My islander checked himself; he felt he had gone a little too far, and a deep blush spread over his countenance.
“Oh! I beg your pardon,” I cried; “of course you are quite right.... I was not thinking.”
Was I not a simpleton?
IV.
The Marriage Ceremony in England — Civil Marriages — Elopements — Marriage in Scotland — Show your Credentials — One word more about the dot.
Marrying one of John Bull’s daughters is not all honey.
One cannot help wondering how it comes to pass that the English, who for centuries have been reforming their religion in every sense imaginable, have never yet turned their attention to making the language of the Church as choice and euphemistic as is the language of good society. The Protestant Church alone seems to have retained the sole privilege of calling a spade a spade, or something worse still.
At the ordinary services, it does not so much matter. The clergyman is at a certain distance from the congregation, and when he reads you, from the Bible, a story that makes you tremble for fear of what he will read next, you can comfort yourself with the idea that the charming young lady at your side has perhaps not been listening. Besides, that which is addressed to everybody is addressed to nobody; witness, the effect upon Christians of all the sermons that have been preached to them for nearly two thousand years.
But when it comes to going through the marriage ceremony in church, it is quite another matter.