OUR BEAUTIFOOL MASHAH.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 2015, 13 June 1885, Page 2

OUR BEAUTIFOOL MASHAH.

(Prom the Wellington Press.) It must have been two years ago come Christmas when he came to lodge at Belleyue Villa up at the top of our street. We did not know who he was or where he came from, but we saw he lyas a new chum just out from England, ancj wo.took adeal of notice (if him' at. once, because he was the first, masher we ever saw., He wore a curly brimmed hat and had curly brown hair, and dark brown eyebrows that looked as if they were painted, and his whiskers were cut s,lpt and square, and his, moqstasljes were waxed quite stiff, and. he qfteu used to, twiddle the ends with hjs finger and thumb, and he had an all round collar and a little pin in a white necktie, and a short coat of big check, with light, buttons, and tight stripejj trousers,, and ljfctjle. brown gaiters over his sliges, or-else such tiddy-iddy little sharp-pointed brown cloth-topped boots, and he always carried a crutched stick in one hand and a pair of yellow gloves in the other, and he never came out without a flower in his button-hole, if it was only a sprig of laurestinus. And all down our street they called him " the beautifool mashah," and whenever he went by, we always used to say " Here comes the mashah, the beautifool mashah. Who wouldn't be mashah?" The boys soon picked it up from us, and I've often seen tlienr run, after hjni shqutjng out "Hi! theVp-tfie njasliah' |!!"- My word, aint he jusl ii maghali!" But he never seemed to mind what wo said. Sometimes, if the boys were very bold and threw stones at him, he used to turn round and shake his crutched stick at them, but he always laughed when he did that, and we thought he was afraid. So we called out "Mashah I" more than ever. We were all down on him in our street, we were, and we didn't care what we did to*> worry him, because wo thought we'd drive him away and make him change hIS lodgings/;' I ''•' " '' l ' ' I think he" was' out qf ■• employment for a good bit'after lie came, because he had no regular ltqurs, antf' qe used to look so low spirited' lylien )}e caiqe ljoiqe each evening, gut after that,' l)e gqt a billet somewhere, a clerk, I fancy he was, and then he used to go to j|is work every morning afc njne, and ooiiiq took at five, and then we know when to look for him, and call out "Mashah!" as lie passed ourfenco, Onoo I hid whon ho was coming, and throw some dirty water over him, and then all the other girls burst out laughing, and shouted "Mashah! look at tlut beautifool mashah ! How do you like that, Mister Mashah!" But he didn't get a bit angry. Ho only looked sony, and he swished his check coat and tight trousers with a blue silk handkei;chjef, ancj {he nexf day he walkedl qq j;l|e pt|er side $ the''street, and never pa'rne pur side agajii fpr nearly a week. Ql|, I did Jia't'e that m'as]ier. ; Ono day, Sunday it was, I went' fpr a walk with two other gli'ls-fam our school, and we got forking, and. were just in a mihd fur mischief, when we saw the v masher coming along our way. He had his best clothes on, and was walking very fast, with his head thrown back, and his breast pouted' out, and lie had his stick and gloves in one hand, and a bunch of flowers in the other. A girl called out "Here comes the mashah j Oh look at the, bqautifqol mashah |j! and just ftl'h'o SvaßJlutoylnl' by wall got in his way, and I rim \ip against him, and knocked the flowers, out of Iris hand, and said "give us a flower, you mashah!" and then we all screamed with laughing at him, and jihe olhpr, gjrjs tan pay? But he'Qaugfjt p, 'afs stopped'd'qwn'ajid gafchereo!''i;he'f!o n \yer.f4qgetiier. ut aqS 'then picked qut twq lqvely ipge.'hucjii/'a"yellow ono, ami a ipigof nilgpqnefe, and'a/bit of scented vtii'bena i and lie put his hand on niy shoulder and said in such a funny way, " Here, my girl,' you may have these, but I can't give you any more today because I want them for someone who's sick." "My girl, indeed! The cheek of the feller!" I said to the others. But''Vraeli.6|f'f feel angry, and though I npetencled to" fljirp'V "the fkwers abouT;, J tqojf'care'nqt'to §pq'il them, awl wljon \ gofe Jpne. Ipnttqern in a cup in the bedroom, and kept them there till they faded right down, and then 1 folded them in a bit of paper, and they are in the lid of my workbox now. word, though, I was afraid of the other gjyla knowing, because after that they .always said themashprwfsmysweet> heart, fl§.Wu?rp''^|2' : J!my gir|" and give Dip ' tjjo'"' flowbi'B,.' and' eyei-y . % going to §#)oV ioy used 'to call out. to me ; " Hp\y's "%| mashah! How's the beautifool mashahf

;I wouldn't be'a mashah's girl!" It used to make me cry sometimes, they teased me so; but I don't knoW- how it was, I didn't really mind it, and I used to fancy somehow that if the, masher knew it, he Avoiild be phased if I bore it quietly and didn't get In'a lemjJßi. about jfc, Ho, seemed to be very busy after a while, for he was out early and late, and we very seldom Baw him/ I used torun home

directy we. got:out of school„and hang about our street till,'dark; .thinking he might come, but he. 'never did hardly, ■and thon he walked so fast I only got a peep at him,' That was something, though, for he always gave me a smile, and said " Good day, little girl." Once, only once' he said "Good day deah," and I turned so red the other girls saw it, and asked me what;he'said, sol turned round as bold as brass,, and called out, "Mashah! you think yourself a fine mashah.'" He looked so Vexed that I'd have given anything not to have said it, but .1 wanted to show off before the other girls,-and when 1 got home I went in the yard and had a good long cry. After that he went away somewhere for a month or two, arid I thought weshould never see "our beautiful mashah"■! again. But one day, sure enough, when •I. was 1 skipping with the other girls in our street,' there he was,'just the same as ever, ; with hiscurly brimmed hat, and his curly brown hair, and his yellow gloves, and his little pointed boots. And he was walking very' fast, as usual, wjth his head thrown back and his breast pouted 'out,- looking high up in front of him as if he was'n't thinking of anything on thoground at all. And as/he came up the. girls shouted out " Mashah! Here's the beautiful mashah came back! Hi, hi, here's the. mashah! mashah!" I did'nt call out that time. I only stood by the fence watching him, thinking, perhaps, >'he might notice me. But he .looked worried at the noise the other girls were making, and stepped off the pavement into-the wet street to get past us. There was a little boy that belonged down an alley off our street, by the name of Tommy 'Packer, and he had something wrong with his leg, hip disease, I think they call it, and he was very lame. Old Packer used to get drunk, and Mrs Packer was a. bad woman, and' little Tommy got and looked half starved, and he used to play in the gutter in our street all day, to be out of the way. Well, just as the masherpassed us, Tommy Packer was playing tip-cat on the pavement, and he hit the cat with his stick, and tipped it, all .muddy, straight into the masher's face. The pirls set up a laugh, and Tommy \mm frightened he tried to run away, but being lame, he slipped on the kerb and fell info the gutter, with his bad leg under him. Wo all thought the masher was going to beat him with his crutched stick, but instead of that, he leaned down and drew-him up on his knee, and wiped the mud out of his eyes and mouth with his blue silk handkerchief, and said :—"Pooah little fellah! Pooah little fellah! Why, the pooah little fellah's lame. Don't cry, little man, Don't ory, there's a good little fellah !" And he held, T.ommy in his arms, all . dirty ' as, ;h,e . was, and rubbed his, bad leg gently with his hand, and rocked him. to, and. fro, till Tommy stopped crying and only snivelled. Then he wiped -Tommy's, nose wjth' his ; blue silk handkerchief,'and kissed him, Biriaaid "Deah, Me fellah!" and lie carried him as far as, Pope the baker's, and we ran after him and looked through the window, and. he safe Tommy on the counter and bought him two brandysnaps and a packet of conversation lollies, When he came out, Tommy was a, very great man, the masher kissed hjm. again,' and patted him on the head, and said "Good bye, little n.(an,-dea.h little fellah!" I wished I'd tumble into the gutter instead of Tommy Paoker, and he'd pick me out, and kissed mc. But the other girls all laughed and called out "Mashah! mashah! mashah! There goes the beautifool mashah!" till he went into ' Bellevue Villa.

Another day I was in the tram, coining home from Aunt Lizzie's, and it waspourmg with rain, and the streets were all slush. The tram stopped at the corner, and there was an old woman in the door of a shop, with a big basket on her arm, and she started to come to the tram, but she wasn't strong, and she couldn't pick her way through the mud, and the rain was wetting her through','' I was looking at her through the window of the tram, and the passengers were all laughing at her, when who should come round the corner but the masher, with an umbrella, and his tight trowsers turned up over his little brown cloth-topped boots. He saw the old woman directly, and what do you think? He stepped out into the slushy road and put his umbrella over her and said "Allow me, ma'ain," and took the basket from her, and crooked his arm for her to take, and brought her pfqly |q |he tram in no time. When she was in, he handed up he; b>sket "to, 'ljie' conductor, and t'qqk off his curly brimmed hat to the old WOW, ana 1 walked off with his head in tlje air. as jf'hVdJdn't know the slush was over l)is cloth-topped boqts. I pde rqqin, fat the qld woman beside me, and ljelped her in with her basket, and I hoped he would see me, but he didn't,

I went out to servico just after that, and I only saw the masher again once in my life, But I shall never forget that time. It was the night when Strutt, the draper's, was burnt down. Strati's was close by my missis's, down the next street, and we knew the Strutts. There was no Mr Strutt—he was dead before I went out to service, but Mrs Strutt kept the shop, and she had a girl about my age, Minnie, that worked at the tailoring, and three little ones, Jano pd Cora and Si ¥M m *f.#, ?'», anil liny. \jas tl)e baby, "early two. All girls, they were, There' had been three toys, but they were all dead, and Mrs Strutt looked after the shop, and managed with the children as best she could. Well, it wag about 9 o'clock at night, just as we wero going to bed that the firobell rang, and wo all ran out to see where the fire was,' We couldn't soe anything at first, but the peoplo were all running towards the next street, calling out " fire!" Presently Bomebody said it was at Strutt's, and then master ™ p,nj, : and missis put, ™k:hat;'Ml'put a shawl'overmy head, and wo ran down a tor him. There was Strutt's, all in a blaze downstairs, and such a crowd round it, and'the firemen working away, trying to put it out, and oh, such a noise and glare and mess with the water, We gfit mixe.d to wjth tl}Q rest, and somebody''said'tlio felts fteft ■%]} ■^r$ I W% son saw. »& W anf} %nje in tjiq gtwiet,' and Minnie had danp i|i Ijer. p.ng, with' o.fdy h?.p flannel nightgown on, and itiey wero 9!Wg mid running about. Then tho peoplo told us that the two other children were left upstairs in the back room, and the fire was so fierce down stairs and in front that nobody could get at them [o save them. Mrs Strutt wont down on her knifes in the street, and prayed with her hands clasppd, fpr someone |q save hen tfl the house with> ladder, H» namej oamo'. put af tarc ftnl'tiieV **d haqk holding their hfinds ; to tfen> eyes, w yi e f1, 9 ot j, ew t i )em wit]) water. Everybody said tho children must be burnt, and I had turned away so as not to see it, when there, close in the middle of the crowd, was my masher, elbowing and bowing lu's way through the people, and saying "I beg■youaji pardon, I. |egy6iia , li--par,dpn.!! ; ! ffffgoj eujlin' the 9Pl n a s e in the streqt. and stpod there 4 for a moment, lpokiqg up'aj; thV'top, storey windows, Ono of the firemen pushed him baok, and said, "Get out of the way yer fool. We don't want none o' your sort 'ere." But the masher only said " I beg youah pardon," and then he threw down his slick and gloves and walked straight into the middle of the fire with, his curly brimmed hat on, <tn4 hjs shoulders back, and his breast pouted out! The crowd sent up oh, such a shout, and the 'fireman 1 turned'.'hitihbse full in

, the doorway where the masher had {gone 5 in, and mqde it all Hack instead of 'red ( for a minute or two. There was silenc? i, for a time, all but the crackling and roaring ( of the fire, and the hissing of the water from the hose, and we all stood staring at ' the upstairs windows, which were already [ beginning to burn, . Suddenly we sav/ [ the sash of one of them smashed outwards j and something like a bundle of bedclothes I come up in the smokeano then wesaw the , masher without any hat.and all black and . burning, as I thought, holding the bundle ; inhisarms. He called out "Fireman! [ .Fireman I Come undah and catch jt!" I and two firemen rushed up to the burn. ingwall, and down came the.bundle," and . they ran back with it, under a stream of water, and brought it to Mrs Strutt, : and opened it out, and it was Cora,-in the middle of a lot of blankets, crying as hard as she could, but not hurt a bit. Then we all looked up at the windows again, but they were all alright and we heard a crash inside the house, and a. cloud of ■ sparks shot up/and they said the floor had fallen in. But an instant afterwards something all.red and black and smoking came staggering out of the door, and the firemen turned the hose on it, andranin and dragged it into the street, and it yL themasher, with Tiny in his amis, rolled up in a piece of drugget. Tiny wafflot much hurt, but oh, the poor masher,"' the poor masher! Oh, how I wish I hadn't seon him! ,As soon as Mrs Strutt made sure the children were safe, she left them with Minnie, and ran and knelt by the masher, as he lay on his back on the roadway, and put her arms round him, and cried over him as if her heart would break. I got as close as I could to him, frightened as 1 was, and oh, I would have given anything to be able to help him. In a minute he opened his eyes, and ■ looked; at Mrs Strutt. i think he raised his hand to take'his hat' off to her. But his curly-brimmed'hat was gone, and'his curly brown hair was- gone, and his eyebrows were gone, and most of the skin of his head was gone, so he only said " I beg youah pardon. Pray don't mind me. ■ How, are . the deah little children f "Quite safe, thank God!" Mrs Strutt replied, " Thank God'for that!" he said, " I was afraid the fiah was too much for that pooah little one." And then his eyes closed, and his head rolled over to one.side, and they brought a shutter and put him on it, and oh, oh, 1 could not look any more for crying, and that was the last lever saw of "our beautifool .mashahl"