of
this usage in England and the United States would afford scope for a
broadening of the symbolism connected with these rings, by
differentiating them in some way, so that they might signify the
special virtues each of the contracting parties bring to their mutual
relation. This differentiation would in no wise imply any subjection,
but would merely emphasize those fundamental distinctions, without
which the true progress of the world would be checked. Real equality
consists in the un-trammeled development of the characteristic
excellences, not in any arbitrary reduction of all to some
preconceived standard.
Of
all the marriage-medals that have been struck none can be said to equal
in beauty of design and tenderness of sentiment that designed in 1895
by the great French medallist Oscar Roty (1846-1911). The obverse
shows the bridegroom about to place the wedding-ring on the bride's
hand, but in the very act of doing so, he is impelled to look upward,
as though calling for Heaven's blessing upon his marriage. The girlish
bride has her head slightly bent down in token of assent. The scene is
in the open country; the figures are seated opposite to one another on
plain stone seats, and the landscape background is Rafaelesque in its
delicate beauty. Beneath, in the exergue, is the single word " Semper,"
an earnest that the solemn contract so gladly and so religiously
entered into will be kept for this world and for the great future. The
reverse shows a statue of Cupid on a fountain pedestal ; alongside
rises the trunk of a sturdy oak. On the right is ample space for a
dedicatory inscription. The companion-piece, Roty's second marriage
medal, executed ten or more years later, although a noble work, falls
something short of his first effort. Here the bridegroom, who displays
no ring,
