Dean Swift's Marriage Ceremony.
Dean Swift was applied to, at a late hour on a stormy night, after he had gone to bed, by a run-away couple, to be married. He answered the call from his upper chamber window. He told them that as he was undressed, the weather very threatening, and they, he presumed, in a hurry, he would marry them as they stood. After asking the necessary questions, he said—
"Under this window, in stormy weather,
I marry this man and woman together;
Let none but Him who rules the thunder
Put this man and woman asunder."
Pious Guide-Posts.
In olden times the guide-posts not only pointed out the road, but furnished texts and maxims upon which to meditate. The following inscriptions were upon guide-posts in Devonshire, England:—
To Woodbury, Topsham, Exeter.— Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.
To Brixton, Ottery, Honiton.— O hold up our goings in thy paths, that our footsteps slip not.