Weekly Trinity journal., 1876-12-16
THE EXCHANGE.
by CHARLES READE.

the sum total presented, the general
reader would be amazed at the mass of
ancient superstition lingering in modern
England Not only do popish practices,
popj>h legends and charms, flourish in
our most Purtaucal counties, but even
pagan rites and ceremonies. In the
north the mummers at Christmas, of all
DAYS, dance sword dance which be-
longs to tho worship of Scandinavian
god in Northumberland, and parts OF
Ireland, the young folks still make little .
bontres and leap through them on n GER
tain day My own reading in such mat
ters has taught me ono thing-to suspect
old tradition whenever | encounter any
strange practices down IN the country
Why, even rustic mjspronunciation is /.
often relic, whore it passes for an er-
ror. Rustcus calls coroners inquest F.
"crowner's quest and the educated
smile superior. But Rustlcus is not
wrong; he is only in arrcar. Grown
er's quest is the medieval form, and
was once universal.
To the tcnocity of old tradition | as
cubc a prevalent notion, in rude parts of
this country, thut an Engli,hman and his
wife can divorce themselves under GER
tain conditions. FIRST, the parties must
consent second, there must be II public
auction third, the Indy must be sold
with hullor round her neck. That our
rural population ever invented this law
is improbable in itself aud against
evidence thero are examples Of the
practlceas old a, amy chronicle we have
aud / really suspect that in some barbar-
ous age-ater, aethups, than our serious
worship OF Cul, but anterior to our car
lie,t Saxon lawsuits rude divorce by
consent was the uuWrittcn law Of Britain.
The thing has been done in my days
many times, aud rotated 10 the journals,
and | observe that it is always done with
similar ceremonies, and that the lower
order Of the people, though they jeor,
are not shocked at it, nor docs it seem to
strike them as utterly and profoundly
illegal. 1t dates, opprchend, from a
time when marriage was a partner
ship ut will, and the Roman theory that
marriage MS sacrament, and the Eng
li,h theory that marriage is not sacra
ment, but half sacrament, were alike
unknown to primitiyopcopl
My notebook contains numerous OK
amplcs. | select one with II bit Of color
which was published at the date when it
occurred.
Joseph Thomson rented n farm Of for
ty acres i'm village three miles from
Carlisle. In ls20 ho married II spruce,
lively Girl twenty two years age.
They had many disputes and no chill
dron. Soultcr thrco years they agreed
to part
The bell man was sent round the viii
lago to announce that Joseph Thomson
would sell Mary Ann Thomson by auc-
ton on April 5, 1882 at noon precisely.
At She appointed hour Joseph Thorn
son stood on u table, and his wife little
below him ON an oak chair, with n halter
OF straw around hor neck. lie put her
up for sale in terms that II bystandcr
thought it worth while to take down on
the spot.
"Geutlcmen, have to offer to your
notice my wife Mary Ann Thomson,
otherwise Williamson. 1t is her wish
ms well as mine to part forever, and will
be sold without reserve to the highest
bidder. Gentlemen, the lot now offered
for competition has been TO be n bosom
serpent. took it for my comfort and
and the good Of my house ; but 1t became
my tormentor, domestic curse, a night
evasion, a daily devil. The Lord do-
liver US from termagaut wives and trou-
blesome widows Gentlemen, avoid
them as you would mad dog, roaring
lion, a loaded pistol, cholera morbus, OF
any other pesuIential phonomenon"-
Here it seemed to have occurred to
Joseph Thomson that he was not gong
tho way to sell bis lot at high figure
so Nc tried to be more the auctonoor
and less the husband.
However" said he, "now have
told you her little defects, will present
the bright and sunny side Of hor. She
can read novels, milk cows, and laugh
and weep with the same case that you
could toss off a glass Of ale, What the
poet says Of women in general is true to a
hair Of this one
Heaven gave to women the peculiar grace
10 LAUGH, to weep, and cheat tho human race.
She can make butter aud scold the maid
she can sing Moore's melodies, and plat
her own iills and caps. She cannot
make rum, nor gin, whisky; but she
is good Judge Of all three from long eN-
perience in tasting them. What shall
we .ny for her, with al her PROJECTIONS
and inperfections ?-htty shillings to be-
begin ?"
There was doad silence. There was
no bidding at ali Then the auctioneer
was angry, and threatened to take the
lot home.
The company in general sustained this
threat with composure but one Mems
conceived hopes, and asked modestly
whether an exchange could not be made.
~ have here a Newfoundland dog-a
beauty. He can fetch and carry and If
You fall in the water, drunk or sober,
he'll pull you out"
Thomson approved the dog, but OBJ
jected to give a Christian ia exchange
fora quadruped. Each species has a
prejudice in its own favor, owing to