among which were balls at the Music Hall Market Hall and the Warriors Gate Inn. That this lengthy and varied programme was duly carried out will be seen from what follows.
The Wedding-day Arrived.
One of those never to be-forgotten days which but rarely occur in the course of an ordinary life time, arrested the attention of the entire nation on Tuesday the tenth of March, and among the thousands- nay, millions of people who turned out to do honour to the occasion, by none will the event be remembered with more enjoyable feeling than by the loyal and patriotic denizens of the Premier Cinque Port. The only wonder was that with so little time for preparation, and in a district where during a whole year immense pecuniary sacrifices had been made for charitable purposes, the necessary money, time and zeal could be found for carrying to a successful issue an imposing spectacle which while it exhibited an indubitable attachment to the Royal Family, provided for the wants of many hundreds and the enjoyment of many thousands of our townspeople. That the Committee and subcommittees appointed for arranging and conducting the said demonstration must have been of a sufficiently energetic character to entitle them to the thanks of the community is proved by what further follows.
The Preparations
at first appeared to be upon a somewhat limited scale, and a considerable amount of uncertainty was equally apparent, especially in the western-part of the borough, as to whether private efforts for decoration or illumination would not subject individuals to the charge of wishing to be conspicuously distinguished above their neighbours. There was also considerable doubt as to whether the stupendous preparations in the Metropolis would not prove an irresistible attraction to a vast number of our well to do people, and by the aid of liberal inducements in the matter of railway transit, thus stultify to a great extent home efforts to get up anything like a respectable show. The weather, moreover, was of an unstable character, and fostered the notion that unless we were fortunate enough to get a calm day, the preparations along an exposed front of two miles would prove to be abortive. It was true that our local weather prophets led us to expect just the sort of day which it turned out to be, but with the presence of stormy weather on the preceding Saturday, the strong gusts of wind on Sunday, the rain and lightning on Sunday evening, and a low barometer of Monday, there was quite enough to engender misgivings in reference to the fulfilment of meteorological requirements.
