A STARTLED BRIDEGROOM.

Evening Star, Issue 3673, 30 November 1874, Page 3

A STARTLED BRIDEGROOM.

Not many weeks ago a wealthy and middle-aged bachelor of San Francisco espoused one of the fairest daughters of that city, and the wedding was celebrated in one of the most fashionable churches, and in the presence of an assembly of the creme cle la creme of San Francisco society. The bridegroom was a Forty-niner, and he had once been anything but a sober and industrious citizen. There had eveh been rumors to the effect that when he made the overland journey he left behind in “ the States ” a wife and two children, and those rumors wei’e awkwardly revived when his recent marriage was announced. 13ut nothing came of the gossip. The Forty-niner was now undeniably rich and respectable, and people were generally disposed to pass over his antecedents without subjecting them to a scrutiny that might prove disagreeable. And so the wed-ding-day arrived. When the Fortyniner and his bride turned from their places in front of the altar, after the clergyman had pronounced them man and wife, the spectators were astonished to see a tall, dismallooking, and sable-habited man rise from a place in the front pews, •approach the bridegroom, and gently tap him on the shoulder. The effect of this proceeding on the Forty-niner was rather singular, for his countenance assumed a ghastly expression, and he quickly resigned his newly-made wife to her friends, and turned anxiously to the stranger, who simply remarked, “I wish to talk with you a moment privately, sir.” The Forty-niner struggled hard to conceal his emotion, and finally said, “ I assure you, sir, that—that—what in thunder did you come at such a time as this for, sir ?” A moment will suffice,” replied the funereal-looking gentleman, very firmly; “please step into this pew.” The Forty-niner did so, while the assembled company busied itself in winking and whispering,looking alternately at the fainting bride, and at the agonised bridegroom. “ When a man gets married, sir,” said the dismal gentleman, “It is necessary for him to look with prudence upon the future, and he cannot begin too soon. Now, sir, a lot in the Oakdale Cemetery, which association I repre ” The sentence was never finished.. There was a chorus of female shrieks, and a general rush of gentlemen, as the Forty-niner was suddenly observed to seize the interviewer by the collar and kick him into the aisle. The enterprising cemetery agent was soon disposed of, the trembling bride regained her color and composure, and thereafter all went merry as a marriage bell.