Woman's World.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 131, 27 October 1914, Page 6

Woman's World.

WEDDING BELLS. Writes our Waitara correspondent: ,A. wedding of considerable local interest was solemnised at Uio Knox Uhurch on Thursday morning, tile contracting parLies being Mr Lesii« Bird'ling, son of -Mr W. Birdlmg, of Waitara, and Miss Jessie Jewkins, oldest daughter of ilr and Mrs Jenkins, Mayor and Mayoress of Wai'tara. Tho ceremony was performed by the Rev. Mr. Dunlop. The bride was given away by her father. Site wore a draped gown of wllite crede-de-chine, trimmed with mmehlin- laee. Wlie wort; the orthodox orangle blossoms and veil. The bridesmaid was Miss Eva Jenkins, who looked very pretty carrying a horseshoe of blue forget-me-knots. The bridegroom was attended by ilr Konnan Johnson, of New Plymouth, as best -man. Tito bridegroom's present to the bride was an exquisite pearl and diamond ring, and tlio bridesmaid a filigree attain and pendant set with rubies. The bride'.s present to the bridegroom was a silver-mounted (travelling ease. At tlie conclusion of the ceremony the Rev. Mr. Dunlop presented the bride ami bridegroom witli a Bible, stating, in 'doing so, that it was an old time-hon-ored eusiom wf tile Scottish Church -that the first bride and bridegroom married in a new church should be presented with a Bible.

After the ceremony a large niKivbnr of friends assembled :tt the residence of the bride's parents, where a wedding breakfast was provided. The happy couple 'left; later for l'otorua, where the honeymoon is to be spent. GOLDEN WEDDING OF WORLD'S RICHEST MAN. Mr. anil Mrs. John D. Rockefeller have just celebrated their golden wedding anniversary at Pocantico Hills, Tarrvtown, New Yolk.

Mi's. Rockefeller, a little, bent woman of seventy-five, »x feeble health, has looked forward, to the event as the goal of her life. She has planned for it and cherished the hope that she would live at least until that day. The celebration was an unique one. There arc plenty of fifty-year wedding anniversaries these days, but seldom do the very rich dwell in peace and companionship through half a century. It will also serve to bring to light the fact that a Mrs. Rockefeller exists—a la.'t that has been overshadowed by the publicity given to her husband and by the fact that ilrs. Rockefeller's benefactions and philanthropy, her life and. her deeds, have been kept from the public. Laura Celestia Spelman and John Davidson Rockefeller were classmates in the grammar school at C i veland. Thev were friends then and more than friend's when Miss Spehnan returned to Cleveland to teach after she had finished her education at a hoarding school in Worcester, Mass. Young Rocke feller was a clerk in a commission house when she left Cleveland to go to school, and when she returned he had entered into the firm as a partner.

The new firm, which was the foundation of the Rockefeller fortune, bore, the name of C'ark and Rockefeller, and it liA-sine ]-"os]!. i-«:is by furnishing supplies to the I'liion army during the Civil War. Alter the engagement of the jomiy Miss Spe'man agreed to wait until yo;uig Rockefeller had flnnlv established kniself in bashicss, and the wedding was deferred until he, with his sa\ingM from his commission business, lainichrd into the oil industry with Andrews, Clarke and Co. in ISG4. On a bright autumn day in ISO 1 tney v.ere married in Cleveland. Then began the rise of the male member of the family to fame and fortune. The historv of the rise of Rockefeller by the formation of .successive concerns of William Rockefeller and C'o. and Che various Standard Oil companies is familiar to nearly everyone, but the story of the life of Mrs. Rockefeller is known but to few.

She was the (laughter of Harvcv Bud •. poliiKui, \yjio from chusetts to Akron, 0., where he became a successful dry goods merchant. lie was an educator and a member of the Ohio Legislature, an ard.nt Congreuationalisl and akilit'onist. I[ (! remodel to Cieve'and when Laura was a child. Jn she attended grammar sclioo', and after a course in the Fast taught in Cleveland for five years, giving up pedagogy for matrimonv. ller mother was an active W.C.T.U. worker, and the daughter followed in her footstens She was indefatigable in her work for temperance, but in no sense was she a prohibitionist.

Despite, her long residence i n Now iork and her immense wealth, she never figured iu Hie society of the metropolis, liather, she sought out hospitals to visit, comfort and give financial help to those i.l- When her children were lar™i< enough I hey made their regular visits to tha sick, carrying (lowers. A maid worked in tin; Oil King's home. Slio could sing and desired to study music. She was sent t>y her employer to Europe to study under the best teac'.iers. Upon her return her first concert tour was financed by Mrs. liockefe/ler. The church interests of this rich woman have always been paramount. She was originally a Congregationalist, but upon her marriage transfercd her aliogianee to the Baptist denomination of her husband, and is now a member of tne J'.iiciid Avenue Baptist Church in Cleveland.

She has reared four children, and anoilier died in. infancy. BRIDES WAITING IN LINE The first result of mobilisation and war was a rush to the churches (writes the Burliu correspondent of the Woslminster Cazp.tte). Marriage and death were indissolubly combined, and crew betrothal soldier set about to wed. A deeiee proc aimed that for Nottraumigen (immediate marriages for soldiers) banns and other formalities were dispensed wjtn. JJi'fween Saturday morning, August 1, and Tuesday, at 12, there woi-e such weddings. Half were solemnised on .Sunday. I saw some of this I was driving past the red brick church ill Wtshflrnsaue, wlu»ro my own child was christened. Outside Were 20 odd couples in a queue as if waiting for a theatre, not' marriage and death. .Some soldier bridegrooms were in uniform; reservist J were in mufti. The reservists carried the inevitable cardboard box. I B*w two girls in the queue, keepJig places for bridegrooms wiio had not .ret come, and I saw men keeping places fo? their brides. The parties were of all classes—rich girls in wedding dress who had coins ia motor-cars, servant girls with red arms straight from their work. MARS VANQUISHES EROS. With these "war marriages" th« God of War deals grimly. The reserve artillery lieutenant, Nielsen, came from his regiment at Chemnitz to Berlin U

marry the niece of General Ilerndfc, commander of the Twelfth Artillery Brigade at Neisse. In Berlin he found that she had got a special permit to travel, and had left by train for Chemnitz, intending to wed him there. The trains crossed. Lieutenant Nielsen, unwedded, that evening left for the front. In addition to many Bismarcks, Buelows, Moltkes, and members of other famous families, the Kaiser's two sons, Princes Oscar and Adalbert, we.rc among the bridegrooms—both nice, clean-living, patriotic lads. Oscar's marriage to Countes3 Ina von Bassewitz was solemnised at Sohloss Bellevue, in North Berlin. Adalbert married Princess Adelheid of Saxe-Meiningen. I am told that he kissed his bride after the ceremony, and immediately left for headquarters on the North Sea. Such partings were illuminated by hope. A TRAGIC AFFAIR. One of my servants told mo a story more terrible. The story I almost shrink from printing, for I believe it is unexampled even in the incalculable tragedy of war. Ilcre is the story:— The Gcfreiter (private absolved from sentry duty, but not yet with non-com.'g rank), George Lepsius, was obliged to report himself at Barracks at 11.40 a.m. At 11.45 the regiment would march to I'otsda.mer railway depot, cn route to Colmar. Pcpsius was engaged to an attractive shop girl, Marie tiehulzc. At ] 1.15 the soldier decided for a war wedding, made for his sweetheart's house at Tet.ow, and tarried her oil' to the Tetlow Trinity Church. She went in her working clothes. On me way the pair stopped, and, failing to Ami orange blossoms, bought a bouquet of lilies. By 11.JO the wedding was almost over. When the soldier bridegroom put the ring on his beloved's linger, she dropped like a stone. Her forehead struck the altar steps. The pastor undid her bodice, put his hand on her heart, and ejaculated: "Your unhappy bride- "

"Hire unglucklichc Lraut " And lie stopped. Lepsius for a moment seemed dazed. Then he looked at his watch, put a lily in tlie dead girl's hand, and, making a military salute to the pastor and clerk, tramped" out of trie church,