The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1876-12-13
AN AUCTION SCENE IN MERRiE
ENGLAND.

OlU tTadltlons lInger IN country
places long after they have perished
in great towns. We're the English
provinces to be CROPPED fo= modern
antiquities, and the sum total prepar.
ed, the general reader would be amaz.
ed at the mass Of ancient superstition
lingering in mo 1ern England. Not
only do popish practices, popish le-
gends and charms, flourish in our most
puritanical counties, but even pagan
rites and ceremonies. In the north
| the mummers at Christmas, Of all
days, dance a sword-dance which be-
longs to the worship Of Scandina-
vian god in Northumberland, and
parts Of Ireland, the young folk still
make little bonfres and leap through
them on a certain day, though the
practice is forbidden in the old Testa-
ment az an abomiAatiOn, for this is no
other thing than 'going through the
| fire to Baal," and is one Of the many
signs that we Celts were an Oriental
trible. Any novice wishing to strike
| this vein Of lore without much trouble
has only to read the excellent book Of
Mr.. Henderson, and grOpe the index
to "Notes and Queries" / strongly
recommend the latter course.
For understanding turns no student pale,
Yet takes the eel of science by tho tale.
My own reading in such matters has
taught me one thing-to respect old
tradition whenever | encounter any
strange practice down in the country.
Why, even rustic misrepresentation is
often relic, where it passes for an er.
ror. Rusticus calls coroner's inquest
"crowner's quest" and the educated
smile superior. But Rusticus is not
wrong; he is only in arrear. "Crowner's
quest" is the true medieval from, and
was once universal. Every English
peasant calls theater a theater, and
young gentlemen sneer. Yet theater
is the true pronunciation, and fifty
years before Shakespeare nobody, high
or low, mispronounced the word into
theater, as he does and we do.
To the tenacity of old tradition l
ascrib a provalente notion, in rude
parts of this country, that an English.
man and his wife can divorce them
selves under certain conditions. First,
the parties must consent second,
there must be public auction third,
the lady must be sold with a halter
round her neck. That our rural pop.
ulation ever invented this law is i'm
probable in itself and against evi.
dence; there are examples Of the prac-
tice as old as any chronicle we have |;
and l really suspect that in some bar
barous age-later, perhaps, than our
serious worship Of Baat. but anterior
to our earliest Saxon laws-this rude
divorce by consent was the unwritten
Law of Britain.
The thing has been done in my day
j many times, and related in the jour
! nails, and / observe that il sihaialWays
done with similar ceremoniesss and
thatssAA lpssE QE6es of, people, though
they jeeT, afS not shocked at it, nor
does il seem to strike them as utterly
and profoundly illegal. 1t dates, /
apprehend, from a time when mar
riage was partnership at will, and
Roman theory that marriage is a sac
rament, and the English theory that
marriage is not sacrament, were
alik unknown to primative people,
My notebook contains numerous
examples. / select one With a bit Of
color, which was published at the date
} when it occurred.
Joseph Thompson rented farm ot
!. | nouna IN a w.llana khraa v,ailas
J from Carlisle. In 1929 he married q
spruce, lively gill, twenty-five years o.
age.
They had many disputes, and nc
children. So after three years they
agreed to part.
The bell.man was sent around the
f village to announce that Joseph Thmp
son would sell Mary Ann Thompson
by auction on April 5, 1882, at moor
precisely.
{ At the appointed hour Josepl
r Thompson stood on a table, and hi
= wife a little below him on an oal
g chair, with halter of straw arOunC
D her neck. He put her up for sale il
terms that q by.stander thought !
d worth while to take down on the spot
Gentlemen, l have to offer to you
:. notice my wife, Mary Ann Thompson
8 otherwise Williamson. 1t is her wis
t as we'll as mine to part forever, AM
will be sold without reserve to tn
!. highest bidder. Gentlemen, the 10
!, now offered for competition has bee
y to me bosom serpent. l took it 70
o my comfort and the good ofmy house
h but it became my tormentor, a domei