A STRANGE FIND.

Waikato Times, Volume XXX, Issue 2420, 14 January 1888, Page 2 (Supplement)

A STRANGE FIND.

At a cathedral city not very distant from Bristol, a find was made recently which occasioned considerable sensation amongst the discoverers and passersby. It being sessions week there was no inconsiderable bustle in the streets, the town having as usual on such occasions large numbers of visitors ou legal business bent. The news of the find spread, and a crowd quickly gathered, and although this included smart intelligent men representing various walks of life, no two were agreed as to what " it " was or what use "it" could be put to. The Bishop being an eminent arclueologist, it was thought desirable that his lordship should inspect the discovery before it was removed. Disappointment was generally expressed when it was stated that his lordship was not at the Palace. The freeholder nearest to whose premises the novelty had been found so ably argued his claims on the treasure trote principle, that by common consent he was constituted custodian. He, however, rather inclined to tne opinion that the find was more modern than antique, but to decide the point it was agreed to suspend the thing from the nearest lamp-post. Man after man p.-ssed, inspected, shook their heads, and walked on. It was reserved for one of the gentler sex to solve tho mystery, and by the very first of that gender to pass the lamp-post. The unsusproting custodian, on venturing to ask what the puzzle was, had an exceedingly warm time of it, the lady's reply being couched in that voluble style peculiar to irate females. She denied that it was a minatu-e model for a three-tier rear batt> ry. The crowd began to enjoy the scene, and when a well-dressed little boy suggested that,he had seen something like it in his grown-up sister's dressing-room, the lady told him that he was a naughty horrid, little fellow, and that if he did not improve ho would come to a bad end. Then the crowd unanimously decided that it was tho voiy latest tb ; ng in ladies' dross improvers. Strange to say, although the garment still flutters from the lamp-post, every member of the female population denies ownership.