EMBARRASSING.

Thames Star, Volume XIV, Issue 4656, 6 December 1883, Page 2

EMBARRASSING.

The following curious story is told by a correspondent of the Kangitikei Advocate : —" During my rambles lately I picked op the following peculiar story, illustrating the primeval innocence of some people and the awkward dilemmas excessive nervousness may lead to. At a certain place in the provincial district of Wellington, an enamoured and verdant couple, wishing to complete their happiness by becom* ing one, proceeded to the office of the Eegistrar who was youthful and ot'a nervous temperament, and this being the first oocasion on which he had been called upon to perform such an important ceremony, he somehow felt an unconquerable diffidence in doing the work. After en» tering the necessary particulars in his register book, he gave the bridegroom elect the marriage certificate, and requested the couple to go to the local minister to get married. The innocent doves misunderstood the : Registrar, and being under the fond delusion that they had been joined together in holy matri* mony, went peacefully cooing to their future home in blissful anticipation of the joys of the honeymoon. Some days after it leaked out that they had not been married, and their horror at discovering they had been living together in the sinful state of —well, unm»rriedness, was scarcely equalled by the fright of the Begistrar, who broke into a cold perspiration while contemplating the result of palming off on another his own duties and responsibilities. Of course, the dire mishap was rectified as speedily as possible by the parson performing the ceremony; but it remains for the injured and innocent parties concerned to' go for' that Eegts* trar, and to call upon him to' show cause' why he should not be severely castigated for inducing them to assume the position of man and wife without being legally entitled thereto."