A LITTLE MISHAP IN CHURCH.

Auckland Star, Volume V, Issue 1484, 12 November 1874, Page 5 (Supplement)

A LITTLE MISHAP IN CHURCH.

I L Last Sunday night, during the sermon in our church, the gas suddenly went out, and there wa3 sudden darkness. The minister 1} requested the congregation to remain perfectly | quiet until the cause of the trouble could be I ascertained, and other lights procured. Old I Mrs Smiley, it appears, was sound asleep Iwhen the accident occurred, but just after ■the minister had finished speaking to the ■congregation she awoke. At first she ■thought; she had become blind, but as she sat Iby the window she immediately saw the iHght in the street, and then she knew that ■ the congregation had gone home, and that ■ the had accidently been locked in by the I Mxton. Dreadfully frightened at the loneliness land horror of her situation she picked up a I hymn book, and, dashing it through a pane lof glass in the window, she put her head out Bud began to scream for help. Her shriek Il^ressed passers-by with the idea that the ifvchwas on fire, and in ac instant the ■ ji was given. A moment later the engines J red, and just as the sexton began to light 1 - gas again, one gang of firemen began ■playing through the broken window on Mrs \ I "dley's spring bonnet, while another gang \lt jured a three-inch stream up the middle ■tile with such force as to wash the Rev. Dr. I Itopkins, the minister, out of the pulpit and j ijWn among the high hats which were float|;lig around by the pew doors. Eventually I l|fe matter was explained, and the fire deR |"«tment shut off the water and went home. f I ut the deacons want to know how, if Mr I? I niley refuses to pay the bill for repairs to ji • ie church, he can ever look a fellow-wor-jt I ipper in the face again.— Max Adeler.