230 The Lifting of the Bride.
church door. This was done at a wedding in 1858, and a " form " was placed in the porch over which the party had to jump. The lady who records this case was a little girl at the time, and distinctly remembers at her sister's wedding being helped over the " Stone " by the village chimney- sweep. She was indignant at the dirty man's touch, partly on account of her new white frock, partly because she was quite able to jump over without help, but the man insisted on helping her over.
Lastly, Miss Saidie Thompson has kindly sent me the following account.
" The custom of brides being ' jumped ' or being ' lifted ' over the ' Petting Stick ' was, until quite recently, observed in my native village of Ford, Northumberland. I have been present many times in my childhood at the ceremony, and can recall the mode of procedure distinctly. It was cus- tomary at a village wedding for the young men of the place to take a long pole, known as the 'petting-stick,' and hold it across the principal exit from the churchyard, thus barring the bride's exit unless she chose to jump over the obstacle, which, of course, was never held to a very formidable height. The idea was that if the bride was cheerful and agreeable about this hindrance to her pro- gress, and skipped over it with a good grace, the husband was to be regarded as a lucky man, whose partner's amiability was well calculated to make him happy. If, on the other hand, the bride pouted and hung back, or made a difficulty of observing the custom, the poor husband was to be commiserated on the possession of a shrew, whose ill- temper would probably make him smart in the future. I have occasionally seen a bride demur, but eventually yield to persuasion. Only once have I seen one absolutely refuse, and the subsequent result amply justified the belief in the superstition. Most of the brides were only too pleased to ' jump,' and thus create a favourable impression among the assembled company. I^he husband usually
