FIFTY YEARS OF A SHOWMAN'S LIFE 



Mayor's attendant, who, with so much fatherly 

 and kindly care, had protected my person and my 

 interests during the past year. At this a coun- 

 cillor innocently inquired, " Where was he at 

 Bristol ? " Then it was I got a bit of my own 

 back, for I was able to reply that he couldn't 

 be always " on the watch." My father's cheap 

 watch, after its long spell of over forty years' 

 inactivity, came once more into use, but not 

 permanently, which leads me to admit that the 

 thief did not do me such a bad turn after all, 

 inasmuch as an admiring relative pressed upon 

 my acceptance a chain worth a good deal more 

 than the one I had lost, and, later on, the Presi- 

 dent of a Society with which I am intimately 

 connected, under an impression that I had been 

 of some help to him during his term of office, 

 bestowed upon me a very fine, gold watch the 

 one I lost was only silver as a little memento 

 of what had been to me a very happy association. 

 Verily, the w r orld is full of compensations ! 



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