CHAPTER XXIV 



A Showman's Letter-bag Some Epistolary Singularities. 



A SHOWMAN'S letter-bag contains as many 

 caligraphic curios as a sea-trawler's net 

 does of ocean oddities. It is difficult to 

 account for the geographical confusion of mind of 

 the inquiring spirit who wrote to ask me whether 

 Croydon, where the show was to be held one year, 

 " is in Bath or the suburbs of London," or for the 

 capacity for logical inference of the shoeing smith, 

 who wanted to know whether he was eligible to 

 enter in the class confined to competitors twenty- 

 five years of age and over as well as in that open 

 only to those under that age. Most singular 

 motives are attributed by disappointed exhibitors 

 to both societies and judges. The dairy- woman 

 of a distinguished Parliamentarian could not 

 account for his lordship's butter which was of 

 such superior quality not receiving a prize on 

 several occasions unless it was because he was 

 " a Liberal " ; so she writes to ask me whether 

 this was the reason. This might have been 

 intended as a warning that the eye of Parliament 

 was on us, because at the same time she once more 

 makes an entry on his lordship's behalf for the 

 forthcoming show, with the remark that she hopes 

 on this occasion his lordship would be successful. 



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