ALL IN A LINE OF DUTY

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 19 June 1926, Page 11

ALL IN A LINE OF DUTY

AN AMERICAN GRETNA GREEN.

TN the tiny country seat of Crown Point, in the State of Indiana, which has been referred to as the Gretna Green of America, lives a man who has kissed between 35,000 and 40,000 women. However, there are kisses and kisses. And the kind that Mr Howard H. Kemp bestows beyond the portals ox his oWn home arc strictly in line of duty. In fact, they are official kisses. For kissing is part of Kemp’s business as the “marryingest squire” on earth. It is said of Mr Kemp that lie has tied the marital knot more times than anv man alive. Since he became a Justice of the Peace thirteen years ago, he has’ celebrated almost 40,000 weddings. And with every ceremony ho has given to the blushing bride her first kiss. Yet he has been very careful not to receive one in return. “ Although,” says Mr Kemp, “some newlyweds do get" fussed and make mistakes which are not their faults, nor mine.” By his trade, profession or business of supplying the benefit of to love’s young dream, Mr Kemp has built a 'tidy' business which knows no slack and ‘an equally tidy fortune. Multiply 40,000 weddings by the average fee, which seldom runs less than £l, and frequently is raised to £2O levels by a generous husband anxious to make an impression.

Mr Kemp is not so sure about other world problems. But he is postivc that . the institution of marriage will continue . till the crack of doom. ‘ ‘ Brid.es. are all the same,” he says. “They were i the same thirteen years ago as they are ■ now. All of them want attention. And > the man who supplies it will live longest because he will be happier after the

KISSES FOR FORTY THOUSAND

bridal corsage has wilted. Mr Kemp’s average month seldom runs less than 800 weddings. And business is often so brisk that he has to call in assistants. • .. The office of Mr Kemp resembles a wedding assembly plant. There is a reception room, a wedding parlour and a place where, Cupid ’.S.xceq,rds ar<?., kcpt. Piles of empty wedding ring boxes that the “marryingest squire” has collected fill several bins, and the overflow is sufficient to heap twenty waste baskets to the brim. Folks go to Crown Point to get married, and Mr Kemp performs the cerenionv because Crown Point, for years, has "been the eloper’s paradise of the middle'west. It likewise affords, as it. has afforded for a generation, safe matrimonial haven to residents of nearby and border States ivho.se laws forbid new marriages too often after divorce. Mr Kemp tries to make all his marriages “take,” and he claims that nearly 94 per cent, have been permanently successful, as his “follow-up” records prove. He has married men who became millionaires,- statesmen, professors, and once he married Rudolph Valentino, on one of that actor’s ventures into the wedded state. To the woman, Mr Kemp says: “Don’t poster him. Treat him like his mother used to. Arid don’t forget to feed him well.” To the men he gives this advice: “She’ll like pretty hats, son. Buy them. Take her out at least once a week. Don’t forget this day every year. Apologise to her though you are right or wrong..' And never forget the daily kiss. 'Petting after the ceremony is what keeps couples united and the divorce courts empty.