in that it cultivates in them a genuine love for
nature and for every member of the animal kingdom. The best of the book
is that it is never dull.”--_Boston Budget._
The Dream Fox Story Book
BY MABEL OSGOOD WRIGHT
With eighty drawings by OLIVER HERFORD
Cloth. Small quarto. $1.50, net
Mrs. Wright’s new book for young people recounts the marvellous
adventures of Billy Benton, his acquaintance with the Dream Fox and the
Night Mare, and what came of it. It differs from the author’s previous
stories, as it is purely imaginative and somewhat similar to “Alice in
Wonderland.”
There are eight full-page illustrations, showing Billy at moments of
greatest interest, and also seventy drawings scattered throughout
the text. These illustrations are by Oliver Herford, who has entered
thoroughly into the spirit of the text, so that the pictures seem an
integral part of the story.
Flowers and Ferns in Their Haunts
BY MABEL OSGOOD WRIGHT
With illustrations from photographs by the author and J. HORACE
MCFARLAND
Cloth, 12mo. $2.50, net
“The reader of Mrs. Wright’s handsome volume will wend his way into a
fairy world of loveliness, and find not only serious wildwood lore, but
poetry also, and sentiment and pictures of the pen that will stay with
him through winter days of snow and ice.... A careful and interesting
companion, its many illustrations being particularly useful.”--_New York
Tribune._
“There is no question that this is a book in which you must be examined
before you are fit to pass into the country.”--_New York Sun._
“The illustrations are altogether worthy of the text ... a series of
exquisite pictures of flowers and ferns.”--_London Daily News._
The Friendship of Nature
_A New England Chronicle of Birds and Flowers_
BY MABEL OSGOOD WRIGHT
18mo. Cloth, 75 cts. Large Paper, $3.00
“A dainty little volume, exhaling the perfume and radiating the hues
of both cultivated and wild flowers, echoing the songs of birds, and
illustrated with exquisite pen pictures of bits of garden, field, and
woodland scenery. The author is an intimate of nature. She relishes its
beauties with the keenest delight, and describes them with a musical
flow of language that carries us along from a ‘May Day’ to a ‘Winter
Mood’ in a thoroughly sustained effort; and as we drift with the
current of her fancy and her tribute to nature, we gather much that is
informatory, for she has made a close study of the habits of birds and
the legendry of flowers.”--_Richmond Dispatch._
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:
Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_.
Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.
Several of the page numbers in the original list of illustrations
are incorrect. Page numbers have been updated to reflect the correct
page numbers for this eBook.
End of Project Gutenberg's Dogtown, by Mabel "Barbara" Osgood Wright