TWIN AFFINITIES.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 233, 2 October 1929, Page 6

TWIN AFFINITIES.

It must be very rare for twin brothers to marry twin sisters and the case at Worthington, where such a marriage recently took place and the brides very nearly, married the wrong bridegrooms, is fortunately not likely to occur with such frequency as to cause any serious difficulty. But it is not an uncommon occurrence for twin children to be brought to be christened and for some confusion to take place at the last minute as to the respective names chosen. It is not easy to decide when the naming, of the child takes place which is the twin to whom the name John has been assigned and which for whom the name Charles has been chosen. Some mothers tie different coloured ribbons on the twins, but even then they sometimes forget as to whether the red ribbon stands for John and the blue for Charles, or vice versa. Also it has happened that the ribbons have come off and the discussion then takes place as to which ribbon belongs to which baby." Some people are inclined to suspect that in large maternity homes the babies must sometimes get mixed. Mothers have been known to declare that the baby brought to them is not their baby and there is no Solomon to decide the question. In some churches in England it is the custom to perform marriages on Easter Monday without any fee and frequently dozens of couples come to be married. It is said that mistakes have very nearly happened by which the wrong people would have been married to each other, and one clergyman told those who came forward to be married that they must sort themselves as he could not be responsible for any mistakes that might occur. Most people at weddings are slightly nervous and confused and such a mistake as nearly occurred at Worthington might quite easily happen if a clergyman was not careful and alert. In this case the clergyman seems to have noticed the brides were going to marry the wrong bridegrooms before the brides themselves realised it. After all, it might not have mattered very much if the mistake had not been noticed, since we are told that the only difference between the bridegrooms was that they wore different buttonholes. If they had changed buttonholes on the way' to the church the brides would probably have never noticed any error. —W.M.