Chapter 34.
While all the country was excited over this small war, our family was indulging in another species of excitement. It had long been settled that we should be married on September 2nd and now we were busy over preparations. Perhaps the next generation, if they should ever read this, would like to know what was considered suitable for a trousseau so long ago. Well, I had no silk underclothing or silk stockings. Such ideas had not entered people’s heads then, but white calico was used for underclothes and girls took great pleasure in making them neatly and tastefully. My wedding dress was a present. It consisted of a cream colored wool material of soft texture, with an overskirt and trimmings of the same color, with a red and blue pattern in it. It was made with a tight waist and a full overskirt. I also had a drab traveling dress of beige, trimmed with brown silk shot with blue and green, and a green cashmere coat to match. I had a burnt straw hat with brown ribbons and a light tweed coat and various other things which I have forgotten.
I did not go away anywhere that summer. Indeed I was far from well, but I kept house with the faithful Maggie Hawthorne to help while mother and Dora went for a change. Silver dishes and salad bowls were not so much the rage then, but I had many useful presents and a good many cheques which helped us very much. The bank in which my future husband worked had failed and instead of the raise he had been promised all salaries were cut down ten percent. We were obliged to use great economy. We had naturally thought of a little home of our own—there were no flats then in Toronto but plenty of small houses—but my mother was very much opposed to this and wished and indeed insisted on our remaining with her for the winter. Her house was large, she said, and we could have the two top rooms with a door between. At last we were persuaded, but I have always felt it was a serious mistake and would warn any young married people against a similar step.
At last the day arrived, sunny and beautiful. My old friend Annie Reid from Bowmanville had come down the day before and she, Dora and Sophie Cayley arranged everything. We had about thirty guests invited, very few of whom are living now. The Hon. William Cayley and his wife and her two little girls, of course my grandmother and uncle and aunt from the cottage over the way, Osmond Cayley and Mim (who did not come) and Jue Robinson and Birdie Ord and Fred Robinson. There were a few others whose names I have forgotten. Old Dr. Reid performed the ceremony and Mr. Cartwright gave me away. The wedding was at 10 a.m. and after the knot was tied we had refreshments and then drove to the meeting room on Gerrard Street, where nearly all the meeting was assembled. Captain Trigge had come over from Hamilton and I remember he read the 2nd chapter of John and Mr. Blakeley read Benjamin’s blessing: “The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by him”. It was a very happy meeting and everyone was so kind and affectionate. Then we bid farewell to our friends and took the car humbly to the Montreal boat, which was to sail at two o’clock. My grandmother and uncle were the only ones who came to see us off.
It seemed ages before we started, but at last we were off and then we went down to our cabin and together consecrated ourselves anew to the Lord’s service. We then ate our lunch down there. The lake was very rough and I began to feel very sick, quite a new experience for me. I struggled to keep up till we stopped at Bowmanville, where my former pupils Lily, Minnie and Elsie Reid brought me down a magnificent bunch of flowers. Then came a harder struggle until we reached Coburg, where my cousins Emilie and Bessie Wilgress came down to the boat. Then I succumbed and had to beg my new husband to help me undress!
Next day we were in the river and I was all right. We greatly enjoyed shooting the rapids and arrived in Montreal that night. Owing to a very bad epidemic of smallpox, we did not land but went straight on to the Quebec boat. Here we had a fine room and I was introduced for the first time to electric light. We reached Quebec in the morning and took the train. The Canadian Pacific Railway was not yet running to St. John, so we had to go all round by Cacouna. I remember the children coming to the train windows with little birchbark canoes of blueberries. We fell in with a gentleman who had surveyed large sections of this country and he made the journey very interesting for us. We changed at Moncton in the middle of the night and reached St. John at five o’clock on Saturday morning, September 5th.