FIFY YEARS OF A SHOWMAN'S LIFE 



who were most anxious to visit the show, but the 

 difficulty quite properly explained was that 

 the infant was unable to sustain iteelf without 

 nourishment, which was derived from Nature's 

 source, for more than two and a half hours together. 

 More delicately-minded than many, they could 

 not bring themselves to conduct the feeding- 

 process in the full glare of publicity, and yet they 

 could not do justice to the show if they had only 

 two and a half hours of it. Even Showmen are 

 human, and I was not proof against such an 

 appeal, so an arrangement, providing for full 

 privacy and satisfactory to all parties, including 

 the baby, was arrived at. 



A secretary's post-bag, especially when its 

 contents refer to so many-sided a show as that of 

 the Bath and West Society, is sure to afford a few 

 problems, the solution of which is not apparent 

 on the surface. This was the case when one 

 morning, at breakfast, I received a letter from 

 a dairymaid, who had previously entered for the 

 butter-making competitions without contributing 

 the necessary fees. In the letter in question, 

 with which no fees were enclosed, she thanked 

 me for giving her credit, and said she had sent 

 the cash on to-day, enigmatically remarking, 

 " You will find if you seek." This suggested a 

 sort of " hidden-treasure hunt," which I was 

 much too busy just then to undertake. I, there- 

 fore, commenced in my mind to draft an epistle 

 to the young lady, inviting her to give me some 

 clue as to the whereabouts of the twenty-five 

 shillings she owed. In the meantime my better- 

 half casually remarked that some one had kindly 



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