A BALLO0N WEDDING. (NEW YORK TIMES)

Waikato Times, Volume VIII, Issue 413, 7 January 1875, Page 2

A BA LLOON WEDDING. (NEW YORK TIMES)

If that eminently veracious historian, M. Jules NVfrne, had been ia the city of Cincinatti, Ohio, at five o'clock on the afternoon of Oct. 19, 1874, he might have obtained materials for a new and thrilling romance. He would have found himself in a throng of fifty thousand persons, each of whom was intently gazing skyward as a receding balloon which bore within its basket a bridegroom and bride, who proposed to be wedded above the clouds. These eccentric people had doubtless ranged in imagination over all the fields of previous queer and unusual wedding trips. They had probably heard of the strange couple who scaled the Highi, their to seal their vows of affection, and of that adventurous pair who dauntlessly ascended the mightiest of the Pyramids, and iherA, with Hwaven knows how -many "centuries looking down, and with myriads of Arabs looking up and howling for " backshish," bound themselves in holy bands. It is also very probable that they were familiar with the history of that amiable bride who was united to her future lord at sunrise, on the roof of the Cathedral of Notre Dame, and who, while saluting the dawning with champagne, fell over the parapet to the pavement, and wus of course, quiet dead when picked up. Perhaps too the baloon bewitched bride had heard that horrible tale of the Frenchman who, having lured his wife into a baloon car under the pretext of accompanying her on a brief ascension, suddenly cut the ropes, and let her car soar into the clouds, while he fell upon his knees to pray that she might ne ver come down. Nothing would however, stay this balloon-loving bride. Up went the merry couple with the parson making his opening address as they darted into the clouds. Ten minutes after the balloon had ascended a mile from the earth, and a parachute was thrown out. It indicated that the ring had been put on, that the twain were made one flesh, and that the first baloon wedding on record was an accomplished fact. These courageous voyagers in the realms of air were no high born children of fashion ; no haughty aristocrats who disdained thedulness and dirt of oar humble planet, and must therefore wed " Above the smoke and stir of this dim spot Which men call Earth." But they were artists — in the circus line. The bride has something flashed like a meteor before the eyes of admiring audiences at th^Hippodrome, on a milk white steed j and the Bridegroom is not unfamiliar with the smell of sawdust and the gasish gas-lights beneath the canvas dome. But the bride wore a lovely pearl-coloured silk, with biais folds and heavy trimmings of fringe and puffing in the back, and her hat was a graceful <l Brigand," with a rakish white feather. Happy, happy circus man ! Had he been classical he might have imagined, as he descended to earth, with the shouts of the fifty thousand people below drifting up to meet him, that he hal been to Olympius to take a goddess to wife, and was bringing- her down to rule over the nations, and to found a new race of hero-demi^ods. But may we not imagine that, when once the feet of bride and biidegroom were once again set upon the solid ground, there was a revulsion of feeling, and consequently— might we venture to suggest — just a suspicion of disappointment ? Possibly not ; yet it is fair to suppose that the pearl-coloured silk will never again seem quite fair in the eyes of the bride, because she cannot forget how the gleam of the sunshine played upon it when she was above' the clouds. Alas ! so many young married people | have begun life in that same region— that remote ! and mystical cloud-land— and have at last come i down into the work-day world of duty and grimy toil only to be unhappy ! Sometimes the revulsion has soured them for life, and they have been thenceforth but crabbed and unlovely specimens of the fruit of the matrimonial tree. The trouble and misery which " balloon weddings," metaphorically speaking, have entailed upon the futures of the couples who have indulged in them is incalculable. Many unreasonable brides, who have been for a time'elevated high above the turmoil of earth and the haid work of existence, have never forgiven theiv husbands for being compelled to descend. The bridegrooms, too, have so longed for the sunshine of the upper regions, after they have once enjoyed it, that they have become unfit for struggle in the sphere where they belong. Perhaps it would have been better for both had they nevor momentarily left their humble station.

Referring to Mr Vogel's scheme for incorporating I >lynosia, tho Standard says :— " Among the numerous Prime Ministers at present engaged in tho process of government all over the world one of the moat conspicuous, by his unigination, enterprise, and daring, is Mr Vogel, the Premier of New Zealand. No one will consider this too fluttering a characterisation who had been enabled to study tho vory remarkable stato paper in which Mr Vog4 unfoldd his scheme of making New Zealand the centre of a Polynesian dominion, fulfilling°the functions of British Empire in the South Seas in the same manner as Canada fulfills them in North America. A vision like this, in these degenerate days, when philosophers calmly toll us that our Imperial mission is over, when British statesmen openly favour disintegration, and the Colonial Office i= assumed to exist only for the purpo3o of discharging the colonie*. fills us with a certain awe for its sublime spirit of malapropos. Mr Togei, however, is quite serious, and does no appe.ir to have bean daunted by the rebuifs some eat her proposals of his respecting the annexation of tno Fijia aud the Samoan Islands ''had received from tho Imperial Grovernmcnt. He is n practical man, who has had a success hitherto unexampled among colonial politicians. He hui managed to rule New 1 -aland f>r a longer period thin did any former Minister, and he appears to have the singular Rpt of converting his political opponents into adnjuxrj and eui'poileirs ol hu policy."

madre to draw on a naii; 1 0fl»a?^*a¥ed unla which .were" put by the fire over nfght to' dry; ' Otoce on, they are a' sort'oT mo'ern stocks, detractive <of tit oowfort r and entirely de^ to the temper. The following plan will do away w)ith this discomfort : — When the boots are taken off, fill them quite full with dry oats. Thiß grain has a givat fondness for damp, and trill rapidtjf absorb the Jeasb Jreatige of it from the \ret leather. As it takes up U'e- moisture it ewetts and fills the hoot .with * tightly fit tins; last, keeping -fcts fonu good, and drying the leather frft'iouti hardening it. In the morning, shake oat the oats and h«ig them in a bag near the fire to dry, ready for the next wet night, draw on t&d b. Jts and go happily about the day's work. *w A. iUisular and amusing soeue was witness** in the Whit- ' %orh Pariah Church the other Sunday. The ohuroh has lately been cleaned, painted, and- slightly altered. The old baptismal font— an ordinary one on a braoket — has been removed, and a freestone one substituted, whtoh stands down from the pulpit beside the sacramental table. At the close of the service, when the congregation were leaving the ohuroh, a member of the ohurch walked up to the font, and putting his hand on it called out to the Session-Clerk — " Sutherland, who authorised this?" No answer was given to the query, and after waiting a short time he proceeded to say — " Asa member of this ohuroh I protest against this and all other, Popish innovations." fyjngfellow has given his friend, Sidney Woollett, the advanbod sheets of his forthcoming poem, "Tho Hanging of the Crane," so that he may recite it before tho lyoeuras this season. Mr Woollett (who is the son of Mr J. Woollett, of the Home Circuit) recently made his first appearance in the " Bay State Course." The poem is founded upon an anoient New England custom of hangiug the orano tv the ohiinney at a newly married couples house, tho coremony being attended by mirthful and joyous festivities. In this coinpo9i« tion the poet imagines himself seated before the ample hearth after the guest* are all gone, and recording the fleeting fanoies thdt throng his soul touohing the future of the young oouple whose life-journey has just begun. Tho poem is full of tender pathos, and will largely add to the reputation of its author. A Berlin correspondent writes : — "On the muoh-mooted question of Landsturm or Landwehr, a great military authority, Field-Marshal Count Moltke, has recently addressed the following letter to Dr Braun, tho translator of, Camille Rousaet's well-known work ' Lea Volonfcairea do • 1791 . » « I thank you for sending me your translation of Bouseet's interesting book, * Lea Volontaires,' with your ercellent account of the Comnvine appended to it ; the trane- ., lation will do much good. It is sad enough when armies are compelled to lacerate each other, but it is an absolute return to barbarism when whole nations are let loose. Warfare byregular annieB is like a thunderstorm devastating doomed tracts of land with fearful effect; bnt a struggle like tlieone How going on in Spain may be aptly comp ared to a fetid atmosphere destroying the harvest of a whole kingdom. Improvised armies will never be able to carry on war other* wise— Youm truly, Momnm. Snpt 22, 1874." It is said that during the Crimean campaign one of the principal regimental canteens in the Russian Army was suddenly closed in the faces of officers and m«n without notice or warning. Prince Q-ortschakoff, furious, rode up to the purveyor and demanded an explanation, whereupon the latter replied that, instead of yielding him, as was com monly nupposed. £20 of clear daily profits, his business was ianding him in downright ruin, inasmuch as the greater part of his receipts consisted of false bank notes. The General, at his wit's end, telegraphed to the Emperor, and on receiving a reply, told the purveyor if he would open his canteen the spurious notes in question should be cashed by the bank as if they had been genuine. Armed with this assurance, the purveyor briskly resumed his business, and laboured in bis vocation with such zeal and diligpnco that at the end of the war be had the satisfaction of being able to present for payment to the Imperial Bank £40,000 worth of counterfeit piper, scarcely any of which had really been received by him in the oourae of his dealings with the The Saturday Review says ;— Whether we choose to adopt the old name and system of the militia, or some newplan, tnritters little s«long as we resolve that wo will at onca lay the foundation of a numerou« and well~disciplined defensive force, surely every person who has travelled in Germany this summer, must feel ashamed of auy comparison between tho thoroughness of itj defensive organisation and the unreality of our own. We may deceive ourselves, but we cannot deceive our neighbours. The two most popular and patriotic statesmen of their time were the Duke of Wellington and Lord Palraerston ; and if they ■were alive now, it is certain that they would combine in urging us to cherish no illusions, and prepare for all Contingencies. It is chiefly due to them that our ports and arsenals are defensible, but a fortress is useless without sol. & drs. There can be no national life worth living without honor ; and honor, as the world goes, can only be kept by readiness to fight for it. Until the millennium begins, Nemo i*e impune lacessit is the best principle a nation can adopt. This vas the Palmeratonian principle, and we take it to be orthodox Conservatism. A curious and authentic story has oome to the knowledge of* the Manchester Courier's Sheffield correspondent regarding the manner in which colliers' greyhounds (used in rabbit coursing) are kept. A Sheffield collier took his grey, hound, caluedut £40, to a veterinary surgeon for hia advice. lie told the surueon that he thought the dog was not right, for she would not eat her mutton the day afore, and that morning she wouldn't hey her eggs and port wine." When she refused her breakfaet of eggs and port wine h*> was sure she was wrong/ On being asked what he gave his dog, the collier said that he bought for the dog every week two nice little legs of Welsh mutton, and when she could not be tempted by a slice out of the middle of a leg he became uneasy. Fresh' eggs and wine — some favored sherry, he preferred port-* were the best things for these dogs. The veterinary surgeon pronounced the dog to be mad, and its owner confessed tn at she had bitten several human beings and a number of other dogs. The collier, on being asked to inform the persons bitten and the owners of the dons, replied, " Nay, not I. They mun foind it out." This collier earned £2 10s to £3 a week, and his wife and ohil. dren had torost content with any scraps that the dog might be fed nnd yamper«d like himself. M. Montz, of the German navy, has published an essajo n armour-rlated ehifs. He shows, says Iron, to his own satisfaction, that the triumph of artillery over armour-plating is certain. Amongst other opinions, he says that he prefers the Frenoh to the English fleet, which he imagines, could not have blockaded the coasts of Germany in 1870 with the same efficao as the former did ; though how be arrives at such a conclusion, and what difficulty there could have been in the matte/", he does not vouchaafe to divulge to the benighted islanders. He also declares that the French fleet U constructed in a more intelligent and practical manner than the English. It i 9i 9 inferior with respect to the thickness of ijfcs armour, but' is much better arranged. England would &» unnble to collfect a squadron of ships of the same type and able to cooperate together. Each of the vessels of the Pnf'«Jj njvT rl '^er, as it were, in system, in dimensions, and J3n~ power. The EYigdish constructors appear to have had nothing in view but invulnerability, as though afraid of their Continental neighbours, while France has often sacrafioerl power and safety t« t&e exigencies of combined action. . There is no doubt that ouj*--."«avj J* a.p. odlLlß'j^V.v > .«tns. ' there is nothing so wholejome as criticism ; but we trust, ) for the sake of our iwigbtiours, that the blockading capacity--of the British navy may not be tested by any of them.