Hillford-On-Aire (Volume 3) (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. BELLS. " And all went merry as a marriage-bell; But hush! hark ! a deep sound strikes like a rising knell!r Childe Harold, Canto III. 21. At an early hour on the following day the church bells rang merrily out. . They rang as if they had never before rung on so happy a day, and never expected to ring on such again. There was a jubilation in their notes,, unheard in ordinary cases. They seemed aware of the magnitude of the occasion, and pealed forth a passionate epithalamium to celebrate the marriage of the handsomest pair in the county. The sunny air vibrated with their song. A wedding with the sun shining! Do not these words express theacme of earth's brightness ? "When Eros is crowned by Hymen, and Apollo smiles, is not the height of mortal gladness reached ? Have the gods anything better to bestow upon their children ? Attracted by the song of the bells, groups of factory men and girls, in their Sunday clothes, assembled in the church and churchyard long before the time appointed for the wedding. The Thaneleigh " hands " had a whole holiday, and were invited to partake of a feast in honour of the young master's marriage; consequently, they were in the highest good humour with themselves and their employers. Great arches of evergreens, with appropriate mottoes, had been erected on the route from Thaneleigh to the church; and the church itself was gay with autumn flowers, which gave the crowd something to examine and admire during their long period of waiting. At length, just as they began to grow impatient, they were gratified by thearrival of the bridegroom, who, with his brother, and his very intimate friend, Vincent Selous, came from Ashfield in the Selous' carriage. A buzz of satisfaction went through the churchyard as Oswald dismounted and walke...