The Wedding
(This article appeared inthe Halcyon on May 7 1819, St. Stephens, AL. Transcribed by Dawn Conway, 2009.)
We have been favored with the following original communication and we hope it will be acceptable to our subscribers. We claim in favor of a foreigner, their indulgence for his style, which is not, perhaps, pure English, on account of his principles, which are entirely American.
Sketch of the Alabama Territory and its Inhabitants, by a Foreigner. [extract]
The Wedding
Among the happy dispositions which distinguish the inhabitants of Alabama, is their anxious wish to fulfil, as soon as they are capable, one of the most important precepts of scripture, “To increase, multiply and replenish the earth,” – a sacred, and at the same time, a pleasant duty, imposed upon men by the Supreme Being; since they receive life as a gift to be transferred to others, in order to perpetuate the human kind in a lawful way, consonant to the harmony and good order of Society.
Daring the present week several marriages have taken placein the neighborhood of St. Stephens. I had the pleasure of being present at the last. The ceremony was performed by the Honorable Judge Toulmin. – This venerable magistrate, no less distinguished for his private virtues and unbounded hospitality than his integrity and learning, tied by the bonds of matrimony his worthy son to the amiable and accomplished daughter of the respectable Col. James Caller. More than two hundred guests witnessed this solemn and impressive ceremony.
The ball began about 7 o’clock in the evening, and continued until the next morning. The parties danced in several rooms well illuminated. There was crowd of female beauties, married and single.
To mention even the initials of their names would require almost all the letters of the Alphabet.
Between 10 and 11 o’clock the company partook of a splendid supper, under the superintendance of the good and amiable Mrs. Caller. The nicest wines and refreshments of every description were abundantly provided for the accommodation of the numerous guests.
On a spot, which but a few years since was a meredesert, where scarce a sound was heard, except the melancholy notes of the whip-poor-will, a select party of more than two hundred people, chiefly emigrants of different states and foreign countries, some mounted on fine horses, others conveyed in elegant carriages, met together cheerfully and with the appearance of ease and comfort.
In that former abode of solitude, where no footstep could be traced, except those of the wandering sporting Indian, or the wild beasts of the forest – in that very abode now stands a large and commodious house, surrounded by a grove. There lives in a comfortable and patriarchal manne, the numerous, respectable and wealth family of Col Caller.
Such is the beautiful picture and rapid improvements which this blessed and my adopted country presents in almost all its new settlements.
Whilst old Europe (where superstition has revived and despotism riveted the fetter of nations) is decaying progressively as an aged rotting oak, young America, where liberty has established its sanctuary, where arts and sciences, commerce, navigation and agriculture are protected and flourish, Columbia’s land I say, may be compared to a sound and vigorous tree, spreading its branches in every direction, and forming a delightful bower under which the man who feels his own dignity, the friend of liberal institutions and republican principles, breathe in peace the pure air of freedom, and enjoys unrestrained his invaluable independence and sacred rights.