MARY, THE TIMID LAMB

NZ Truth, Issue 1181, 19 July 1928, Page 8

MARY, THE TIMID LAMB

She Thought There Was A Man Under Her Bed!

(From "N.Z. Truth's" Special Christchurch Representative.)

Crash went the water-jug, shattering the stilly peace of the 2 a.m. atmosphere of the People's Palace.

THEN the whole floor shook and 1 1 trembled as the heavy wash-basin fell m a' thousand splintered.fragments. Doors opened and timid old ladies, irate men and gallant youths rushed from their beds to see what all the row was about. But it was not an earthquake or an invasion. Just Mary Wilson expelling an imaginary man who had 'Wept into her room." Had Mary been a teetotaller, the affair would never have happened, but apparently she got to the stage of seeing things— hence the trouble.

It cost her a fine of twenty, j shillings when she ■ I faced Magistrate j Mosley next day, j plus the cost of I the damage — a I further twenty ! shillings— in de- ! i fault seven days. ! Of course, Mary A had no intention j m the world of j damaging the j property of ' the I . Salvation ; Army, i m whose hostelry- | she spent the j 'night^-or, at least, j

the best part of it. She had. just come out of hospital and no one could have looked more respectable or sedate than Mary Wilson as she booked up her room at the Palace. And so to bed for poor, tired Mary.' • But when one has been m hospital for some time, a little tonic to drive the blues away would seem always to be a good thing, provided the tonic. is taken m moderation. Bui the tonic that Mary took was too stimulating and excited her placid imagination, n. "The facts, briefly, are these," remarked Sub-Inspector J. Fitzpatrick when prosecuting Mary on a charge of wilful damage. '

iiiimimmimimiuimimiiiiNi imi j umiii nitimiiiimimmimiiiiiimimmijiimii is ' i s II Mary was a timid lamb, ■ i =1 The night was full' of dread; I ll At 2 a.m. she woke and saw j II A man her bed. | II Mary,' though, was very brave, j II Some Chinaware she threw; = i| She missed the man — who ; ll wasn't there * ' ! II Peculiar, yes, but' true. 1 If A little drink, so thought the j II ' cops, :'.'■'■' j II ' Had upset Mary's mind; j ll She smashed the "crocks" and ] H that was why I || The; timid lamb was fined. j = iiiiiiiiiuHiiiiitiiiiiiitiniiuiiMitiMMiiiiiiiiiuiiii[iiiiiitiiiiiuiiiiiuinuiiitiuiiniiititmittt(iittiiMi.s ?,m! mi i iiiimli minimum iimiiiimimminimiimiimiimiimiminlmim 11

"Somewhere round about 2.30 a.m. this morning the whole People's Palace was m an uproar owing to this woman's behavior. , "Apparently' she had taken drink into her room, and, as a result of the uproar, the police were called m. This woman travels about the country a good deal with no fixed intention and it is a wonder how she manages to get about as she does. Here Mary chipped m with a rain of explanations. Well into middle life, any claims to beauty that she ever possessed have long since faded. There was a touch of. the bizarre' m her story

18 . that a man naa =i ente r c d her || room with, she || thought, evil dell I sign. || "Yes, I'm sorry fl I did it, your wor- || ship," she bleated II m a, thin voice, 1| but I did it mmy If excitement. I II thought a \man 1 1 was breaking into 1 1 my room and I If oi'dered him out If ... and told if him that if he || didn't go I would ?! throw the things

Of course, the "male intruder" took no notice, nor did he budge, for the simple reason that he was not there and had no existence outside Mary's inflamed imagination. Magistrate Mosley was mildly sceptical. "You did not' see any snakes, did you?" he inquire.d- "No, your worship," Macy replied, "what I did, I did m my excitement. lam willing to pay, sir." The bench: "You will be convicted and fined 20 shillings, m default seven days' imprisonment, and.y ou will also make good the damage—another twenty shillings. . ' , So ended Mary's adventure with the man who did not exist. i. .