WIFE-SALES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12407, 27 August 1918, Page 2

WIFE-SALES.

UNWANTED WIVES AUCTIONED. ANCIENT CUSTOM IN ENGLAND. Hotting rid of your wife was easily possible 100 years lor K „ ago mi • Mori-io England.” ])L voice courts, wi th I heir tangles of red tape ami unending coninlicaliorm of alimony and legal I anna, held no attraction in tho lace ol <)ie much simpler method ol merely aclliug unloved and unwanted wives in Urn public ket place

Indeed, tho usual method adopted by these enterprising farmer#, was exactly (the same as limy used when sol), mg live stock or produce, they would lead their wives to the market place with halters of rope or straw or once in a while a ribbon ft Hough. such daintiness was a rarilv and not generally practised), around iJieir-necks, and thou proceed to sell or dispose of them ip much the •sumo man. ner as they would dispose of imytlnTig else that they had reason to suspect of being marketable.

AUCTIONED LIKE ANIMALS. Sometimes they used the auction block, and unite frequently the town cner was called into service/ to advertise the bargain to all who might be tempted to ,liuy. Of, on other oecasions, a regular cattle market was th, medium,-and the unfortunate wife was Jed into a stall and Lied up in exactly, the same manner as a horse or a cow, while hubby” drove a. bargain with prospective buyers. Hi-181)9 a man named Joseph Thomp-' son decided that ho woujel bo inucn more comfortable and happier if lie got nd of his wife. Legal proceedings did not appeal to him in the lead' they were expensive, slow, complica.;- « . and often uncertain. So ho decided to adopt the simplcf custom of thcountryside, and to sell his wife of throe years at .a market. t Accordingly, on market day he drov., into down with his wife, and engaged the beilman to announce that at noon she would be placed on sale. Promptly ,at twelve the auction began. 'Thompson placed his “better half” on a large oak chair with a straw halte. around , her neck, and began to talk A nrge crowd had, gathered, and considerable interest was shown in wonder at what,words he would use to ■ knock down” his “lot.” But ho with perfect equanimity, began as foil lows: — ~; VIRTUES AND VICES. , Gentlemen, I have to offer to your notice my true, Mary Aim Thompson, otherwise "Williams, whom I mean to sell to tire highest and fairest bidder. Gentlemen, it is her wish as veil, as mine to part for ever. She has been to mo only a born serpent. T took her for my comfort, and the good of my home; but she becam© my tormentor, a domestic curse, a nightly invasion, and a daily' devil. Gentlemen, I speak truth from my heart when 1 say may God deliver.us from, troublesome wives ami frolicsome women. Avoid them, as you would a mad dog, a roaring lion, reloaded pistol, cholera morbus. Mount Etna, or any other pestilential thing in nature. Now I have shown y'o,it the dark side of my .wife, and told you her faults- and failings. I will introduce the bright and sunny side of her, and explain her qualifications and goodness. Slio can read novels and milk cows, sho can-laugh and sweep with’the same ease'that you could/take a glass of ale when thirsty,. Indeed, gentlemen, she i cminds iire of what,the poet says of w,oman in general: “Heaven gave to woman (ho peculiar grace To laugh, to weep, to cheat tho human. iaco.”

j*‘ Sire can make butter and scold the mkid; she can sing Moore’s melodies, and plait her frills and caj)s; she cannot make rum, sin/or whisky, but she is a good judge of the quality from long experience in testing them. I therefore offer her, with all her perfections and imperfections, for the sum of fifty shillings.” v ; y The story goes that , after'one hour’s interesting waiting,' 'bargaining and haggling, Thompson concluded his business by swapping her for twenty Shillings and a Newfoundland dog, and the woinan departed with her now husband, while her dear Joseph .went whistling on his way, rejoicing in his bargain and in the satisfaction of owning a perfectly good dog instead of ;v most unwelcome wife. SOLD FOR A SHILLING.

Another story tells, of an auction sala of a wife, who was offered for tho minimum bid ofono shilling and finally sold for the munificent sun of 15s 6d. There is,a tale of another man, who,, in 1820, led his wife by a rope into the cattle market at Canterbury and asked a salesman to please sell, her for him. The salesman objected and refused, savino his business was with cattle, not with „■ women, whereupon, nothing daunted, the devoted husband hired a pen for himself, and having paid his expenses for the use of it, fastened his wife within and waited for a customer. She was sold for-fire shillings. Wives must have gone up in price in 1835, foe there is a story told of a husband who sold his wife in that year for the high price of £ls. Moreover, this lady was in no wise, as meek and mild as her face would lead one to suppose. She survived her cx-hushand and also the one who bought her, and on the death of the.former, was able to maintain in a court of law, against the claims of Tnanv anxious relatives, her. right as widow in the property the man had left-

_ There are many other tales of Eng,-' lisli farmers who got rid of unwanted wives in this easy and .practical'' manner. and several stories of French peasants who held to the same manner of disposing of their “ better halve,s.” EASIER THAN THE DIVOECE' COURT. C

It was generally considered a. century ago, among '{lie unlettered peasant folk, that this was a perfectly legal and satisfactory way of dissolving a marriage, .and the 'idea of the formality of the Divorce Court-in'com-parison,- with this simple method of selling, with., which they were thoroughly familiar, did not appeal to them in the least. -y ;

Sometimes the wives were consulted. Many times they were not, for the old English idea of a wife was expressed in the simple countryside language of my woman, ’ and if the farmer happened to naut to dispose of his own property there seemed no reason why he should he stopped just because that property happened to be his wife instead of his horse or don.

At any rate wife-sale, while not exactly.•.■common, was by no means a rarity a few years back.