The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1903-05-02
Cu.1& The Dow Purse

In rural England the time that cor
responds to the American Thanks
giving is the time for the celebration
Of the marriage ceremonies among
the farm folks. They have their
codes of customs that are adhered to
in the most rigid manner and which
have been handed down from genera
ton to generation until their origin
is lost in obscurity.
The ceremonies never take place
before the harvest is gathered, and
then the entire community has it's
part in the affair. Some of the Gus
toms are deeply tinged with supersti-
ton, but have an undercurrent of SEN
timent that makes them interesting.
In the eastern counties of England.
particularly in Norfolk and Suffolk,
the old world ways survive in all
thei rsl.i chr essa eff ssdgta n n the sfaHd
of the fens the elder of two girls in
a family is always anxious to marry
before her younger sister, for if the
junior should be led to the altar first
then it is incumbent upon the older
girl to open the festivities by dancing
alone upon the turf in the farm yard
In doing this she is given a chance
to win husband for herself, as it
is law Of tradition that if a youth
takes pity upon her lonely state as
evidenced by her performance he
may join her in the dance. This aci
on his part is a declaration of his de
sire to marry her and her chance TO,
refusal is exceedingly small.
The fact that she was compelled
to dance alone is taken as an indica-
ton that she could not get a husband
in the ordinary way and should be
glad to accept the first who offers
himself.
In the western counties of Glouces-
tershire, Somerset, and others, the
same custom prevails to lesser de-
gree, and in addition, the girl is ex-
pected to wear pair of green stock
ings.
In Suffolk the wedding cake is not
an institution, but it is a. rare thing
for wedding breakfast to be cele-
brated without the presence of the
old fashioned suet pudding, huge
spherical affair, bathed in thick
beef gravy.
In Devonshire the farm wedding is
not really wedding if at some
period of the feast there does not ap-
pear a bowl of "junket," a dish COM
posed of milk curdled by the use of
rennet and favored with sugar,
spices and cream. Fl
In the island of Jersey the true.
natives, as distinguished from the
later French and English settlers,
have one. exceedingly pretty custom
connected with their marriage cere
monies. '..>
After the wedding service is ended,
and before the newly welded couple
take possession Of the house that is
to be their home, the procession stops
at the front porch, over which in all
proper. Jersey homes there is a big
slab of granite. While the bride and
groom wait nearby the friends of the
groom climb up to the slab and carve
the record of the wedding in the
stone. The initials of the husband
and wife always appear in the rude
inscriptions along with the day and
year of the ceremony. Over the mi
tials are Clipped two hearts. entwin-
ed in sort of lovers knot. Once
this public record of the marriage is
inscribed the young couple: is at lib
3erty to take possession of the home.
In Wiltshire the rustics have Gus
tom that resembles in form the much
feared charivari of the United States.
There the bridal party is followed
home by all the boisterous element of
the community and given what is
called a merry music, which is
nothing less than noisy serenade
with every conceivable continuance
for making q noise.
The Scots have custom that has
existed for ages and is called 'creel-
ing the bridegroom" The day after
the wedding his friends appear at
his home with a large creel or bas-
ket filled to the top with stones, and
this the unhappy bridegroom must
fasten to his back, and so burdened
run about the streets with his friends
It his heels to see that he does not
droD Il There is only one waufor I