The Storgteller.

Waikato Argus, Volume I, Issue 22, 29 August 1896, Page 5 (Supplement)

The Storgteller.

IN THE LION'S DEN. o A Hot Whilsun Monday. For once in a way Nature accommodated herself to Sir John Lubbock's Act, and smiled on a bank holiday. Nature is always gracious—not to say toadyish— when the Queen goes out ; she puts on her best face, but is persistently and impertinently contemptuous of "the people." Now there are two kinds of Toryism, there is (hat which is gracious and condescending to the Uritish working man, ••inel there is that which is supercilious and nothing Ic-mc-isb. This litter is the Toryism of Nature, judging by her behaviour on popular holidays. However, on this one occasion, the day was hot, bright, the sky cloudless, the air sweet with waft in j over blooming - bean-fields, " and musical with birds which co.u.UV .not contain their joy of.heart. In one word, the day was perfect, and the finishing touch to this perfection was given by Mr. Poynter, who entered die town at II A.M.;; in state, with Ids grand menagerie. First went the brass band, performing " See the conquering hero comes." The sun made their brass instruments so hot that they could hardly hold lhom. Then came a grand train of "Ancient lioman Ulidiutors, armed in strict accordance wi'li the rules laid down by the most eminent archaeologists." The gladiators wore pasteboard helmets overlaid with gold-leaf, and upright red feathers; also breast-plates of tin, and flushings for legs and arms, with—what are vulgarly termed " potatoes,"' that is, holes in the. ikshings perceptible in many places. One gladiator was armed' 1 with a Turkish scimitar, another with a trident, the. wore- but three—with a boomerang. After the gladiatos conic a miserable little boy with a grinding organ, on which squatted and blinked a red-coated monkey. The next member in (he grand procession was the Goddess of Beauty, in a nautilus shell drawn by an ostrich. The nnutiluswasofpasteboard, and the imitation ot mother-of-pearl had scaled off it in many places, giving a tncafdy look to the thcll. Of the ostrich," all thr.t can be said is that what is seen of it it; ladies' bonnets is the best part of the bird, and precisely these •feathers were wanting in the living specimen that drew the car of the L!oddest) of Beauty. The fourth member (not including the baud) was an elephant, on whoss back, in a pagoda of red and gold, sat the Emperor and Empress of the East. On both "sides of the elephant, were Moors with black faces, and white (dirty white) turbans. The procession closed with a yellow shut van (hat contained a lion, which yawned, or roared, at intervals. After this flowed a lluid stream of humanity, artisans taking holiday, boys and girl", who screamed and r-prang back when the lion gave voice, and then huzzahed and asked for another roar or yawn. The inhabitants of a country town are grateful for small pleasure, and nut critical about the quality of what pkas.es them. It even added to tin.' gratification of the sight-seers that they wciv shlo (o recognise f> l!o.v townsmen in their gladiatorial get-up, and detect familiar features beneath the burnt coik (hat coven d the faces of I he Moorish escort. llosidc the jjladiators mounted on horses (hat drew the vans from town to town, strode men in their Sunday suits, who slapped lac pasterns of the horses, and said familiarly to the riders, "llul-10, Tommy!'.' or "How arc you, Jack?"' and were elate at knowing, and letting the world know, that they were familiar friends with these heroes. As a fact, the hand was hired for the. occasion. The gladiators and (he Moors were townsmen who gave their services for a free pass to the evening entertainment. If, therefore, we deduct the. band, and the gladiatorial cavalcade, and the Moorish escort, the entire company of Mr. Poynter resolved itself into the. Emperor, the Empress,' tin; Goddess of Beauty, the urchin with 'the monkey,, and the elephantdriver. Til* grand procession went down one street, then reached a square, one side of which is occupied by the remains of an abbey, now converted into Guildhall, .reading-room j and concert room. Here the procession described an arc, and curved into another street. At the moment (hat the Goddess of Beauty was at the curve, suddenly a bicycle came noiselessly out of a street that opened into the Abbey Square, and cut into the ostrich in so abrupt and forcible a manner (hat the poor bird uttered a cry ncaily as lend as (he yawn of the lion, jumped into the air, and dashi d away, upsetting lirsl the organ-boy and the monkey, and then the nautilus shell it drew, pn cipitaling the occupant upon (he pavement. Away went the ostrich, head outstreuhed, (lapping its mean wing-', its great h-g.s making enormous and rapid strides, its long leek giving utterance to the most hideous cries, and (ne poor nautilus dancing, battering, and going to pieces, head over heels behind it. The lion, hearing the call of the ostrich, and mistaking it for the challenge of a brother king, roared from its yellow box, (he ilephant elevated hia trunk and trumpeted,

the Empress of the East screamed, and the Emperor swore in broad and coarse; Engl'sh. The man who had done the mischief had brought his bicycle to a stand, had dismounted, and gone at once to the unfortunate goddess of beauty, who lay stunned on the, ground with the blood running from her head. Ho was white with distress and alarm, and called to some of the by-slanders to summon a doctor. The man was evidently a gentleman and was apparently known to most of those present, for they answered him respectfully, al ways with a "sir." lie raised the; poor goddess in his arms. " Thank goodness," he said, " the cut is not deep. Confound il! there' is a piece of broken bottle on the ground, and she fell on that. Poor thing ! I would not have had it happen for all 1 am worth." The crowd pressed in on him and the girl. "Look here! Tins won't do. Here, one of you help mo to carry he:r into Mr. Worth's shop." He was immediately obeyed, and (he unconscious damsel, borne by three, was conveyed into the back parlour of the nearest chemist. In the meantime the Emperor of the East wa3 in full career down the road after the runaway ostrich, swearing, shouting, mounted on ono of the horses from which he had unseated a gladiator. The. empress, a lanio woman, walking only with the aid of a crutch, came into (he shop, and asked for her daughter. The girl was sufficiently recovered to sit up on the leather sofa, and (o answer (he sympathetic inquiries of tho bystanders, "That she frit better." She was a young girl of seventeen, with large soft dark eyes, and abundant black hair, a delicately cut nose and small mouth. Her completion was sunburnt, very transparent, and sho had the prettiest dimple that formed at the corners of her mouth when she forced a graceful smile. " Never mind, Theresa," said the empress (in plain English Mrs. Poynter). "No bones is broken 1 reckon, and acksidenks are gocd for business." The gentleman whose bicycle had done the chief mischief was looking anxiously at the girl. He turned sharply round when the old woman /lobbied in, dressed in tawdry blue silk and sprangbvs, with a gilt paper crown on her head. " I hope, gents ail," .'aid the Empress of the East, "seeing as how this dreadful acksidenk has look place under your very eyes, you will do us the. homier of taking reserved seats two shillings," " Mot Iter !" exclaimed Theresa, raising her large dark eyes reproachfully, whilst two spots darkened on her pale cheeks. "I am (he person who was so unfortunate as to upset the car," saiel the gentleman. " But me down for ten." The girl turned her eyes on him ami then (hey fell. She; raised her hands as though to cover them, but thought letter of it, and let them hill in her lap. She wis dressed in pure white, a white sack fastened at the throat and gathered round the: waist by a gold girdle. She won; a gilt crown about her head, the dark hair fell over and partly obscured it. The crown had protected her head when she. fell, without it, she would have been more severely hurl. " Any other gents take tickets?' asked the empress, diving into heir pockets, and producing a bundle of dirty crimson cards. " Only two shillings. Grand performance. The tiger will leap through hoops of lire", and Una, unprotected save by her spotless innocence, will henter alone the lion's den, and the monarch of the desert will crouch 'unibly at the virgin's foot. Only two shillings. The cassowary, an airy bird, big as a 'ore. Also the martno/.cltcr. the smallest known and most cunning of apes, believed to bo tho missing link between the haninial and the human body. Only two shillings." " Oil, mother," said tho girl, ''pray let us go. 1 thank you all, gentlemen, for your great kindness"' " Stay," said he of the bicycle. "You cannot, you must not, go on foot. I will run to the Royal Arms and obtain a fly." "Thankye kindly," said the Empress I'oynter. " But we can't hardly aflord the expense. You see the beasts and beastcsses do consume so much victual, though its only offal, still the butchers run up the offal, shameful, when wo comes into a town, knowing we must have'!." " If 1 orde r the fly, 1 will pay for it," said (he gentleman. "Let my shopman go, Mr. Tcnipier," saiel the: chemist. '• John, run to tho Bop], and call a fly, '■ harp." Mrs. I'oynte r went to the door, and looked dov.n the the street. '• Lorain ussy, Any !" said she to the. emperor, who came up e.ut of hreaih. " U the hoslrieh a col died':" lie iii deled. "Colched by the car which hitched to a lamp-post." "That's light,'' said Mrs. Poynter with a sigh of relief. " These here doings will clrti'V down a shower of shillings." " How about Theresa?" " She's all right," said the mother. "No hurt to speak of, only a bit stunned and stupefied, anil cut and bruised— fortunately about the back