DIAMOND WEDDING.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 145903, 9 August 1917, Page 3

DIAMOND WEDDING.

DE ST. LAURENT—SCOTT. Mr. and Mrs. M. J. M. R. do St. Laurent, of Hawera, celebrated their diamond wedding at Hawera this week. Mr. Lament was born in Maillane, France, in 1827. and was educated at St. Sulpice. He graduated for the army at the Politenik, and held a commission as lieutenant in the Touwe Regiment under Napoleon 111. He saw active service in North Africa, and his regiment acted as guard of honour to the body of Napoleon when it was brought from St. Helena to Paris. Mr. Laurent left France in 1853 for America, and in the following year sailed from America on a whaler for Wellington. He married on August 4, 1856, at Wellington, Miss Elizabeth Scott, eldest daughter of Captain William Scott, of that city, the Rev. J. Moir officiating. Mrs. Laurent was born at Newcastle, England, in 1837, and came to Wellington in 1851. A dinner was held in the Foresters’ Hall, Hawera, in connection with the diamond wedding celebrations. Apart from Mr. and Mrs. Laurent, sen., there are one hundred members of the family (the fourth generation is ’represented), fifty of whom were present. The Rev. and Mrs. Blamires and the Rev. Grey were also present. After the toast of the King had been honoured, the Rev. Blamires proposed the health of Mr. and Mrs.. Laurent. He had, he said,-been present at a number of golden weddings, but this was the first diamond wedding he had had the pleasure of attending. He said how pleased they all were to sec their guests enjoying such good health at their time of lire. They must have led a good and temperate life to fulfil the Scriptures, "That thy days may be long in the land that the Lord thy God giveth thee.” Other appropriate toasts were honoured, and speakers referred to the fact that a number of the grandchildren were now at the front, Mrs. Blamires expressing the hope that this terrible war would soon bo over and that they would return safely to New Zealand. Mr. L. Laurent thanked Mrs. manures for her kind remarks, and added that it must be a proud day for his father to know that his grandchildren were fighting over the same ground that his ancestors fought over —the Somme, Picardy, and St. Laurent, which is the seat of the head, of the family. Mr. W. J. Laurent also thanked the Revs. Blamires and Grey for their kind remarks, and later presented his father with a purse of sovereigns as a token of love and respect from his family. Mr. Laurent suitably thanked the family for their present and for thenkind remarks.

in the evening there was a serial, about 150 being present. Mr. Muschiu’s orchestra provided the music, the gathering being a most enjoyable one. Mr. and Mrs. Lament’s family consists of seven sons and four daughters. All the sons are on the land except one. who is in business.