FOR TWO NIGHTS ONLY

NZ Truth, Issue 1174, 31 May 1928, Page 7

FOR TWO NIGHTS ONLY

Boisterous Revellers Worship At Shrine of Carnival (From "N.Z. Truth's" Invercarglll Representative.) "What's a squeeze: between friends P " asked Invercargill youth of Inoercdrgillmaid, as, hearty alight, they dared each other behind the blithesome masks of Carnival. " Yes, but don't you go too far, " she answered.

IN the language of .moons, the opening night of Mayfair week was full • and merry — so were some of the toys and the hoodlums, aglow with {Hokonui moon-water, supped freely on the two-edged principle of 'unlicensed license. The sparkling fragments of feminity •which drifted downstreet, eyes and ttiouth peeping with laughing cajolery from faces shrewdly masked; knees twinkling with attractive provocation — ■these, and moon-water, do go to a ifellow's head. And when chaperones are, themleelves, tucked away m some corner or l«ther.. >. .? Well, youth will out. To a certain few the first and •isecorid nights are sheer memories of riotous endeavor, when the spirit of fcappy-go-lucky shed itself liberally to the four, corners of the township; where kicking over the moral traces was adding* its sharp zest to innocent gestures — and a squeeze was a squeeze and you needn't let it go at that. Some of the girls, their minds alight •with the tincture of near-abandon, responded readily enough to the grosser embraces of muddled musketeers, so there may be a certain amount of forgiveness if many other flappers, preening their youthful feathers beneath the glare of a street light, also were treated as prizes of the chase. But, m the manner of the movies, for two nights only, and those cavaliers of cerebral confusion had whole armsful of trouble — staving off outraged man-handlers and nursing aching shins that had felt the bite of determined feminine feet. -' v Two or three brighter citizens of the city which , says it knows no drink, ■whispered In the private ear of the police force, and as the result one must not simulate surprise if, next year, the slogan for Mayfair is "Brighter and tetter — but much cleaner." One girl was seized by a quartette of beer-fumed youths, soundly kissed and then embraced with such strenuous enthusiasm as to bring blushes to the cheeks of any Latin temperament. Had they, like the traditional and homely bee, sipped of those simple joy 3 at the petals of many, a flower and allowed it to go at that, it is probable ithat the giggling populace would have parried on with its own «ood work,

hidden its glances m the mood of the moment, and taken a cue from Brer Rabbit. But the boys, m a state of alcoholic confusion, slipped over the edge of accepted decency and the girl was saved from an impromptu pose as a midnight Psyche only by; the timely advent of two men. Fortunately for the girl, her facial disguise remained comparatively intact and behind the comforting screen of nearby darkness she was able once again to cover her form' as effectively as she had previously hidden her blushes. • . On the first evening; down a side street, and at an hour which is so near midnight it doesn't really matter, two over-gay, revellers, passions all aglow with their toasting over the bright, internal fires of King Bottle, faces well hidden, waited m the irksome mood of Micawber. They thought they had the little-cosy-corner feeling all to themselves. Presently, they heard the swift, light patter of feminine feet, and by the time they made up their minds, each with the other, all m the altogether, a bonny lady of Invercarglll found herself overwhelmed by the slobbery attentions of two bemused swains. The little lady delivered some cunning welts from out of her bag of Amazonian tricks, but the lads had their feet planted heavily on the scales of opportunity. Mastery was almost theirs, when Crack! . Crack! Two chins clicked back, two bodies embraced the ample bosom of maternal earth, and a muscular youngster m civilian clothes, wiggling his knuckle joints, was rewarded with a pleasant 'Thank you," as the girl sped homewards. ' •'• "Homewards," may not, perhaps, be the correct word, but it is nobody's affair whether or not she halted expectantly at the next comer — and who cares a Continental, anyway? One may at least feel comparatively certain that on future May nights, Joy nights or Carnival nights, two jaws will react to the spirit of memorable retrospect — the combination of k.o. and gravel rash must be pretty painful — whilst the youth of this tabloid Scotland should watch its hectic step.

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