FIFTY YEARS OF A SHOWMAN'S LIFE 



band made a rapid descent from the bandstand 

 to avoid being blown out of it. The large horti- 

 cultural pavilion, so long the Society's pride, was 

 rent in twain, and presented a saddening scene 

 of destruction. But just previously its interior 

 was a perfect blaze of beautiful colouring, with 

 the choicest of exotics rising tier above tier, and 

 when the wind had done its worst in double-quick 

 time its contents were little better than a ruinous 

 heap of plants and blossoms. 



Most disquieting of all, the gale devoted special 

 attention to rendering the poultry tent unin- 

 habitable. Rows of pens were borne up bodily 

 in the air to the astonishment of their inmates, 

 several of which, taking advantage of pens be- 

 coming unfastened, made their escape. Marvel- 

 lous to relate, all but one were recaptured before 

 nightfall, and the missing one was again safely 

 penned the next day. But, having caught your 

 birds, the difficulty was to discover the particular 

 pen each had occupied, and this was important, 

 because it was the pen and not the bird that bore 

 the identification number. In many cases, where 

 there was a large entry of one breed in a class, it 

 was impossible to know for certain whether the 

 exhibitor of a particular Cochin was Brown, Jones 

 or Robinson. In this emergency, two good judges 

 of poultry were requisitioned, and the escaped- 

 bird classes were re- judged. This did not, of 

 course, affect the original judging, but it helped 

 to establish the ownership of some, but not all, 

 of the birds by virtue of their superior merits. 

 In all doubtful cases, an explanatory letter was 

 addressed to the exhibitor, asking him to return 



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