THOSE IMPORTED MASHERS.

Observer, Volume 7, Issue 230, 7 February 1885, Page 4

THOSE IMPORTED MASHERS.

•*■.-. ,m !-:-: A- Tale with a Mobal. „ „; . ' ..,-,■ Upon r the 'stage • of s'ia Melbourne' 1 theatre; where conaic 5 i opera is • being played^ l there appears nightly ..a creature whose radiance outshines , the . .brilliancy, of the 'foptlighte v 7, ! 'Ser' : ';bVatitifiil i ' blondf curls' whose', tints iningle'.^Ke ''■ refulgence of the rising sun with the' 'gleam' and glitter of the virgin gold, oyersiiadows a forehead a s fair as, Parian marble. ,' ' Two fihely-'penciiled; dark-brown eyebrows .are arched above ; two liquid brown eyes like . rainbows over fathomless. seasJ Her nose is piquant, and her lips are full and. criinsbu as a June cherry.". '.The soft 1 oval sweep of her .cheeks arid chili are 'full of curves of beauty, and her! form is, moulded ,in the most perfect mould. , ' '. . Such she appears nightly, to , the devotees .who sit in rapt admiration, in the orchestra chairs/, • . ' . '. .'.,."' ', • , A,inong those who have been going with unfailing regularity to gaze .upon 'her and the other goddesses who. reign in this Olympus is a fair young masher. The light of twenty-two summers shines with' a fervent luminousness in jhis soft green eyes, and the silken down of adolescence peeps faintly out above his tender mouth. His flaxen hair, falls in a straight-out bang of fluffy lightness over his small forehead, and a spotless collar of four-ply linen braces up this entire, agglomeration of youthful charms. He gazed upon the fair vision wrapped in gossamer robes as she glided over the stage, and was enthralled ere he knew the wherefore of his enthralment. His still, small soul fell down at her feet, and waited to be picked up. The more he gazed the more his wonder grew that so radiant a creature could exist upon the level of the stage. The more the fair young masher gazed upon her the more he felt that in order to complete his stature of manhood he must know her. Her spirit and his would hold sweet converse over the sparkling vintage of sunny France. But how could he manage it ? Fortune favours the brave, and in this matter the fair young masher had sworn to ,do or die. He became acquainted with a genial scene-shifter. He exerted his energies, such as they were, to win that scene-shifter's friendship. He fed him on stout and whisky until his heart was won. Then he confided to that' sceneshifter the story of his passion. "Aw, yas, deah boy," he said. "I'm awfnlly gone, you know ; quite too awfully. Cahn't sleep ahfter ten o'clock in the mawning. Cahn't eat a whole role for bweakfast. Dweadful feeling of heaviness here (putting his hand on his bosom). Must know her somehow. Cahn't you intwoduce me ?" " What! Introduce you to Miss Mountmorris ! Well, I should blush to murmur." " Know her long V" " Rather. Come round to the stage door after the play." He went. His heart beat madly — that is, as madly as it could — while he waited the coming of the radiant vision. Several young ladies passed out. She did not come. Still he waited. Presently he saw his friend, the sceneshifter, coming out with his arm around a lady. She was not young. Indeed, it would have been flattery to call her thirty-nine. She was not fair. It would have been base fabrication to call her even pleasant-looking. No ; that was not she. Nevertheless, the scene-shifter and the lady approached the fair young masher. " Here you are, old boy,'' said the sceneshifter, "allow me to present you to my mother." And they carried the masher away : yea, even unto a sandhill. And no man knoweth his grave even until this day. And no man wants to either. ... Surely this masher could not have been a relation to either Percy Easton or Stuart Locock. Why, Sutton-ly not.