The supper at a silver wedding is quite elaborate.  The bride that was cuts a wedding cake in which a silver piece is baked; the person who gets it being expected to live to celebrate his or her silver wedding.  Speeches are made, often an original poem read, and not infrequently the health of the pair pledged in a glass of wine.

Golden Weddings—­Occasions for the celebration of fifty years of union are much rarer than any other.  Nor are they wholly joyful.  The aged couple are looking from “life’s west windows” at a fast declining sun.  A few short years and it must set for them.  The festivities are usually planned and carried out by their descendants, who so far as possible summon to the celebration the friends of “Auld lang syne,” the clergyman who performed the ceremony and any of the bridal party yet alive, and the dearest friends of the present.  Invitations in the conventional form are printed in gold letters; often a monogram formed of intertwined initials is placed between and a little above the years at the top of the invitation.  The wedding cake has a yellow frosting, or if in white, the monogram and the years—­1860-1910—­are in yellow to represent gold.

Gifts in this precious metal are naturally circumscribed, but a gold coin is apropos, particularly if Fortune has been chary of her favors.  In the seventh and eighth decade people have small use for bijouterie.

A golden wedding must be a sad anniversary to the participants.  When they were wedded, they were looking forward, joyously; now they recall the past, its losses and trials and misfortunes.  They remember the children who are dead, or far away; or the prosperity once theirs, but now fled.  Few old folks would care to celebrate their golden wedding; it is usually some well-meaning grandchild who sees in it “an occasion.”  Often, too, the excitement, the fatigue, the unusual strain on mind and body, result in illness which sometimes proves fatal.

The Courtesies of the Occasion.—­There is no formal etiquette for any of these anniversaries.  Friends, as they arrive, are greeted by members of the family; then, in the case of the elderly celebrants, are conducted to them as they sit side by side, and presented.  Failing eyesight and dulled ears demand this.  The congratulations are offered, and good wishes for the future.  If any speeches are made, they should be brief, that neither the old couple or their guests be over-fatigued.  The stay should be brief.

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Gifts.—­Gifts for the anniversary wedding are sometimes sent the day previous, sometimes carried in person.  Anything fantastic is generally presented at the gathering, to contribute to its hilarity.  The silver wedding gifts are nearly always sent in advance, and are displayed on a table, the cards of the donor usually being left on them.  The recipients are to tender their thanks in person or by note.