“Know that we betrothed you”

A man reports that even though he had received many proposals to get married in Montreal, his family undertook to arrange him a marriage with a girl from the village.

Ι.Μ.: Ah, the wife! Oh! Wouldn’t it be better if you asked her how we met?
RES.: No, you tell me and…
Ι.Μ.: Ah! First of all, let’s say, I knew the wife from Greece of course, but we had never exchanged a word. I had met her, I met her from a distance. It happened with an arranged marriage. With a photo exchange, that.
RES.: Do explain to me, how was that exactly for you?
Ι.Μ.: The surprise? So, since they had made me, let’s say the other thing as well, at the time there were here in Canada many girls who had come as maids. Some proposals had been made to me. From where I lived, from some friends whose sisters were here and so on. I wrote this to my parents. They wrote me back, my parents, “No, we’ll find you a girl”. And finally, they found the wife. When, finally, one night, this was the surprise of life, I finished my shift, I go home, I see a letter and they’re writing to me “Know that we engaged you off to this girl”. This was the biggest surprise. And so, it began. Afterwards we had to send out an invitation of course, to wait and so on.
RES.: But where did you get married?
Ι.Μ.: Here.
RES.: Here.
Ι.Μ.: At Saint George. Eleven weddings on the same day. Can you believe it? Because I’m telling you, back then there were many illegals as well, who wanted to get settled. No, there weren’t any illegal girls, most of them had come following an invitation as maids. But there were a great many sailors.