Both rooms and the large hall were
full of negroes. The ceremony was performed by old Uncle Daniel, the
negro preacher on the place, and the children's father gave the bride
away.
After the marriage, the darkies adjourned to the barn to dance. Diddie
and Dumps begged to be allowed to go and look at them "just a little
while," but it was their bedtime, and Mammy marched hem off to the
nursery.
About twelve o'clock supper was announced, and old and young repaired
to the laundry. The room was festooned with wreaths of holly and
cedar, and very bright and pretty and tempting the table looked,
spread out with meats and breads, and pickles and preserves, and
home-made wine, and cakes of all sorts and sizes, iced and plain;
large bowls of custard and jelly; and candies, and fruits and nuts.
In the centre of the table was a pyramid, beginning with a large cake
at the bottom and ending with a "snowball" on top.
At the head of the table was the bride-cake, containing the "ring" and
the "dime;" it was handsomely iced, and had a candy Cupid perched over
it, on a holly bough which was stuck in a hole in the middle of the
cake. It was to be cut after a while by each of the bridesmaids and
groomsmen in turns; and whoever should cut the slice containing the
ring would be the next one to get married; but whoever should get the
dime was to be an old maid or an old bachelor.
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