Show I AIDS TO MARRIAGE There is quite an interesting and little known history connected with the Introduction Intro-duction of leap year In IZSS when Queen Margaret reigned ove Seotlantl tiUs graeio tdy decreed that dflsiag her reign l every maiden In hen realm whether or high or low degee should propose hr the man that she loved and that It the i man werenot betrothed already he must either wed the maid or pay aheavy inc On the death oC Queen Margaret the women wereurgent In thefr demands that 1h their nan prhlleges should be continued To appcasu them an act oC parliament was passed which made It lawful for maidens to do the proposing every leap year Not all the romantic Ideas of our ances I tors have been thus perpetuated and comparatively few were transferred by sr1 fU ntr our Pilgrim Fathers across the Atlantic For instance In the sow old daS It was I the custom In many towns and even vii lages In England to own a house where poor couple alter they had been wedded in church could entertain their friends at small cost thoniy outlay indeed being cntailed by the purchase ot such provisions provi-sions ns they chose to bring with them In Hertfordshlre there was such a house r whtch had aiargecItchenwith a caul dma large spits anira dripping pan also a large room fOr aietimeat and a fur niEhed boudoir DIiIt1 aWe linen and bt IIoewere aopgst its peesslons In Essex there Witsri bou very much like this which was used by the poorer fiks fordining iaatterthey had returned from church atte1t In somoof th old < ErtgUshhistories ono may read that inl4iG Roger Thornton mnted to the mayor Itnl community of NewcastleuonTyn5 he use oC the hall and kitchen beiongipgttyThorntons hos rtital for the use ofoling couples when they wcrEmarried to mnk their wedding dinner in rrd to receive the offerings and gifts of Aeir friends At Jiamelin there still exists a large buIld In ThlCb Is known as the wedding house 1t m > J erej during the second decode of theseventeenth century MARION DEPEW |