Manchurian Books

On arriving at the bridegroom's house, the newly-married couple
alone are admitted; the rest remain outside playing, singing, and
hallooing until broad day.
I often heard Europeans remark that they considered the procession
of the nuptial couch extremely improper. But as the old saying
goes--"A man can see the mote in his neighbour's eye when he cannot
perceive the beam in his own;" and it struck me that the manner in
which marriages are managed among the Europeans who are settled
here, is much more unbecoming. It is a rule with the English, that
on the day appointed for the marriage, which takes place towards
evening, the bridegroom shall not see his bride before he meets her
at the altar. An infringement of this regulation would be shocking.
In case the two who are about to marry should have anything to say
to each other, they are obliged to do so in writing. Scarcely,
however, has the clergyman pronounced the benediction, ere the new
married couple are packed off together in a carriage, and sent to
spend a week in some hotel in the vicinity of the town.


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