Her mother being a devout churchwoman, she was probably married at church. And if Colonel Lewis chose to follow the fashion of the day, he was brave indeed in a white satin vest, a suit of fine cloth lined with crimson satin, fine lace at wrist and throat, and diamond (or was it paste?) buckles at knee and shoe top. Our forefathers and foremothers wore good clothes in 1750! We may be sure that none of the orthodox wedding customs and ceremonies were omitted by Mary Washington at her daughter's marriage. There were certainly bride's favors, wedding-cake, ring, and thimble, and, alas! the slipper and rice. The bride was duly provided, for her bridal costume, with "Something old, and something new, Something borrowed and something blue." The "old" was oftenest an heirloom of lace; the "borrowed," an orange blossom or two which had been worn by other brides; the "blue," a tiny knot of ribbon on the garter. These ceremonies were full of significance, and in observing them, the bride linked herself in the long chain which stretches back to the early stages of the world. The wedding-ring, and the choice of the third finger as being connected with the heart, are mentioned in old Egyptian literature. The blue ribbon, whether worn as a badge, or order, or at bridals, comes down from the ancient Israelites, who were bidden to put upon the borders of their fringed garments a "ribband of blue"--blue, the color of purity, loyalty, and fidelity. Bridesmaids were a relic of the ten witnesses of old Roman weddings. Bride's cake and rice, of the aristocratic Roman _confarreatio_. The Spanish custom of wearing fragments cut from the bride's ribbons, first introduced into England when Charles II brought home his Katharine of Portugal to be England's queen, survived in the enormous white satin rosettes (bride's favors) worn by the groomsmen, and survives to-day in the boutonnières of the bride's flowers. The old and the new symbolize her past and future--not divided, but united. The "something borrowed" signifies a pledge to be redeemed. Nothing is without significance, which accounts for the fact that all these old-time customs continue from century to century, and are so jealously observed to-day. One of the eighteenth-century customs, has, however, been lost in the hurry and rush of our own time. The "infair," the faring into the house of the bridegroom's parents, was quite as lengthy and important a function as the wedding. This great housewarming entertainment to celebrate the reception into the bridegroom's family was an ancient English custom, religiously observed in Virginia until the middle of the nineteenth century. The quantity of wedding-cake made in the Virginia kitchens was simply astounding! It was packed in baskets and sent all over the country to be eaten by the elders and "dreamed on" by the maidens.