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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1960-03-17, Page 2Walked 24O•Miles To Her Own Wedding Do ye ken John Peel? Of course. Everyone does, But do you know the amazing story of his runaway marriage at Gretna Green? This romantic drama started in 1797 when the famous huntsman fell in love with eigh- teen- year - old igh-teen-year-old Mary White, daughter of a Cumbrian farmer, The banns were duly read in church, but Mrs, White objected to the marriage because the couple were still too young. True love, however, though it may not always run smooth, seldom goes slow. One dark night young John Peel saddled Binsey, his father's fastest horse, and rode across the fells to the village of tlldale, where Mary White lived. Mary was ready for him. She had smuggled a length of rope into her bedroom, and when John tapped at her window she let herself down, carrying only a small bundle of belongings, As the clock was striking mid- night John lifted his bride on to the horse and galloped off with her, across nearly sixty miles of wild mountainous country, to border village of Gretna Green. There, next day, the couple were married according to the ancient custom of the place, However, when they returned home, Mrs. White relented, per, baps on the score of properiety:. On December 18th that year John and Mary were married again, this time in their own Caldbeck church. The entry in the register can still be read: "John Peel Bache. ler, of this parish, and Mary White, Spinster, of this parish, were married in this Church by banns, this 18th day of Decem- ber in the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety-seven by me, Joseph Rogerson, Curate." Why, then, did John Peel ehoose Gretna Green? Everyone thinks they know the answer, but not many people have it right, To begin with, there is absolute- ly no truth at all in the legend that Gretna's eloping couples were married at the anvil by a blacksmith. In the words of an official guidebook to Gretna: "There is not one record of any such marriage ever having taken place." In those years, however, Scot- tish law enabled any couple over sixteen to marry simply by de- claring their willingness in front of three witnesses, alI Of whom may have been complete stran- gers to them. The principal wit- ness, or "priest," was usually the Gretna ferryman or the toll - keeper or the landlord of the King's Head Inn. Marriages never did take place at a smithy. They occurred either at the tollhouse or in Gretna Hall. Visitors to Gretna Green may still inspect the famous register of runaway marriages. Between 1825 and 1855 no fewer than 1,134 eloping couples were married in the village, among them peers, heiresses, tinkers, criminals, and even a clergyman or two. How much did the ceremony cost? The price varied from two- pence to a modern £1,000, ac- cording to circumstances. Per- haps the most amazing cut-price marriage occurred when a youth arrived at midnight, wishing to marry a Yorkshire squire's daughter with a fortune of near- ly £100,000 (in those years a woman's money automatically became the property of her hus- band). Hot on the couple's heels came the girl's father and two armed. servants, vowing to shoot the young man if they caught him. in desperation the youth round- ed up a couple of witnesses from en alehouse, and then found a third who would marry them, Their charge, they said, was two guineas, which in those years was worth about £20 in modern. currency. The young man had spent all his money on the journey. He had exactly twopence left, He gave the two coins to the "priest" who was so drunk that he mis- took them for sovereigns. In the nick of time the couple were married abter a gabbled ceremony, and the irate father arrived too late for, according to Scottish law, his daughter was now a married woman —• and all her fortune had passed to her husband. Believe it or not,; as reeently as 1923 it was possible for a girl of twelve and a boy of fourteen to be legally married at Gretna without their parents' consent or knowledge. And it was not until 1940 that the famous — and fic- titious — "anvil marriage" was outlawed. Even to -day, however, run- away couples can get married in Scotland very easily, If they are both over sixteen they need only spend fifteen days in Scotland, after which they pay a shilling to enter an application for ,mar- riage. A week later they can appear before any registrar in Scotland, in whose presence — and that of two witnesses — they have mere- ly to say that they accept each other. 1lor this they pay the registrar five shillings. If they wish, they can buy a copy of their marriage lines for another half-crown. Even to -day, therefore, run- away couples still arrive by aero- plane, ship, or motor -ear, hap- ing that through the Scottish ' marriage laws they can evade awkward parents or guardians, Many of these elopers are the children of rich or famous par- ents, Not so the ostler of a tavern at Spilsby, in Lincolnshire, who eloped to Gretna with a local girl, both having walked the 240 miles! It proves that the current walking craze started a long time ago. Apart from the valiant Dr. Marbara Moore, to -day's walkers are not noted for their success. Several servicemen could not even manage the 110 miles from Birmingham to London. There might have been a different end- ing if they had been eloping! A 'Bomb" To Save Life The elderly patient had suf- fered two coronary attacks, His arteries were so clogged that the blood needed to nourish his starved heart could not flow normally. And bhe doctors at New York's Mount Sinai Hospi- tal had tried virtually every known surgical technique for in- creasing the blood supply — grafting new arterial tissues from other part's of his body, joining other blood vessels to the coronarysystem; even open- ing the heart and "irritating" its surface with talcum powder to stimulate circulation, All had failed. The man was dying. In this emergency, Dr. Ivan D. Baronofsky, 42, the lean, dark-haired surgeon -in -chief of Mount Sinai, ordered a new kind of therapy — direct X-ray of the chest to step up the heart's faul- ty circulation. Over a period of two weeks, the patient had three doses of radiation (totalling 2,000 roentgen units) from the hospi- tal's cobalt bomb. The blood sup- ply to the patient's heart im- proved, and doctors were opti- mistic about his future. Since, then, some 40 other desperately ill heart patients have had X-ray therapy, and, as Dr. Baronofsky put it recently, improvement in each case was "beyond all expectations." Before attempting human X- ray tests, Dr. Baronofsky worked for two years with more than 300 laboratory dogs, creating "artificial heart attacks" by clos- ing off arteries of the heart, and then administering X-ray ther- apy. About 50 per cent of the radiated animals lived; of those non -radiated, only 10 per cent, And the radiated dogs all show- ed great improvement in circu- lation. With the support of the New York Heart Association, Dr, Baronofsky and his associates began the first X-ray experi- ments on human heart patients, "You can't give a coronary pa- tient a new heart," Dr, Baronof- sky said in assessing his "still experimental" heart - radiation treatment. "You can't promise to prevent another coronary at- tack. But by improving the blood flow to his heart muscles, often you can keep him from dying — and that is our intention." — From NEWSWEEK. THIMBLEFUL — Miniscule Bible has 300 pages .illustrated with several woodcuts. Printed in 1789, it is in a collection in Geneva, Switzerland, SCALE MODEL — Student nurse Lols.a13o.etbcher tries out an extremely sensitive scale. The stole an measure Lois' weight ' Toss in five minutes a breathing, an old in metabolism research. TABLE TALKS One of my fondest memories. is of my mother's cream pie as it came from her oven, frag- rant and bubbling. Mother, as. many excellent cooks of her day, seldom measured ingredients or followed recipies. She taught me to make the cream pie by dem- • onstration. Later, she helped, me to work the measurements and method into a recipe, If you have eaten it but have never baked it, you willbe delighted, even with your first attempt, writes "D. D. S." in the Chris- tian Sciece: Monitor. * ** OLD-FASHIONED CREAM PIE let cup granulated sugar 3 tablespoons flour 3 tablespoons soft butter 2 cups half and •half cream Nutmeg Crumble sugar, flour, and but- ter together and put in an un - baked 'crust. Pour in cream and sprinkle with nutmeg to taste. Bake at 425° F. 15 minutes. Re- duce heat to 325° F. Break crust which forms and stir filling gent- ly with rubber spatula. Do not puncture bottom piecrust. Bake approximately 40 min- utes longer. If desired, when ready for the oven, drop bite - sized pieces of canned apricots or peaches in filling. However, the pie is superb without this addition. It is best served slight- ly warm. * * * The following is a simplified recipe for a famous Eastern dish, This way of cooking chicken is popular in most of the Middle - Eastern countries and India and Pakistan as well. CHICKEN PILAF 2-3 pound frying chicken, cut up 1 cup butter 1, cup chopped onion 1•cup chopped green pepper 1/4 cup dry .chili peppers 1 tablespoon turmeric 1 teaspoon ground ginger. 1 teaspoon pepper (if you do not have chili peppers, use red pepper here) 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon salt 21/2 cups (2 1014 -oz. cans) to- mato puree. 2 cups rice, cooked Melt butter in large skillet. Add onion and chicken. When chicken is browned, add green peppers, chili peppers, turmeric, ginger, pepper, cinnamon, ' salt and tomato puree.' Stir. Cover and cook slowly until chicken is fork tender. Spread .cooked rice over bottom of a 3 -qt, baking pan. Arrange chicken and sauce on top. Bake at 375° F. for 20 minutes. Serve with uncooked chutney. (Recipe follows.) .} 5 5 There are many versions of chutney in Eastern lands, but here is a simple uncooked recipe to try: Combine 1 cup commercially soured cream and 1 cup yogurt Cut a large unpared cucumber into. 8 portions, lengthwise, then cut into 'fa -inch chunks, Cut a tomato into half-inch sections, Combine lightly; cucumbers, to- matoes, some chives, onions; cel- ery and the soured cream with yogurt. Chill before serving with the chicken pilaf, • b H i Curry is equally good whether ISSUE 11 — 1.964 made with lamb or chicken, If you make the following recipe with chicken, you'll need a 3',h- 4 -pound roasting chicken cut in pieces. You may buy Savory Sauce, a sweet-sour, fruit ,based settee and use this, for your curry or you may make the sauce right with the curry dish as is shown in the recipe. If you like a spicier curry, you may add any or all of the following — 3 whole cardamon, 1 tablespoon ground cumin seed, 11/2- teaspoons groundcoriander seed and 1 tea- spoon turmeric powder. LAMB CURRY ?4 cup O. stick) butter 2 onions, sliced 1 1 -inch piece stick cinnamon 2 garlic cloves, minced 1 teaspoon ginger 1 tablespoon curry powder 31 cup warm water, divided 2 pounds lamb cut into cubes Melt butter in deep saucepan; add lamb and brown on all sides; add onion and cinnamon and cook until onion is done and lightly browned. Remove lamb, Combine garlic, ginger and curry powder with '/4 cup water; stir to a paste. Stir into butter mix- ture; add tomatoes; cover and simmer 20 minutes. Add lamb and remaining 'h cup water. Cook over low heat until lamb is tender. If necessary, add addi- tional warm water. Add salt to taste. Serve in hot rice ring, or spread hot rice over bottom of platter and pour curry in center and serve. Salads arein season all year round and provide color as well as vitamins to our sun starved diets. Use only fresh vegetables and fruits. Wash them - carefully and soak greensin cold water for a short time to crisp if necessary. Dry on a towel or by draining and store in a polythene bag • in a cool place. "What happens when your. wife wants a new hat?" "I'm never happy until she gets it." TOMCOD Plants That Resist Frost? The men who grow "love ap- pies" — that's an old name for tomatoes — are thrilled, After five years Of painstaking re- search, tomato plants which re- sist up to nine degrees of frost have been successfully cultivated by an Austrian scientist. It is normally unsafe for Bri- tish growers to plant tomatoes out in the open until mid-May, but the Austrian experiment may alter all that. Some of the scientist's research had to be conducted with the use of artificial frosts. So suc- cessful did it prove that seed can now be produced to meet any frosts during a normal Eng- fish spring, say experts, Austrian conditions are very similar to those in England, so it's hoped that in future it will be possible to pick ripe tomatoes there much earlier in the season. No one knows who "discover- ed" the tomato, although it's a member of the same family as the potato and the tobacco plant and is a native of South America. The tomato was introduced into Europe from America about the year 1596 when everybody called it the love apple. At first it was grown there merely as a pretty ornament outside houses, Then someone tasted it, found it to be good, began to sell it. The tomato was called the love apple because of its supposed power of "exciting tender feel- ings," says a centuries old book. Why isthe tomato so much esteemed today? Because of its high vitamin content, said the research scientist, Dr. S. G. Wil- limott. "In its store of vitamin C, which wards off scurvy, it is a rival of She orange," he added. "The Tomato also contains vita- mins A and B, which fortify the total vitamins in the diet." TV Commercials In Any Language The written TV commercial copy was for a soft drink—Al- pine, by name — glassed and gassed in ten delicious flavours, • ,from cherry to champagne. Thete',was only one slight de- ? &at-- from the customary sales .,eiitity'1t.- this one now had to be ,.r€v*ked for Iranian TV. •;C{gy hot in hand, bhe Alpine repfeesntative plopped his prob. lem recently in the lap of Round Hill International Productions, the only U.S. firm specializing in the business of translating TV and radio sales plugs into for- eign tongues. RHI (whose cus- tomers include. General Motors, Seven - U p, IBM, Pittsburgh Paints, and Catalina swim suits) not only produced a Persian translator - announcer; It also rejiggered the soft-drink ad to eliminate one possibly`catastro- chic lsooboo, The .word "chain- pagne," RILL pointed out, might offend teetotaling Moslems, As a result, listeners were assured that the flavour was non-alco- holie.. For such expertese, RHI calleotsl for "a one -minute spot in Persian, about $1251 in a snore convenient language like French, the tab would be about $90, • Launched only last November by John Gres, a melliflous- tonguecl Cuban whose own lin- gual inventory embraces • Italian, German, French, Spanish and English, RHI now boasts that it can tap a font of some 150 translators in New York, includ- ing several who speak Swahili. Gres, who used to produce shows for the United Nations and NBC International, has to know all kinds of answers in his present business, A Hannover accent for example, is beat for German commercials; . the Cas. tilian accent is taboo in Latin America; in Thai and Tagalog, a feminine voice is preferred, Gres's severest headaches, how- ever, have their origin in the • American idiom Some recent worries: For Catalina, a line went: "The loveliest reason to stay in the all -day sun is Catalina!" "Ab- surd," said Gres, "In South America, no one wants to stay out in the sun all clay—it's too hot." The solution: "The most elegant, in and out of the coater, Is Catalina." For Kayser Hosiery, a line went: "I•f you are not wearing Kayser Hosiery, you just haven't a leg to stand on," "No good," reported Gres, "because in Span- ish it means `no legs.' " The solution: "If you are not wear- ing Kayser Hosiery, you are half-dressed" • Paid For Taxi Whit Crocodile Skins Veteran Aussie crocodile hun- ter, "Ginger" Palmer; escaped from an awkward predicament' recently — in court. He hired a taxi to go from Darwin to his Northern Terri- tory camping grounds, forty seven miles distant. The driver asked 90 see the colour of his money, for he had previously paid his fare in crocodile hide. Palmer said that he had .money, tucked away in his shack. But 4 the end, of his long drive, his rummaging proved fruitless — there was no cash. So Ginger offered his usual quo- ta of crocodile skins to meet the fare. But the taxi driver, feeling 'himself diddled, had Palmer ar- rested and grabbed his binocu- • lars as security Brought up before the Darwin :magistrate, the grizzled old cro- codile hunter was acquitted. The magistrate ruled that as he had tried to pay his fare in crocodile skins he had no intention to defruad. RUNNING A BATH — Mechanic Jaap Swart fools around Amsterdam, Holland, in this bathtub runabout•. JAPAN CELEBRATES ROYAL BIRTH — The resemblance may be vague, but these dolls on salt • in Tokyo represent Crown Prince Akihito and Crown Princess Michiko. Cradled in her arms is their first-born son, second in Jima behind his father for Japan's 2,600 -year-old throne.. 1