" In
the time of Louis XV, of France, the following decree was made: "Whoever
by means of red or white paint, perfumes, essences, artificial teeth,
false hair, cotton, wool, iron corsets, hoops, shoes, with high heels,
or false tips, shall seek to entice into the bonds of marriage any male
subject of his majesty, shall be prosecuted for witchcraft, and declared
incapable of matrimony." The fathers of New England may have made
foolish laws, but this one in France at a later time goes beyond them.
The seductive charms of the sexes they deemed could not be trusted.
Wonderment often comes to us of the thoughts and manners of the sage
law-makers when their youthful hearts were reaching out after another's
love.
The marriage day was celebrated with decorum. The entire community were
conversant of the proposed marriage, for the same had been read in
meeting and posted in "publique viewe." The earliest lawmakers of the
Colony were pillars in the church, and though they did not regard
marriage an ordinance over which the church had chief to say, yet they
desired an attending solemnity. In 1651 it was ordered that "there shall
be no dancinge vpon such occasions," meaning the festivities, which
usually followed the marriage, at the "ordinary" or village inn.
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