AT THE SHOW.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9030, 21 February 1908, Page 7

AT THE SHOW.

rAND AROUND "WONDERLAND."

The side-shows at the Masterton Show were of the usual extensive and varied nature, and young and old found ample means of disbursing their spare cash. There was a host of "ringolette" proprietaries within the precincts of Wonderland, and every corner rang with the deeply sympathetic voice of the pi'oprietor, "Hard luck, sir!" There's no doubt it was hard luck in every instance,as all the science in the world ecu Id not insure a person fulfilling the requirements of the ringolette man. One huge tent looked large enough to accommodate a decent sized whab Jiuwever, it didn't contain a wlnl 1 , *ut, as a couple of notices stated, a "relicquoriurn," and a "hydrama-thicus"—-surely enough to satisfy any ordinary craving for "something new." A legend posted outsie'e staled defiantly that £I,OOO would be paid to any person who could "produce an animal like the one inside. Of *" A course there was a wild rush to see if there was any prospect of the ,£I,OOO being appropriated, but the proprietor of the relicquoriurn, with a frightful monstrosity conceived cf onlv in nightmares, and containing a singe eye, which will haunt those who gazed on it till the end of their davs, can rest satisfied his thousand pounds is safe until a new age of mammals arrives. Another marquee was advertised !o be the arena of various feats of IJjfercutean strength, while, at the svJrne time, a number of ventriloquial dolls would give an exhibition. 1 his incogrueus mixture of entertainment had something appealing about it. especially as a pugnacious looking individual with a mighty chest and bulky biceps challenged the world and the whole solar system from a stool by the door. The credulity of the entertainmentloving public is notorious, and those who fell into the old trap of the oft eland acceptance of a wrestling en alien ge by the professional - and the "stranger" respectively were not a few. The "stranger," of course, was "no mug," and the ciowd yelled with delight as he "downed" the professional in two out of three throws. They didn't see, however,

how busy the "stranger" was helping pack the swag at the finish, olhei--'vise they might have ruminated ovt;r the shilling they paid to see the challenge iecided. There whs a merry-go-round, with a weird organ which ground out "Off to Baltimore," or something to that effect, while the youthful patrons no doubt feit quite satisfied that the wooden horsey they rode were off to Baltimore. A life on the "ocean wave" cannot often be indulged in so far inland as Masterton, and the proprietor of the wave had the satisfaction of seeing the of the heaving "water" white —with summer dresses. There were organs and monkeys, Aunt Sal'ies, and all manner of other money-producing, or inducing, contrivances. One man with a painfully dolorous barrel-organ, which produced a series of very fine discords, shifted camp from Wonderland and stationed himself near the press tent. The , agony was endured by hypersensitive nerves for several minutes, when a "tarpaulin muster" had the desired effect', of shifting the "music" to more appreciative quarters.