It was afterward averred that the church people really kissed each other according to the biblical instruction and it is true that many mothers kissed their boys and that Ralph kissed Ruth fervently, whereupon those who did not know of their marriage became suddenly aware of it and there was a general rush to kiss the bride and congratulate the bridegroom.
A FEAST IS BETTER THAN FIRECRACKERS.
“And so they have got their wedding reception after all, Angeline,” laughed Mr. Cornwallis, “and without any fussery or finery of the tiresome cut and dried pattern.”
Then the brass band played a wedding march. Lawyer Rattlinger and President Hartling dropped in and made excellent, “higher plane” speeches—that is, speeches delightfully devoid of brutish war-sentiment and silly spread-eagleism—after which the Sunday-school children sang, “God Bless Our Native Land,” with great vigor and were rewarded with a delicious finish of ice-cream and lemonade.
They went home as happy as larks, although their pockets were stuffed with nuts and candies instead of baneful firecrackers and deadly toy-pistols—a lively protest for their elders who have been too ready to say that a boy will not be satisfied with anything that does not possess the elements of noise and danger.
As Ralph surmised, the Schwarmers were making great preparations for the evening display. It was to be a splendid one. A select party had been invited from the city to witness it. They came on the afternoon train while the celebration was at its height; so their advent made no sensation. The shops were closed and the streets were quite deserted, greatly to Mr. Schwarmer’s chagrin, for in making his plans for a brilliant gathering he had counted on a background of gaping people and corruscating fireworks. The deficiency was so noticeable that Mr. Alfonso Bombs, the rising Pyro-spectacle King of the city—the guest par excellence whom he wished to honor in an appropriate manner, exclaimed derisively:
“How’s this, Schwarmer? Have they exhausted your huge supply already and annihilated themselves in the performance? I thought this was your kingdom (so to speak) and we should be treated to a triumphal entry.”
Schwarmer would rather have had the matter unnoticed, but it was not and he would not imperil his reputation for bluntness by keeping silence.
“You’ve been in England too long, Alfonso. You’ve forgotten that we don’t have things of that sort as they do on the other side of the pond—that is, except in a way, you understand—an irregular sort of way. Consequently we never know just what will take place at a given point, you see—or just when a triumphal entry will materialize, so to speak, most assuredly we don’t. It’s never been at all like this before; most assuredly it hasn’t. There have always been plenty of racket, plenty of fireworks and things of that sort from dawn to dark and fore and aft—variegated with a run-away horse and excitements of that kind; but the fact is a great moral wave has struck the town—a very large one. You see, even a moral wave is liable to be of very large dimensions, this side of the pond.”