Indifferent Herringbone

Manxmen mind their deemsters. Obsolete except on Great Britain's minute Isle of Man, deemsters are medieval judges-of-all-work. They hear actions and criminal cases of every sort, preside over Manx Grand Juries. Proudly last week Manxmen gathered to hear the outlandish swearing-in of Deemster Stevenson More. Deemster More, great and most respected antique of the Manx Bench, has been in retirement for ten years. Emerging last week, he was installed as sole deemster of one-half the Isle of Man. Richly and roundly he swore upon Holy Bible this mouth-filling Manx oath: "By the wonderful works that God miraculously wrought in between heaven above and the earth beneath in six days and seven nights, I swear to execute the laws of the Isle justly between our sovereign lord the King and his subjects as indifferently as the herring's backbone doth lie in the midst of the fish." Indulgently a Manx elder explained: "The backbone of a herring lies 'indifferently'--that is without any 'difference' or deviation to the right or the left--in the fish. Our ancient deemster's oath is a constant reminder that herring was once almost the only food of Manxmen."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.