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Evening Star, Issue 6761, 28 November 1884, Page 4

Fearful and wonderful are the vagaries of the Scotch marriage law. From time out of mind it has been considered legal for people to marry merely by making a declaration in the presence of witnesses. But by a statute of Charles 11., which is about as obsolete as the Lord's Day Act, suoh marriages were forbidden and declared punishable. A couple were recently brought up at the Edinburgh Police Court for having contravened this statute by declaring themselves husband and wife before witnesses. They pleaded guilty, and were fined Is each. Oddly enough, however, the conviction itself becomes a legal celebration of tbe marriage, and the document recording it is a certificate of marriage whioh can be produced in case of necessity.

An unusual incident took place in a country parish cnurch in Forfarshire one Sunday morning. The young minister officiated in his own pulpit, and at the customary point in the service when proclamation of banns, if any, is made, much to the astonishment of the people, he intimated tbe " purpose of marriage " between himself and the lady of his choice. , The Glasgow ' Herald' aivises Americana to give up eating pie and hot cakes and Substitute oatmeal porridge for them. If they should dp bo, it thinks they would be a calmer, a less lively, a less speculative, a less bombastic, and a happier people,

No hospital needed for patients that use Hop Bitters, as they eure so speedily at home. See and believe.