UNEXPECTED SEQUEL

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXX, Issue 5487, 14 October 1929, Page 2

UNEXPECTED SEQUEL

A DETERMINED YOUNG LADY. A WORLD’S “RECORD.” Nearly two thousand years ago, if Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” can be taken as historically correct, Marc Antony, in lamenting over the body of the murdered Caesar, drew attention to the fact that ambition led one to do funny things at times, and that observation still holds good in the hustle and bustle of to-day. The majority of dwellers in 1929 have some definite objective in life —something that is quite commonplace—but in others ambition runs to peculiar channels, such as the excelling of one’s fellow men and women in something that is out of the ordinary —such as the creation of non-stop dance “records.”

Seized with the idea that her ability was comparable with that of a professional record-breaker at present in Hawera, a local girl, 17 years of age, challenged the lady, and the result was that the pair were billed to appear in what was termed a challenge match for the world’s endurance dance record stated to be held by the visitor at 29 hours. The arrangements went smoothly, and the match was advertised to commence one afternoon recently. Then an unsympathetic influence came to light in the person of the girl’s father, forbidding his daughter to appear. The young lady, however, announced her intention of proceeding with the match. Police intervention was sought by the father, but as the girl was over 16, they were powerless in the matter. Then the parent intimated that if his daughter proceeded, he would take other steps.

The pair set off without further incident, and soon the clock was recording their progress. A little over six hours elapsed, and then the father made good his threat, arriving on the scene with a son, and between the two of them they forcibly carried the girl off the dance floor. She was removed to a friend’s place, and there the matter remains.

In the meantime the lady who was challenged carried on in an endeavour to go for 291 hours.—Hawera Star.