FRONT PAGE ROMANCE

Waipawa Mail, Volume LXV, Issue 6, 23 July 1937, Page 1

FRONT PAGE ROMANCE

RECTOR AND CHORUS GIRL. LONDON, June 20. “I must reiterate my wife’s statement: ‘Why don’t they leave us alone?’ “At first it was amusing to see the details of our romance front-paged in every national newspaper. I must say that to me, a simple country rector who had no thoughts of even appearing in print in connection with my wedding except in the local newspaper, the whole affair was perhaps a little exciting,” said the Rev. Stewart B. Priston in an interview with Gladwyn Clements, of the ‘ ‘ Sunday Dispatch. ’ ’ Mr Priston is the 55-years-old rector of Bacton, Suffolk, who was marlied to a 17-years-old ex-ehorus girl. “For, after all, Hilda and I love each other, and what possible disgrace could be brought to us by the mere fact of our romance becoming news of national interest?” continued Mr Priston. “But I am afraid I had not bargained to receive poison-pen letters. DISGUSTING LETTERS. “I suppose the type of person who writes such disgusting letters can be ignored by every right-thinking person, and now, since they have received the publicity which these fiends have obviously been seeking, my hand has been forced, and for the first time I intend to justify my position a little. “Innuendoes and gossip started long before our wedding. Our marriage may suggest to some minds that there was a reason for the hurry, and I must say that many people in my parish were upset. “Hilda had not been in the rectory one hour on her first visit before the inevitable, back-biting village gossips got to work. I have always been interested in the stage and stage folk. “The ‘living-in’ conditions of some touring troupes, even those of older girls who can fight for their rights, are frequently very bad. FIRST MEETING. “The best meal some of them ever get while they are away is a ‘penn’orth of chips’ which they are sometimes able to buy for themselves; and I have always made it my business to acquaint myself with the matrons in charge of child actresses in any touring company that is appearing in the theatres In the main towns near my living. “It was on one of these visits that I first met Hilda, who was then 13. I had called at an Ipswich theatre and arranged with the matron to take out all the juvenile troup to tea. “Hilda was just one of the crowd.

“During the week the show was there I had made her acquaintance really, I believe, because she told me it was her first stage appearance, and I felt she was a little frightened at all the glamor around her. ‘ ‘ The show left the town, and with it Hilda. Some weeks later I had an invitation from the matron to a party in London. At the party was Hilda.

‘ ‘ The next day I took Hilda and her mother to tea and a cinema, and so our acquaintance ripened. When she went on tour again we corresponded, and when the tour finished she came and stayed at Bacton.

“We were just ‘pals’; nothing more, nothing less; and I suppose we should have remained just pals always until this cursed gossip started. “I could not keep the details of this gossip secret from her, and one evening, when I was looking worried, in answer to her query, I told her the circumstances. One thing led to another, and during the course of that conversation we found that we were not just ‘pals,’ but that we had fallen in love with each other.

“Imagine my position! A 55-year-old clergyman in love with a young' slip of a girl! It seemed almost incredible, but nevertheless it was true.

“I loved Hilda with a deep, sincere feeling, and I knew that my love was returned. “I felt that the difference in our ages made it impossible for us to go on loving each other, so I said that we must part. “With tears in her lovely eyes, she declared that it did not matter, and she told me that, whatever people said, she was determined to marry me at all costs. So at 16J she became officially engaged to me. SHARING HIS BURDENS. “AVe announced it to our friends, and she kept on her stage work while I was living here with my _ parents. Thing's went on very happily. A\ e intended that our engagement should be a long one. “Then my mother decided to leave the rectory and live in London, and I was left all alone in this huge place with insufficient money to keep it up. ‘ ‘ A wife to share my burdens then became a matter of necessity. “I was asked by the rural dean to hold a missionary fete in the grounds of the rectory, and I saw in this an opportunity to introduce Hilda to the whole of tile rural deanery, and quite deliberately we married in a hurry so that everybody would have the chance to meet my wife. “She faced the whole ceremony in splendid manner, and now that everybody has said everything they possibly can about the 55-year-old rector and his 17-year-old, blonde, ex-ehorus-girl wife, perhaps they will leave us alone when we return from our honeymoon in a fortnight’s time.