PLUMS MID ROMANCES.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 3, Issue 259, 24 December 1914, Page 1 (Supplement)

PLUMS MID ROMANCES.

TALKS THAT AKE TOM) OK MLC'Hi TRAVELLED CHIUSTMA> I PI'DDIXGS.

j For well over half a century, wiys aji

I EngMi papor, the Christmas puddin;; j has bion tho central figure of tho dinner which has gained .such a treineni dons notoriety in every part of thonviI 1 is<»(l regions of tho glolto whoro Britons do congregate. Christmas puddings, especially when nent. abroad to friends or relatives :n ■ scatterod regions, go through many strango experiences. This was tlie :•<!- ventn 10 of one dispatched hy the wif© of | tlio writer t-o their son in a lonely part of Saskatchewan, 113 described by tlio j young fellow in a later letter, j "You said in your last that v ou wero forwarding 1110 w plum-pudding in a 1 dish. Well, tho d'sh camo safely 19 hand, and in it was certainly a smallvery small I pieoe of pudding. Buti j whereas you said tho pudding weighed I about four pounds, the amount that I ! received weighed something nearer four j ounces! I tackled the postman, about this tho next time I mot him. and 110 thus accounted for the loss:

" 'Yon sec, my boy, puddings have a habit of drying up as time passes. >jow, : your good mother made this ono at least a month ago. you say. so think of tho drying a month will do! Tlion, also, keep in mind the drying nature of (his rlimate! Moreover, remember that every man lietween St. John's and Saskatoon, through whoso hands that pudding passed, would bo most eager to gauge your mother's skill in Christmas puddings, to remind him of the old land. So lo thankful that even four ounces got hero , at all!' " ! The Right Honourable G. W Russell I tells an amusing story about Christmas 1 puddings, w'th regard to a dinner whero no oTV'o assisted in feeding about a hun- , died starving dock-labourers. "A more broken-down, jaded, or de- ; jeotedortw." says Mr. Russell, "it would i (hi impossible to imagine The poor fcli lows had scarcely enough enercy to eat. ; the good things provided for tliem, an<J they lumbered slowly through their meM of meat-pies and coffee without a word, almost without ?l smile. Then, all nt once a huge Christmas puddin<» wreathed in holly and flaming with burning brandy, was borne into the hall. When they saw it. a deep gasp of joy burst from the assembled dockers, and the whole eompany of them rose as one man and greeted the joyful sight, with tho quavering strains of 'A 11 Id Lantr Syne.' "It was the most touching tribute to the power of the Christmas nudding that I ever witnessed." One famous London firm, which sends thousands of Christmas puddings abroad every December, tells a romantic story of how a gentleman came to them ono damp night and asked whether they would enclose in ono pudding a small parcel he brought with him, without themselves looking at the content". The firm agreed, and made a pudding with this parcel risiht. in the centre. It eventually turned out that the pudding went to New Zealand, where it was cut up at tho Christinas dinner of a family who were in moderate circumstances, and consisted of a son on<l daughter beside the parent.s. When (lie knife struck hard against something in the pudding they were all puzzled, but they were .-till 1110 m astonished when the parcel cam« to light. Tt was found to contain a line diamond ring, with a note asking that a young lady in tho family who received it would keep it, and, if she were not crgaged, would she* forward lut photograph to the sendor, whose name and address were given? This young lady did so joyfully, and in due course there came a formal proposal for her hand from the gentleman whom she had niver seen. He enclosed his own photo, however, and she wrote back accepting him the name <lay! They were married in New Zetland within six months.