The following extract from the register of St. Mary's Church, Bermondsey, 1604, instances a curious custom of re-uniting husband and wife who had been long separated:-- "The form of a solemn vowe made betwixt a man and his wife, having been long absent, through which occasion the woman beinge married to another man, took her again as followeth:-- _The Man's speach._ Elizabeth, my beloved wife, I am right sorie that I have so long absented myself from thee, whereby thou shouddest be occasioned to take another man to be thy husband. Therefore I do now vowe and promise in the sight of God, and this companie, to take thee again as mine owne, and will not only forgive thee, but also dwell with thee, and do all other duties unto thee, as I promised at our marriage. _The Woman's speache._ Raphe, my beloved husband, I am right sorie that I have in thy absence taken another man to be my husband: but here, before God, and this companie, I renounce and forsake him, and do promise to keep mysellfe only unto thee during life, and to perform all duties which I first promised unto thee in our marriage. The first day of August, 1604, Raphe Goodchild of the parish of Barkinge, in Thames Street, and Elizabeth his wife, were agreed to live together, and thereupon gave their hands one to another, makinge either of them a solemn vowe so to do in the presence of us: WILLIAM STEVE, Parson, EDWARD COKER, and RICHARD EIVES, Clerk." In Germany a sect of the Moravians called _Herrnhuters_ have a most curious method of selecting their life partners: the men and women of a marriageable age are collected in a house which has a suite of three rooms, each opening into the other, the young men in one end room and the young women in the other; then the doors from these two rooms are thrown open into the middle room, which is perfectly darkened. After this follows a sort of general scramble, or "catch who can," and whichever girl the man catches becomes his wife. This method of selecting a wife seems somewhat risky, but it is possible that even in a darkened room a couple with a prior attachment might manage to tumble into each other's arms, and so, while adhering in the letter to the custom of their sect, bring about the union dictated by their hearts. The throwing of an old shoe after a newly-married couple on their departure is general all over the country, but in Kent the custom is accompanied by a little more detail than is usually observed in other parts of the country. The principal bridesmaid throws the shoe, the other bridesmaids run after it, the belief being that the one who gets it will be the first to be married. She then throws the shoe amongst the gentlemen, and it is supposed that the one who is hit will also be married before the others.