SIDE NOTES.

Kaikoura Star, Volume XIV, Issue 739, 18 May 1894, Page 6

SIDE NOTES.

(by proteus). It rarely occurs that the bride and bridegroom do not, jointly, constitute the central figure in wedding festivities. To the majority of the spectators the ‘ happy pair ’ in the dramas recently enacted here would appear to fill that position. That was not exactly, at any rate not fully, the case to my mind in the wedding last week. Somehow I could not help viewing old Stanton Workman as being an equally important figure as the bride and bridegroom, if not, in some respects, a more important personage than either of them. I confess to having a very strong affection for the ‘ Old Identities,’ the men and women of the Colony who have born the heat and burden of the day ; who went through innumerable hardships without a word of complaint, and in a manner that would put to shame many ‘feather bed’ young colonials.

Yes, as he stood there, tall, and erect for his years, I could not help admiring the old whaler, and, to paraphrase Matthew Prior, Be to his virtues very kind ; Be to bis faults a little blind. For old ‘ Grandfather Jack ’ is one of the good old sort, fast vanishing from this mundane sphere.

Stanton Workman ! Many a valuable sperm whale, and right whale, too, has he assisted to capture and ‘ try out.' Still, it is not as an old salt that he will live in one’s memory. Rather, as the hero of the first horse race in the Colony—a genuine contest, alone for true sport’s sake ; keen rivalry, without any chicanery, or sordid desires, surrounding it.

Kororareka, in the Bay of Islands, was the scene of the equine tussle, the horses being a bay the property of Capt Robinson, and a grey owned by Ben Turner, the two animals being brought over from Sydney early in 1835. The love of horse-racing, so strong in the breast of a Britisher—be he English, Scotch, or Irish—at once asserted itself. A. match was arranged between the two horses, and the bay, ridden, by Stanton Workman, won. Jack was equally as good on a yardarm, as in the saddle—a dual accomplishment not always possessed bv sailors.

Stanton has now thirty seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. May he live to see more of the latter I He was, I am told, the first European to cross the Clarence River on foot.

Toasting ‘ The old Identities ’ at the wedding banquet last week led to a general chat over old times, and a ‘ count up’ of those who have resided in Kaikoura for over thirty years. The list is made up as follows : Messrs Luke Abraham, George Chapman, Christopher Clemett, James (Capt) Davidson, Charles Evans, Fred Flint, Wm. Gilling, Jas Gray, Emery Harmon, John Howard, A. W. Ingles. Jas. Ingram, John Mclnnes, Joe Saunders, and Old Stanton.

Mr, Paap, who proposed the ‘sentiment,’ was very happy in his impromptu remarks about the pioneers, to whom he rightlyjaccorded their meed of credit for the part they have performed in the work of Colonisation. He, himself, is, it may be noted, has been resident for over a quarter of a century in Kaikoura, having landed here some twenty five years since with Mrs Paap and one child. The ‘ quarter of a century list ’ would be a good one, I should think. Will anyone kindly supply it to me ? By the way ‘ Johnny ’ Mclnnes was at

home in responding for the olduns, and gave us, briefly, some interesting Ancient History.

Numerous were the stories told of ‘ days of yore,’ the reminiscences related being very entertaining. When Mr James Buchanan took the floor, in the dance, with Mrs James Ingram, and engaged in the mazy waltz, it recalled to the minds of several the tune when ‘ Jimmy ’ was the champion waltzer of Kaikoura. He’d beat many of the young-uns now.

The marriage of Mr and Mrs Fred Workman will long be remembered for the manner in which it linked together the past with the present. By the way, Mr Alf. Collins (lately Mr Haswell’s baker) deserves credit for his share of the work in preparing the marriage feast, and in making the cake, all of which he did under difficulties.

Talking about marriages reminds one of some of the humorous incidents in connection therewith. The groomsmau on a recent occasion is said to have had the following speech—the M.S. of which he accidentally dropped, and, of course, it has been given to me —ready for delivery :—“ Ladies and Gentlemen I have much pleasure in responding to this important toast. I trust that ’ere long I shall have greater pleasure in acknowledging a more important toast. lam now endeavour* ing to summon up courage to speak to the apple of my eye—no blarney—t'ask her if she’ll have me. Hither to the task—er’s—appeared greater —er — than I could accomplish, but I'll try to ask her soon. You will, I know, excuse any imperfections in my reply. The fact is, that sinner ‘ Proteus ’ has got his weather eye on me, and I feel disconcerted.”

While some groomsman shine in various ways, look handsome, and prepare spicy little after dinner speeches, others, again, are adapts in osculatory matters. For instance, in the wedding of last week the ‘ best man ’ showed himself to be a very smart operative, in short, or rather, in this case a tall, first class workman.

Sometimes it happens that the bridegroom gets so flurried that he forgets all about the ring, or, in others, hardly knows what answers he makes. Some are so bashful, or so bewildered, that they forget to kiss their bride before leaving the place of marriage. I know of several instances of this kind. In one such the bride is said to have been very much disappointed at the remissness of her newly made husband, and as they were driving away taxed him with his omission and is declared to have sung, sweetly, pianissimo, though with a little sadness in the tones, the following : Oh, Willie, I did miss it, Wait dear till we get home (sob), Then, oh then, I’ll have a fit If you don’t give me one. He complied immediately, before they got home, and they lived together happily ever afterwards. Bridegrooms should not, however, presume upon this, because all brides are not so forgiving as the one I refer to. They are generally very punctillious, and, especially now-a-days, assert their authority at once.