IRISH GIRLS CHOOSE

Waipa Post, Volume 42, Issue 3305, 4 June 1931, Page 3

IRISH GIRLS CHOOSE

WHITE-HAIRED GROOMS.

Aged bridegrooms figured largely in a record number of weddings in Ireland recently. Clergymen confess it was the busiest time they have known for many years, some of them, especialy on the Monday and Tuesday before Easter, performing marriage ceremonies from early morning until afternoon without a break.

One of the striking features was the number of young girls marrying elderly men. It was a common thing to see a bridegroom anything from 20 to 30 years older than his bride. Several men with flowing white beards and locks married girls not long out of their ’teens.

A sprightly bridegroom of 7 years walked jauntily down the aisle of a church in Dublin with his bride, aged 25 years. He said' he was 75 y6ars young, and that abstinence from smoking and drinking had kept him hale and hearty. In Belfast a man of 80 years led his third wife to the altar. She was aged 21 years. Popular seaside resorts in Ireland were overwhelmed with honeymoon couples. The proprietor of an hotel in Bray, the honeymoon town, stated on the day before Easter Sunday that he had had a record week, but it was not without its worries.

Young girls, defending their preference for old age, say that the average young men are not worth considering -as husbands. They declare that they are conceited, and think too much of their own amusement. Older men, they say, are gallant and more dependable. They have a wider knowledge of the little attentions that please women, and are less callous than youth.