A DISAPPOINTED REGISTRAR.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1686, 14 January 1888, Page 4

A DISAPPOINTED REGISTRAR.

A peculiarly painful incident happened to a registrar of births, deaths, and marriages, in a little Victoria township not very long ago. The official was a gay and giddy widower, very susceptible to the charms of the other sex, and, as business was slack, he had found time to fall in love with a buxom young widow (young widows usually are buxom in print), who possessed many personal attractions, and a large supply of real estate. The widow received the registrar’s attentions coyly, and even promised him that he should marry her; so he rested happy in the consciousness of eventually winning and wearing the charming relict and her valuables. But one fine afternoon, as he sat in his office calculating the advantages of possessing a wife with beauty and property,' the widow entered, clinging to the arm of a local dairyman. The registrar dusted round, and received the widow graciously. What could he do for her? Anything in his power he would be most happy to do. The dairyman spoke up and said: ‘ Look slippy, old cock, we’re going to get spliced, an’ want you to post the notices.’ The registrar staggered, clutched his chair, and sat down on the floor with * thud. ‘ But—but,’ he gasped, ‘ Mrs , you promised that 1 should marry you!’ ‘ bol did,’ answered the widow, ‘but I never

said to whom, you know.* ‘Yes,’ continued the dairyman, ‘ you shall marry her, but to me.’ ‘ No, I’ll be hanged if I do!’ gasped the registrar, and he did not, for he forthwith wrote out his resignation.