CURIOUSLY SPENT HONEY. MOONS.

Mt Benger Mail, Volume 17, Issue 854, 5 September 1896, Page 3

CURIOUSLY SPENT HONEY. MOONS.

At Washington* in the. United States* there is what is known as a honeymoon hotel. It is fitted with several suites, of apartments, intended to be in keeping with the physical attributes of any class of bride who may visit it. Should she he a brunette; she can have rooms fitted and furpisbed to match. " A duck "of a blonde may find "alove " of a room which will enhance, rather than detract, her charms; and a "nut*< brown" beauty may have environment in perfect keeping with her personal features.., Two hundred pairs of blissful honey mooners visited it in the first six months of its exist-» ence.

Now and again eocentric honey mooners have spent the first few hours of oonnubialbliss in a balloon, or have been married and then undertaken a tour on horseback* or on- " a bicycle made for two.'' But what shall I be said of a honeymoon spent on the box of• an omnibus? : »',>}« ,y, t !

Some years ago a young man, the Mm of wealthy and fashionable parents, was reduced to the necessity of driving a London omnibus in order to procure a livelihood. Educated at a public school, then at Oxford University, he afterwards paid the of indulgence in vicious courses* and found' himself absolutely stranded —an outcast/ without money and without friends,. Finally.: owing to his skill as a driver, he obtained employment from an omnibus oompany, and; worked long; and zealously in this comparatively humble sphere. But the lady to whom he had been engaged during his more fortunate days was almost' broken-hearted at his ruin, and em-' phatically refused to renounce him. He expostulated with her, and pointed out the poverty and hardships she would have to' endure as bis wife, but in vain. Her resolve was taken, and, although cast off by her re- f latives, she remained firm, and the luckless pair were married at a North London; church. As a driver the happv bridegroom' could not afford to lose more than one day's work, so the short honeymoon was spent on the box, he driving as usual, and his faithful bride seated at his side.

A honeymoon in a coal mine is surely sufficiently striking to chronicle. A Durham' miner, taking advantage of his only day of leisure, got married on-* Sunday. A pro* tracted strike having greatly diminished his resources, the state of his exchequer cried out loudly against any needless waste of time over such an event as the honeymoon. His bride, however; refuted to spend that romantic period alone, and there was nothing for it but to accompany her newly-electea lord to his work. Permission was granted by the manager for the pair to descend the' pit in company, and for a full week the' young wife went regularly with her has-' band to work, and remained in the mine until his labor was done.

Daring a time when the depredations of certain tribes were creating great nnrest in India a lady went from England to consummate her engagement with an officer stationed there, ana daring an interval of peace their marriage took place. Two days afterwards, however, skinmshing again began, and the soldier husband, giving up his furlough, placed himself at the head of his regiment. But the young wife, unable longer to bear the anxiety, and fearful for Ids safety, left the house of her friends and proceeded to the front. Unfortunately the oridegroom was shot in one of the numerous engagements, and, being disabled, was carried to a place of refuge in the mountains. Here his faithful wife found him, and, with infinite tenderness and devotion, nursed him back to health and strength—surely an anxiously and curiously spent honeymoon. A marriage took place in Liverpool tome years ago, wherein the bridegroom was arrested by two detectives immediately on leaving the church. The obarge was one of forgery, committed some time previously. The newly-united pair were ac once separated, ana eventually the bridegroom was sentenced to seven years' penal servitude. Good conduct whilst in gaol resulted in a ticket-of-leave being granted after about five years' servitude, ana not until the expiration of that period wu the bride allowed to embrace her husband or the honeymoon capable of being proceeded with. A honeymoon lasting over five years n certainly an eccentricity. A young nobleman had such a dislike to ordinary society that on his marriage he took his wife abroad, and travelled about from place to place for some five years, refusing to spend more than a week or two at one place. A protracted honeymoon, truly.