FIFTY YEARS OF A SHOWMAN'S LIFE 



know, I was dilating upon the circumstances I 

 have been narrating to one of the Society's 

 stewards. He is a real good worker in this 

 capacity, although a member of that hereditary 

 branch of the legislature which has had hard 

 things said about it. I knew he would be a 

 sympathetic listener, and we were in mutual 

 agreement as to the practical Christianity which 

 the episode represented. " But," said he, " I 

 can add to that story," and he then told me that, 

 as in company with other stewards, he passed by 

 the stock lines early that morning, he heard a 

 little commotion, and saw a group of stockmen 

 round one of the stand-pipes for supplying water 

 for the stock. In the midst of them was the waif, 

 being thoroughly well-washed and scrubbed by 

 his good friends. They practical all through 

 were not going to put him into a brand-new suit 

 and render him presentable only on the surface. 

 They determined to make a real good job of it 

 right through ; hence this ablutionary discipline, 

 and, as one of the party remarked, " he wanted it 

 badly," which I can quite believe. Having now 

 put him into a condition that enabled him to hold 

 up his head among his fellow-creatures, these 

 country-side Samaritans brought the object of their 

 solicitude to the Sunday service, which for so many 

 years has been held in the yard on the Sunday 

 in show week, and thereby, with this evidence 

 of their thought for his spiritual as well as bodily 

 welfare, placed the capping stone upon their work. 

 The sermon was preached by the Bishop of 

 Llandaff, and, as I was escorting his lordship up 

 the yard to the service, I could not resist telling 



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