EMBARRASSED BRIDE. GROOM.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 13549, 28 October 1907, Page 7

EMBARRASSED BRIDE. GROOM.

AN ELABORATE PRACTICAL JOKE A young residont. of Bermondsey who was married recently received, on the morning of his wedding day, a number of letters 'accepting with pleasure his invitation to be present at the wedding. As the young couple had arranged to be married very quietly, the young man was much astonished. Hardly had the postman gone when he answered a knock and was confronted by an undertaker's man, who said he had come to measure the young man's mother-in-law ■for a coffin. An. hour later a brewer's van drove up with liquor for the ceremony , and following close came tradesmen with, vans .and barrows laden with all kinds of goods, from coals to pianos. A local doctor and a district nurse, wedding carriages .and motor, cabs mingled with the stream.'. ' The jfouhg jritfn's whole tiinefpr so^ne hours was spenl in turning •a'V&y-p'Wopie tvhrb declared they | had come to deliver ordered] s goods. Sdme of th,e Visitors were . /convinced wxt'h' : yftfficnlty- r thkt "the affair was a hoax. Most of the pijop^o when turned away remained neVr, Uy /to. see others come* up and be f doled, and 'the street .became almost impassable witn vehicles and people!: The most amusing incident was tne arrival and behaviour of a' Billingsgate porter who brought a hand-barrow full Of winkles. 'When the bridegroom implored. Him $9 >go away, and informed him thattis order was a hoax, his language was quite' up to the reputation of 'Billingsgate* and when someone upset his barrow, and the winkles were scattered on the road, he surpassed himself. "Other arrivals," says the Daily Mail, "included a traveller with flea. powder, a milkman who insisted upon depositing his churns of milk in the -garden leading : from the pavement up to the front' door of the house, a man who .cajae^o.,, take measurements for erecting a marquee capable of holding a wedding party of fifty on the lawn (non-existent), and a musician who called to complete arrangements for the programme of music to be played to the wedding party by the 'Blue Hungarian Band.' " Printed bills had been circulated stating that a wedding reception was to be given on the lawn, at which a programme of music would be rendered by tho "Blue Hungarian Band." So much of the bridegroom's time was spent in turning away people that he. was unable to complete the arrangements for the wedding, which was delayed a day. The police had the matter in hand when the last .mail left, and were hopeful of tracing the perpetrator.