"Yes. Don't you know that it's a famous custom to throw old shoes after people, as a sign that you wish them good luck—especially when they're just married and starting off on their wedding journey?"
"I've heard of it," said Phaeton, "but I never saw it done."
"I'll go for that," said Monkey Roe. "Horseshoes, or human shoes?"
"For Roderick Ayr and his beautiful bride, nothing but the softest velvet moccasins," said the poet.
"Don't believe I can get them," said Monkey. "We don't wear that kind at our house."
"I'm afraid it won't do to have any throwing about it," said Holman. "Last week I read a paragraph about a negro wedding where they all threw their old shoes after the couple as they were riding away, and one of them knocked the bridegroom's five-dollar silk hat into the middle of next week, while another broke the bride's jaw."
"Was there a full account of the other ceremonies at that wedding?" said Patsy Rafferty.
"I don't remember," said Holman. "Why?"
"Because," said Patsy, "whatever they did, we must do the very contrary."
"There needn't be any throwing, that's certain," said Jimmy. "And that will give us a chance to put in an old horseshoe, which is luckier than any other."