TURNING THE TABLES.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 510, 19 October 1912, Page 7

TURNING THE TABLES.

Under the thin disguise of harmless fun, many an unpardonably rude prank is played opon newlymarried couples. It is refreshing to hear of an. occasional instance in which the "joke" reacts on the joker. A friend of mine and his bride, who had just been married in a provincial town, were starting on their wedding journey. They had managed to reach the train in safety, despite 1 the showers of confetti and old shoes. Just as they had taken their scats in the corridor-train, one of the bridegroom's chums came hastily in to bid him good-bye. As the young husband extended his hand the friend snapped a handcuff round his wrist. The groom had been suspecting a trick of some kind, and before the practical joker could play a similar trick on the bride, he found the other handcuff snapped round his own wrist. He was chained to, the 'happy bridegroom himself.

"That's a good one against me, Harry, he said, with a sickly kind of smile, "but I shall have to ask you to come to the door with rae and get the key to these, things from the fellow on the platform that's got it. Hold on, guard, just a minute !" But the guard, whose quick eye had taken in the situation, refused to wait. He blew his whistle, and the train steamed off. It was a through train, and made no stop; for the next fifty miles. Before it stopped? however, the guard, with the aid of a sharp file and a hammer, succeeded in releasing Harry. The practical joker, meanwhile, had had to payfull fare for the fifty miles, and' still had his fare home to pay.