A Big Day.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, 10 November 1891, Page 2

A Big Day.

You know what it is, gentle reader, to have had a big day in town ; that is, presuming you reside in the country. You have transacted all your business, met many friends, and late in the afternoon your thoughts revert to home and — well, probably a cold collation So it was with our

hero on Tuesday last but he desired to glean all information as to who had won all the money on the Melbourne Cup, and after some considerable trouble and olapse of time, hay*

in, r : imbibed this and sundry other irformation, he set out for h's de -"tinatiou, somewhere on No - Lh < , a\ '■-tly after tbe witching hour f m night. He was mounted on . ti ,ted old racing hack, and ? ' a\ irdupois being somewhat p: - nc nenai and his memory fleeting, c ga c the horse his head, taking he d to the acknowledged fact that t .c sa ;acious animal will always find t, .c vo d iMeft alor^. He thought >c hfi I crossed th? Bridge, but eou.d nofc quite remember, a- i was dwelling somnolently on the fairy tales he would vouchsafe on reaching the homestead, when — phew ! — what a smell of gas ! Thinking there must be something wrong a tug is given at the bridle rein, and by and-by Ijhe horse stops at a gate. With mut' tered rejoicings at having so quickly reached his destination he gets off, opens the gate, passes "through, shuts it, remounts, and proceeds on his way. Then as the homestead lights are not yet visible, he urges on his steed, and the animal generously responding, a swinging canter is the result. Accommodat* ing himself to the easy motion of the quadruped he bestrides, he gently slumbers, and visions of by-gone happy hours accompany him through dreamland, his snoring being varied occasionally by a spasmodic jerk as he fancies he recognises Mr So-and-so's place, or scenery that reminds him of the near approach to Mr Blanketyblank's domicile. By* and-bye, there is another snore, not loud, but very deep, and still the patient steed strides on, the minutes gathering into hours until daylight soon appears, you ask —Where was our friend ? You will hardly credit it, but it is a solid fact, nevertheless, that at five o'clock in the morning he found himself in front of the Grand Stand on the Wanganui Racecourse, and if he is approached very carefully on the subject, mind you, he may tell you whether he was succcessful in breaking the record for a go-as-you-please tournament — at any rate he is satisfied that the horse is not only a weight'carrier, but is also good over a long distance— there certainly can be no doubt about the latter statement. Wanganoii Herald.