ey kissed the bride,
and then the first girl they came to.

Betty and Lydia had been Alice's maids of honor. This being Betty's
first experience at a frontier wedding, it developed that she was
much in need of Lydia's advice, which she had previously disdained.
She had rested secure in her dignity. Poor Betty! The first man to
kiss Alice was George Martin, a big, strong fellow, who gathered his
brother's bride into his arms and gave her a bearish hug and a
resounding kiss. Releasing her he turned toward Lydia and Betty.
Lydia eluded him, but one of his great hands clasped around Betty's
wrist. She tried to look haughty, but with everyone laughing, and
the young man's face expressive of honest fun and happiness she
found it impossible. She stood still and only turned her face a
little to one side while George kissed her. The young men now made a
rush for her. With blushing cheeks Betty, unable to stand her ground
any longer, ran to her brother, the Colonel. He pushed her away with
a laugh. She turned to Major McColloch, who held out his arms to
her. With an exclamation she wrenched herself free from a young man,
who had caught her hand, and flew to the Major. But alas for Betty!
The Major was not proof against the temptation and he kissed her
himself.

"Traitor!" cried Betty, breaking away from him.

Poor Betty was in despair. She had just made up her mind to submit
when she caught sight of Wetzel's familiar figure. She ran to him
and the hunter put one of his long arms around her.

"I reckon I kin take care of you, Betty," he said, a smile playing
over his usually stern face. "See here, you young bucks. Betty don't
want to be kissed, and if you keep on pesterin' her I'll have to
scalp a few of you."

The merriment grew as the day progressed. During the wedding feast
great hilarity prevailed. It culminated in the dance which followed
the dinner. The long room of the block-house had been decorated with
evergreens, autumn leaves and goldenrod, which were scattered
profusely about, hiding the blackened walls and bare rafters.
Numerous blazing pine knots, fastened on sticks which were stuck
into the walls, lighted up a scene, which for color and animation
could not have been surpassed.

Colonel Zane's old slave, Sam, who furnished the music, sat on a
raised platform at the upper end of the hall, and the way he sawed
away on his fiddle, accompanying the movements of his arm with a
swaying of his body and a stamping o