AFTER 60 YEARS

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 548, 28 December 1928, Page 14

AFTER 60 YEARS

FAITHFUL LOVERS WED OCTOGENARIANS’ ROMANCE An unusually romantic marriage recently took place at Pedagaggi, Sicily, when two octogenarians, Pasquale Sgalambro and Marianna Maramzano, children of the soil, were married in the parish church. There was such a congregation as had never before been seen gathered together, while those who had come in from neighbouring villages thronged the town to wish good luck to bride and bridegroom. For 60 long years Marianna had waited for her Pasquale to return from the distant city whither he had gone, a handsome young man, when Marianna’s parents refused to allow them to marry. For 60 long years she had shut herself up in the parental cottage, refusing several offers of marriage, and only appearing in public to attend early Mass on Sundays and Saints’ days. At last, Pasquale came back, bowed with his 80 years, still single, still thinking of his old sweetheart. And when he found she had been faithful to him and that there were no longer any parents or other relations to interfere, he asked her to share what remained of his already long life, and enjoy, in peace, the little nest-egg he had put by. The Milanese “Corriere della Sera,” which, like' other important Italian papers, has dedicated an article to the touching little episode, remarks that the couple have really gained by their long years of waiting. Had they married 60 years ago they would now be nothing more than two companions, associates or friends. Perhaps they would have disliked one another by this time. Instead, in their old age, they are able to begin life anew, with the rosy light of romance to guide them. They ought to be grateful to their once obdurate parents who made it possible.