FREE TOBACCO FOR LIFE FOR BRIDEGROOMS.

Digger (Invercargill RSA), Issue 40, 17 December 1920, Page 15

FREE TOBACCO FOR LIFE FOR BRIDEGROOMS.

Enticing young people to get marricd, although not figuring in our curriculura of State affairs, has more than once received the attention and support of foreign governments while municipal authorities and even the Church have "done their bit" to incite matrimony among the people. The "Old Maid's Chart," once published .by the ■ American Government, caused consternation among backward wooers. In the form of a map printed in colour, it showed, at a glance, just in what localities baehelors were thiekest, and in what region spinsters were most dense to the square mile. The fun came when some of the "seekers" afterwards found they were being "sought," - Coaxing young people into rnarriage by exempting them from. taxes for five years.-, was a method employed in a certain A-lsa-tian t-own. For a long tima the municipal authoritics had been wo-rried over young people "fighting shy" of marriage, so they decided to induce tardy couples to the altar by lightening' the budren of taxation. In some of the French -towns, too, prosperous mayors have offered cash prizes of one hundred francs to those who married within their term of office. Fre© , tobacco for life for bridegrooms, and four pairs of gloves per annum for the brides, was the novel mducement employed by an Austrian. For a long time the upper class had found difficulty in getting peasants to work their estates, ^ until they struck on the idea oi encouraging with gifts. The ruse worked well, and there wtis sca-rcely an el'.gible mas or woman who was not led to the altar, sooner or later. With the che&pness of tobacco and gloves prevailing at t-he time, one shudders t-o think what the resuit would be nowadays. Some of the American churehes have also played the role of matchmaking pa-r-ents. Coiirting parlors for engaged couples have been annexed to the c'nurc.hes, in some instances ; while in cthers, young people were encouraged to d/0 their sweethearting in the church pews. A piano was occasionally provided, and au effort mad.e to create the ho'me atmosphere, where they could sit at ea.se. Customs of ours, has done most to encourage sweethearting. On certain fete days in some parts of Brittany,. the msrliageable girls appear in red petticoats with white of yellow borders around them. The number of borde.rs denoto the portion the father is willing to give: j his daughter. Each white band denotes j one hundred francs per annum ; each yel- ! low band represents one thousand francs a year. As the colours are somewhat. conflicting at times, it is not to be wond-e-red that mistakes occur, ariH thousand franc brides turn out to be hundred franc brides, or vice versa. The annual rnarriage fairs are occasions of great rejoieing in Belgium. At these fcstivities, the eligible young men become the gues-ts oi' the unattached spinsters desirous of matrimony, and are enterfcained by the maidens at an alfresco banquet, niutual friendships thus being formed. Marriage lotteries are still in vo.gue during October in some parts of India. The names oi both sexes eligible for marraige are written on slips of pap.er and put into separata ea-rthenware jars. The. local wise man draws one of each kind, and the youth wliosq. name is drawn obtains a letter of introduction to the young woman whose narne accompa.Dies his, after which the caurting commences. Italy, of . course, has marriage brokers galore. They are supplied with lists eontaining information as to the personal attraction of marriageable girls,' together with particulars of their fortunes1, if any. Make it worth the broker's while, and' well — you give up working for a living and look after your bride's financial interests or yours.