Bright Ideas: A Record of Invention and Misinvention
Page 17
"SHOWER BATH AT A MEETING
"REMARKABLE INCIDENT
"THE MAYOR MISSES HIS UMBRELLA
"The meeting at the Literary Institute in support of the candidature ofMr. Benjamin Moggridge was broken up by a most remarkable unrehearsedeffect, which is probably without parallel in the political life of thiscountry. The mayor, Alderman Noakes, was in the act of protesting, withall the dignity pertaining to his exalted office, against the demands ofcertain unruly spirits that he should vacate the chair, when a quantityof water, calculated to be equal to a rainfall of 2.8 ins., descendedwith startling suddenness and almost tropical violence upon theplatform, bringing the meeting to a summary end. We understand thatthis inauspicious close to Mr. Moggridge's campaign was due to theunexpected operation of a new fire extinguisher, which the builder, ourwell-known and respected fellow citizen Mr. James Johnson, had locatedabove the hall with a view to experimenting on a suitable occasion. Thepremature exhibition of this remarkable invention, which promises to bean epoch-making success, appears to have originated in the laudabledesire of Mr. Noakes that the large audience should be in no wayinconvenienced by the inclemency of the weather. His orders that thehall, which, in its unfinished state, might otherwise have sown theseeds of dangerous and possibly fatal complaints, should be heated to awholesome degree of temperature, were carried out with what proved to besupererogatory solicitude; but our worthy mayor will doubtless consolehimself for his temporary discomfiture--the second this week, it will beremembered--with the reflection that the efficacy of the new fireextinguisher was abundantly demonstrated, and that the future immunityof the Literary Institute from the ravages of the devouring monster isassured."
*A BRUSH WITH THE ENEMY*