WOMAN'S WORLD.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 152, 6 October 1910, Page 6

WOMAN'S WORLD.

VICARS AMAZING MARRIAGE Shockingly unorthodox, but perhaps not entirely unreasonable, are the views on matrimonial affairs held 'by the Rev. Christopher Hudson, whose spiritual charge is 'the parish of Sutton Cheney, Leicestershire. Some five years ago Mr. Hudson's wife decided not to live with him any longer, and left Mm, also leaving behind the child of the marriage, a little boy. For five years 'Mr. Hudson endured the lot of a grass widower, and then, in defiance of the laws of the Church and 'State and of social .conventions, he 'took unto himself another •'wife," whom he married after the Scottish fashion of declaration in the presence of witnesses. Tihis [marriage he holds to be as "honorable and moral as any wedding in the United Kingdom, even if ta'ken by a dozen priests and bishops an a cathedral." The vicar's parishioners do not at first appear 'to havie known of the "marriage," but it seems that Sutton Cheney folk were soon winking and nodding over the relations of the parson and his "housekeeper.'' The scandal presently spread to places beyond, and tame to the ears of the Ke v. iMr. Bovvers, of Market Bosworth. gentleman at once drew the Bishop's attention to the irregular menage at Sutton Cheney, and in due course the Bishop of Peterborough inhibited Mr. Hudson from taking further services in his parish until the charges of immorality had been met and disproved. Mr. Hudson's retort to his diocesan took the shape of an amazing letter, in which he openly defied the Bishop to take away his living, and v denied that there was in his actions any just cause for anyone to be scandalised. In defending his second marriage he said: — The time has come when the inherent and scriptural rights of mankind to helpful and happy marriage, for ■which end it was ordfiined,, must ibe respected, and no longer denied. No human being has a right to force the continuance of an unhappy union upon his fellow creatures. And if a marriage contract has been broken, and has not, within a reasonable time, been renewed, then the one who has not broken it is certainly free. . . . It is true our Saviour says: "What God hath joined together, let no man put asunder." But the time has come when the preposterous superstition that every act of a priest is an act of God must be exploded. For God is a God of love. Therefore those whom God joins together are joined together in love. . . Therefore the absence of mutual love from a married couple ds a sure and certain sign that they have not been joined together by God, but solely by the priest, the bishop or the devil. And the sooner such miserable and hollow marriages are dissolved the better. For no contract is binding which fails to produce the end for which it was made. . . . . Therefore, if a marriage contract produces neither love, mutual help nor happiness, the end for which it was made not having been accomplished, it can, if the parties so wish, ibe justly cancelled, and ought to be annulled. Mr. Hudson .proceeds, to quote Mr. Jus"tiee~Rargrave Deane's statements before the Divorce Commission that hie would make desertion for four years an absolute ground for divorce, and continues ihus:— Therefore, I hold that when my present wife and 1 made and signed a declaration of marriage in the presence of witnesses, I had a moral and perfect right to 'do so. . . . When the laws of a country are in such a condition that the honorable needs of mankind cannot be served by them, and men take to themselves helpmates, such as God has appointed to them, they have committed no sin; and any reproach which may be cast upon them belongs more justly to the stupid, impracticable and unscriptural laws which the Church, without' divine authority, I has thrown upon them. . . . The essential part of a marriage is the consent of the two- parties themselves, to live together as man and wife, and this, being made anywhere, alone satisfies the Scripture requirements of an honest and honorable wedding. . . . , The'vicar winds up his epistle-to the Bishop with a nasty fling at the Church: Any monetary loss you may cause me, or any violence you may set in motion against me, I shall hold recover able from the revenues of your bishopric, which, with those of every othei in this realm, are undoubtedly the proceeds of the base fleecing of the flock (rich as well as poor) in the brutal ages of the past, instead of its Ghristion feeling. What proceedings the Bishop will take to enforce his inhibition remain to be | seen. Meanwhile people are asking whe- | thier Mr, Hudson's second "marriage" does not lay him open to arrest and imprisonment for bigamy.

A LOVER'S REVENGE. 'T!ie terrible revenge exacted by a jilted lover upon the former object of his adoration is reported by the Cuneo correspondent of the iStampa. The affair took place at Cerviignasco, a little village near Saluzzo (Italy). A young girl named Maria Bcramdo was walking with her sister, when a man, wfoo has since disappeared, approached the couple and threw a cartridge containing dynamite in Maria's face. It exploded, and wounded the gun in the rnost frightful manner, pr&ctically blowing away the lower part of her face, She was taken into a neighboring school, but thev doctors who were summoned to ,her assistance quickly discovered bhat she was beyond human aid, and after some minutes passed in terrible sufferings the ? irl died. From enquiries which were made, it appears that the latal explosion was the climax of a drama of revenge. For a long time Maria Berando had been on terms of the closest friendship with the unknown man, but she had lately intimated that she would have nothing more to do with him. He therefore meditated revenge, and accomplished -his dreadful j*rpose with fatal . eneot. He immediately took to flkht

and, despite the efforts of the police, has not yet been discovered. KING'S WIDOW MARRIED. HURRIED WEDDING OF THE BARONESS VAUGHAX. Paris, August 18. Baroness Vaughan, the widow of the late King Leopold, was married to hei steward, ;M. Durieu, at half-past six this morning. The ceremonies—in France two marriages are necessary when people wish to I be united in church—took exactly fourteen minutes, so that this marriage constitutes a speed record. Ever since the banns were posted up, as the law directs, on the door of the town hall of the little village of Arronville, the town hall has been watched carefully, as it was known that the bride and bridegroom wished the ceremony to take place in secrecy. Last tiiight at 10 toi'cotek, wihen (Ar/ronville 1 was fast asleep, a man, muffled in a i black coat, although the night was hot, was seen tapping at the door of the village schoolmaster, M. Crete, who is also the town clerk. He went away ten minutes later, having left instructions for this morning's marriage. At daybreak, the Mayor, in full evening dress, slipped oitt of his door and into the town hall, where M. Crete, the town clerk, waited for him. At a quarter past six a closed carriage drove up to the town hall and two men got out and ran into ':he building. Each of them held a han.licerchief to his fa«c. They did not want to be photographed. A motor car drove up at half-past six and stopped outside the town hall. The Baroness stepped out dressed —one mi§Tit almost say sheathed, for the bride wore the skirt—in black Liberty satin. She wore a large violet hat a/nd a thick veil, black suede shoes, and violet stockings, and' she carried a violet parasol. Behind! the bride followed the bridegroom, who had come with her in the motor car from the Chateu de Balincourt. The bride hid underneath her violet parasol from the photographers. The bridegroom, who crouched under a large open umorella, wore a blaek top hat, frock coat, white waistcoat, black trousers, and white spats. After the bridegroom raced the "best man" and the second witness whom the law requires. •Some minutes afterwards the Baroness had become Mine. Emanuel Durieu by civil law, the 'Mayor .had congratulated them, the bride and bridegroom and the witnesses had signed the book, the bridegroom (gave the Mayor £2O for the poor, and the wedding party rushed off to the church. An attempt was made to shut the church door immediately after the wedding party had raced in, but this proved impossible, and several people saw the wedding in the church. The ceremony was very short; in fact, there was. but little ceremony. The priest spoke in a low voice, the replies of the bride and bridegroom were inaudible, but the people of Arronville saw the bridegroom place the ring on the lady's - finger and heard the priest give them has blessing. The bride and bridegroom almost ran down the aisle, fairly ran from the church to tKe motor car, and were swept off to the Chateau de Balincourt exactly fourteen minutes after their arrival at the tovnuhall. On the register the bridegroom's age is set down at 47; his wife's as 27. Previous to the wedding M. Emanuel Durieu (before a notary) formally adopted the two sons of his bride, the .young Comptes de Tervueren and de Ravenstein, on whose birth certificates, besides the name of their mother,..is the curiously-worded statement; "Father unnamed",, ("Pere non denomma").

MILLIONAIRE BABY IN A CAGE. HEIR TO' £20,000,000 KEPT UNDER LOOK AND KEY. New York, August 15.' The eight-months-old baby of Mr. Edward McLean, which will inherit £'2o,fItWjOOO, takes its airings at Bar Harbor, a summer resort in Maine, in a steel cage on wheels. The cage is lined with eiderdown, and has a complicated set of locks. This strange form of perambulator has been devised in consequence of what was believed to be an attempt a fortnight ago to kidnap the baby, which will some dlay inherit the Walsh millions. The baby was sleeping peacefully in Mrs. McLean's bedroom on the occasion of the supposed attempt at kidnapping, wihen a burglar alarm bell connected with the bedroom startled the family. Mr. McLean dashed out on the, balcony, and saw a man running away. He fired three revolver shots at the supposed kidnapper, but each shot missed. Since then Mrs. McLean has suffered from shook. Mrs. 'McLean was formerly Miss Walsh, and eloped with Mr. McLean in July, I'9oß. She aind her husband were at once forgiven. Numerous cases of the kidnapping of infante have happened in America recently.