Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-08-18
Special Correspondence Of The Star.

Isle (Wnere IL was the custom rum
away couples fearing capture to hire for
the day every available steed and coach).
the start is made from the commodious
citadel railway station.
The train whirls northward, crossing the
Eden and Esk rivers; and eventually pene-
trating into Scotland by way of the new
bridge over the Lark. Out of the carriage
windows one may catch a glimpse of the
old Lark toll bridge by which the border
was crossed in preralroading days. Fancy
depicts a coach with It's smoking horses
standing at the toll gate, while another
vehicle comes down the hill in chase Of the
clipping couple
'Gr-retna Greenr reared the porter at
the neat little station, with its beds of
Scottish blue'bells; and the train coming to
a standstill, out stepped. Over the station
wall 1 saw the village-a single street, long
and clean, with whitewashed cottages, and
a church by no means in good repair. The
Green itself was an irregular patch OF
grassy sod in front Of the church Nearby
is the more modern settlement of Spring
field-a sort of Newer Gretna.
Beyond the village stretches the dreary
expanse Of Solway moss, where SO many
sanguinary fights took place in the days of
border warfare. Looking toward the south
one sees the mountains of Cumberland, blue
against the f1eecy sky.
Historic Old Hall.
The old hall is, of course, the first place
Green. and thither I turned my footsteps.
Here more than half the Gretna weddings
were solemnized, though the direct line OF
LAY parsons" has for some time abandoned
the place. This discovered in conversa-
ton with the proprietress of the old hall.
YES" she admitted, Lang claims to be
the heir Of the old lay parsons now. but
he lives over in Springfield. My late hus-
band married many people, however, after
the Langs left the old hail."
The general belief is that Gretna Green
marriages are things of the past. This Is
not so. Hardly a week goes by that one or
two weddings do not occur. l witnessed
one myself-the contracting parties being a
wealthy merchants daughter of Carlisle
and a stalwart young tenant of the estate
of Eden Hall.
Lord Brougham's act of 1856 merely pro-
vides that, for form sake, one of the con-
tracing parties to a Scottish border mar
riage shall have resided in Scotland for the
space of seven days. My young Romeo from
Eden Hall stayed at the inn in Springfield
for the requisite length of time, when he
was Joined by his lady fair.
The lay parSon went through the cere
mony of matrimony in the inn parlor. He
simply. asked each party If he or she took
the other for husband or wife, and then
filled out the following certificate:
Kingdom of Scotland county of Dunn
fries, parish of Gretna. These are to certi-
fy that Ann Graham of the town of Car
Isle. county of Cumberland spinster, and
"
same county, bachelor, being both of full
age and both now here present, having de-
clared to lie that they are single persons,
have now been married after the manner Of
the laws Of Scotland. AS witness our hands
at Gretna Green this day of -"
Parent Arrived Too Late.
The parent of the really pretty little bride
arrived on the 1926 pm. train from Car
Isle: but unfortunately for his wishes the
law I, ia
about noon. Eventually the stern parent
relented. and they all went back to "Merrie
Carlisle" together.
Perhaps few words on Gretna Green
and its marriages may not be amss. When
the Ubiquitous Fleet marriages were finally
suppressed in 1913 the idea of availing
themselves of the Scottish marriage law
began to suggest itself to those whose road
to welded bliss was blocked by real or
imaginary obstacles.
Gretna Green, right over the tiny Lark
river, which forms the dividing line be-
tween England and Scotland, was an ideal
place for runaway brides and brGegrooms.
From wretched hamlet Gretna soon bios
somed out into a flourishing little town.
This sprang up as If by magic, and in or
about 1910 an old schoolmaster named Cold
thard abandoned birch and hornbook to de-
vote his life to marrying clippers. Old Cold
lizards house stood where the Gretna viii
lage school has since been built A man
named Scott succeeded as high priest, and
was accustomed to marrying people in the
open air at the Rigg, in Gretna parish.
Scott bequeathed his mantle to George
Gordon, a retired soldier. who married his
patrons arrayed in the splendor of a red
coat, grenadier's helmet and long sword.
A portrait of this military 'lay parson"
may be seen at the old hall, rudely done,
probably by some local genius.
Gordon's dignity descended to his nephew,
Joseph Paisley, the most renowned of all
the lay parsons of Gretna. Paisley was
called 1.-The blacksmith" because Of the
celebrity with which he welded together the
links matrimonial. From this nickname
grew the tradition that the chief marriage
maker at Gretna was smith. AS mat
ter of fact, Paisley while he had been at
different times tobacconist, fisherman and
even smuggler. was never blacksmith.
Paisley succeeded his uncle In 1853. When
officiating he wore q semi-canonical suit.
Great Marriage Record.
After Paisley's death in 1911 the lay
parsonship was divided between David
Lang, who had married Paisley's sister, and
Robert Elliott, who was subsequently mar
ried to his granddaughter. Elliott and Lang
were partners, and the former, man Of
some culture. wrote book about Gretna
Green which is now a very much priced vol
ume. He records that in the twenty-nine
years of his ministry he married 3671
couples. In one year alone-1S25-he united
1913 couples. His average yearly crop of
clipping couples was 100. Fees. he states,
averaged fifteen guineas about 1870; bit
often far exceed that amount. For I'M
stance, when Lord Erskine eloped to Gretna
he paid as much as eighty guineas ($44O.
Ersh,ne was SO fearful Of being arrested by
his creditors that he donned female Costume
in which to cross the border, and was ac-
tually married to his heiress-wife in skirt
and bonnet. 1t will be seen from these fig
ures that paying trade was that Of lay
parson at Gretna. The regular clergy along
the border must have looked with envious
eyes upon their lay rivals.
The descendants of old Joe Paisley still
survive in the line OF Lang From father
to son. or from uncle to nephew, the lay
parsonship has been handed down. Simon
Lang succeeded his father, David, in 1927
and when Simon died, in 1872. his son
William became high priest Of Gretna.
The Lang now in the business has all