If a sixteen-year old English girl's parents refused to let her marry, she used to have two options- either to obey them, or to run away to Gretna Green.
In Gretna Green she might be married by the blacksmith. Her beloved would place the ring on the anvil, and the blacksmith could pronounce them man and wife.
It is a village in the south -east of Scotland - just ten minutes walk from the English border.
Under Scottish law a person can be married without his parents' consent at the age of sixteen. Under English law he has to wait until he is eighten.
But nowadays there is no blackmith at Gretna Green and the marriages take place in the Registry Office. Young people are generally not in such a passionate hurry to get married either. Modern seciety allows them much more freedom.
But occasionally a bright-eyed young couple can still be seen clutching each other's hands as the train from the south pulls over the border.
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