FIFTY YEARS OF A SHOWMAN'S LIFE 



are, so do 'ee bring it back, for it's the only one 

 I've got." A promise was given that it should, 

 without fail, be once more in her keeping on the 

 following day. The old dame's astonishment 

 may be conceived when a footman called upon 

 her on the morrow with the umbrella, together 

 with a guinea, which she was asked to accept 

 with his thanks from the Prince of Wales. The 

 compliment to the Prince implied in the dame's 

 remark as to the honesty of his looks was much 

 appreciated when the story, having gone the 

 round of the village, reached Oxford. 



Any show yard officials upon whom devolved 

 the duty of attending upon the late King when 

 he honoured a show with his presence would be 

 able to testify, to his invariable consideration 

 for those upon whom any responsibility rested, 

 to the tact and courtesy which never failed him, 

 and to his kindly desire to fulfil to the full all 

 that was expected of him. 



The first occasion in my own time upon which 

 his late Majesty, then Prince of Wales, visited a 

 Bath and West show yard was at Dorchester in 

 1887. After alighting at the Council pavilion, 

 where he was received by the president and 

 officials, it was his pleasure to visit the various 

 departments of the show on foot. The horse 

 ring to which he first bent his steps, was some 

 distance from the pavilion, and the road to it 

 was occupied by a great concourse of people, 

 many of whom had taken their stand on the top 

 and sides of a slope bordering a portion of the 

 route. Arrangements to clear a passage had to 

 be made at short notice, but, as there were plenty 



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