FIFTY YEARS OF A SHOWMAN'S LIFE 



secretary of the Bath and West Society was a 

 young man, R. H. Hew, by name. It needed 

 but a brief acquaintance with him to convince me 

 of his capacity, so I proposed that he should con- 

 tinue in the office by joining my staff. He con- 

 fided to me that he should prefer the more respon- 

 sible post I was about to vacate. I thought this 

 a very natural aspiration, and, being satisfied 

 that my old Society would be well served by him, 

 I encouraged him to proceed and gave his candi- 

 dature all the backing I could. The selection 

 committee, of which I was a member, having 

 the courage of their convictions, followed the 

 example of the Bath and West Committee, and, 

 out of a goodly number of candidates, returned 

 only one name, that of R. H. Rew, and recom- 

 mended his election to the general committee of 

 the Society, who were the arbiters of the situation. 

 His strongest opponent among the candidates 

 was a land-agent in the county, in close touch 

 with the agriculturists of the district, with whom 

 he was very popular. He had many friends on 

 the general committee, who determined to run 

 him for all they were worth in opposition to the 

 candidate, who was unknown to many of them, 

 recommended by the selection committee. 



Aware of the strength of the supporters of 

 the local candidate, I could see he stood a very 

 good chance of winning. Therefore, previous to 

 the decisive meeting, I strongly urged upon all 

 favourable to Rew to make a point of attending it. 

 Among others to whom I appealed was the late 

 Mr. George Herbert Morrell, M.P., a vice-president 

 of the Bath and West Society as well as of the 



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