FIFTY YEARS OF A SHOWMAN'S LIFE 



unforced comedy one must follow the directions 

 often given by our grandfathers and go to Bath." 

 In conferring with the Ma} r or, as the secretary 

 always has to do in relation to the general arrange- 

 ments, I had frequently to readjust rqy frame of 

 mind in accordance with what ought to be the 

 views of the particular official I was representing 

 at the moment, because the Mayor naturally 

 desired to obtain as good terms and as many 

 privileges as possible for his fellow-citizens, while 

 the secretary, of course, had to take care not to 

 give his Society away to an undue extent. This 

 resulted in various negotiations between the two 

 representatives, but, both being reasonable, a 

 policy of give and take tided over difficulties by 

 means of fair compromise. I had had, as secre- 

 tary, a long and varied experience of Mayors, 

 having had to do with a different one annually 

 for, beginning with my young days with the 

 Oxfordshire Society, the space of fifty years. I 

 doubt if there be many about who have had so 

 fine an opportunity as myself of studying Mayors 

 from divers points of view and of appreciating 

 their different manners and customs. At one 

 show, at Truro, I had as many as ten, all in full 

 regalia, on my hands at once, so that what I don't 

 know about Mayors can be hardly worth knowing, 

 and it is astonishing to find how many different 

 types there are when their particular idiosyncrasies 

 are examined in a scientific spirit. Of course, 

 it was quite a novel and educational experience 

 for me to have to regard matters from the Mayoral 

 in contradistinction to the showman or secretarial 

 point of view, and I think has had the effect of 



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