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One of the most fascinating aspects of reports in older newspapers is
reports of what vicars were saying in times gone by
vicars were prone to giving advice on all sorts of topics
so, we have for example in 1939
reverend Roberts saying about
domestic harmony and maintaining domestic harmony
he says, never tell your wife you're going to be the boss
and he points out that it's a tactless remark and is fundamentally
untrue
He adds that a woman who tells her husband
she's going to be the boss is sillier still and brings the whole thing to a
level of brute force
So he clearly stepped into the marital debates
similar to those that go on today! And later on
the reverend had the whole family
in mind when he suggested that members of the family
should try at least once a year to take their holidays apart
he said, there is
such a thing as being too much together
- it seems funny to us now that that advice should be given
and we have the account in 1949
where the vicar from Barrow in Furness offered advice about betting on
football results
and he notes how the 1,500,000 spent on
betting every week was badly needed elsewhere
and he tells the readers of the West Morning News 'don't be mugs', he said.
He points out that the chances of winning are as remote
as the chance of striking a match on a lump of wet soap
or of opening a tin of salmon with a lump a sausage
- that's homely advice if there ever was one!