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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IV, Issue 263, 8 November 1869, Page 2

A Steam Omnibus. —A steam omnibus lately passed along Princes Street, Edinburgh. This road-steamer has been built by Mr. E. W. Thomson for an enterprising omnibus proprietor in one of the largest towns of England, who intends to have his omnibuses drawn by steam. The dexterity with which it picked its way between strings of cart horses, omnibuses, and cabs, and the docility with which it stopped or turned whenever it was required, were marvellous. It ran from one end of Princes Street to the other without stopping, then turned down South Charlotte Street, and on through North Charlotte Street, where at the steepest point, when the descent looked really dangerous, it was brought to a sudden standstill, to show how completely it was under command, and how entirely it could dispense with any kind of brake. This was its final display, and it then went quietly and rapidly back to Leilh. The trial was a complete success, and left nothing to be wished for. It was very amusing, as the road-steamer sped along Princes Street, to watch the pleased surprise depicted on every face as it passed. Those who saw it will be perhaps glad to remember that they witnessed the journey of the first steam-engines ever built for omnibus traffic in towns. —Scotsman. The Nuptial Bath. —The Fremdenblatt of Vienna is responsible for the following : —A young couple having started on their honeymoon tour, arrived at Schandam where they learned to their dismay that every room in the place was occupied. A benevolent hotelkeeper, however, conceived the bright idea of putting a mattrass in the only bath the. inn possessed, and thus turning - the bath-room into a nuptial chamber. So far so good, but about midnight cries of distress were heard issuing from the room, and the alarm was given throughout the hotel that some fearful tragedy was being enacted. Lights'flew from window to window, one old lady —there is always some nervous female of the kind in every dwellinghouse—screamed 'fire,' and still more dreadful things, at the top of her voice, while three blooming damsels, who acted as chambermaids, rushed in very scanty attire into the mysterious chamber. - What was the matter ? Well, this. The young bride, wishing to ring the bell for a maid, had caught hold of what she supposed to be the bell-rope, and pulled it smartly. Unhappily for her and her spouse, it was the cord of the showerbath above their heads, and forthwith down plumped sujh a deluge of cold water as would throw a damper upon the most devoted honeymoon couples. Her husband, in his dismay, caught frantically at another-cord on his side of their extemporised couch, but the only response was an equally liberal deluge of "waiter, this time nearly boiling hot. The unhappy pair then screamed in unison ; and the bride, in the excitement of the moment, uttered sentiments anything but complimentary to her fond spouse. When the servants came, they were just in time to rescue the unlucky pair from drowning,, for the room was already half full of water, and the wife was perched like a monkey on. her husband's

I back, utteribg lamentable cries, while her I good man was fumbling in tlie dark to find * the door. Let us hope that the subsequent wedded life of this unfortunate couple may be happier thau its commencement. A Throve for a Cigar. — An ancient anecdote has been put into a new dress by the Court Journal. Thus, when the deputation waited upon Prince George of Denmark, to solicit his acceptance of the throne of Greece, the Prince asked whether he might smoke if he accepted the throne. The deputation replied that he might smoke as much as he liked. "Then I accept," said the Prince, and he inaugurated his newly acquired liberty by walking about the streets of Copenhagen smoking n cigar of the largest .size. Bicycles. — The velocipede mania appears to be gaiuino: asiability and popularity which, a short time since, could scarcely have been anticipated by even its most sanguine promoters, and there is every appearance of the bicycle becoiniug the foundation of a new and valuable means of locomotion. Up to the present time, however, it has been used chiefly as a source of amusement for the public, and having proved by no means an uuattractive entertainment, the bicycle has of late figured prorniueully in the Crystal Palace programme. Yesterday an international velocipede and loco machine exhibition was opened in the tropical department, ■ but although competition was invited in loco-machines of every description, the j bicycle was almost the only vehicle showu, and of that class there was a large number * of English,- French, Belgian, German, and | Americau makers represented. Gold, f silver, and bronze medals will be awarded | In the various classes, but as the exhibitiou | is to remain opeu for a mouth the jury : have not yet made their awards. Iv the : afternoon a circus was formed in the centre transept, the performances iv which consisted chiefly of an exhibitiou of the advantages of the machines by the makers or their employers. — English paper. Now that big turnips and many-headed cocks are becoming scarce, prodigy lovers will be gratified by the intelligence that a fall of what in other days has been called bloody rain has lately been witnessed. Some time ago the Neapolitans found their streets stained with red, and their gar- | ments spotted with sanguinary looking I drops. Examined closely, the coloring [ matter of this shower was.fouud to consist I of small red grains, sensibty round, and I varying from the one-hundredth to the | four-hundredth part of an inch in diameter. [ When the mysterious element of this fall \ was dispelled, it was clear that the rusty Jj. particles were dusty specks drawn up by I the wind from African deserts and borne i with it across the -Mediterranean. This [ is not an unprecedented phenomenon. | Twenty years ago a French philosopher ! collected a laage quantity of dust of the ! same quality, and probably from the same source, from a house-top, at Valance; and, ; again, a German found the peculiar grit » in Berlin. These facts show how pests ; and plagues, and the germs of disease may ' be carried from coiiutry to country by the i transporting power of the wind ; it is not \ always inanimate dust that is thus wafted 'i to immense distances. A shower of in- | sects fell at Areches, in Savoy, last Janu- || ary, which, upon examination, proved to I be of a speciea peculiar to the forests of I Central France ; and a few years back % Turin was visited by millions of larvse of j| a fly found nowhere but in tlie island of j f Sardinia. These are recent aud wellI proved cases; many more strikiug instan- ¥ ces might be collected from chronicles of I various countries.