SHATTERED ROMANCE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21988, 24 June 1933, Page 20

SHATTERED ROMANCE

UNEATEN WEDDING FEAST ELEVENTH HOUR DECISION. Consternation reigned among a company of workless men, invited as guests to a nuptial feast in London a few weeks ago when the news came that a romance between a young widow and a man who a few months ago was “ down and out ” had been shattered at the eleventh hour. The bride-to-be was Mrs Rose Wood, a 23-year-old Frenchwoman, whose English husband died last year. An hour before the time fixed for the wedding at St. Thomas’s Church, Lambeth, Mrs Wood visited the vicar, the Rev. H. Clapham, with the best man and showed him a letter from the bridegroom-elect which stated that there would be no wedding, and that it was better to have 10 minutes’ disappointment than a whole life-time of misery. “ The bridegroora-to-bc was Robert Stallard,” stated Mr Clapham. “He came to our shelter in Westminster Bridge road just over three months ago, when he was practically down and out, and was so smart that we made him sergeant of the shelter. Then I found him a job as a motor driver. “ He met Mrs Wood in the course of his employment, and when the engagement was announced 1 promised to marry them. Mr Stallard arranged to invite about 80 “ down and outs ” to his wedding repast. “ The tables were all laid, the hall decorated and a considerable number of men were ready at the church to witness the wedding, when the bride came and handed me the letter from the bridegroom. The whole thing is so mysterious that I cannot understand it,” lie added. Mrs Wood, who was attired for the ceremony in a powder-blue costume, returned to her home after her to the vicar. “Itis no good mourning over things that are past,” she remarked. The workless men who put in an appearance at the shelter in anticipation of a bountiful repast included a number of street musicians who had volunteered to give a concert. They were told by the vicar that, as there would not be a wedding, there would be no reception.