FIFTY YEARS OF A SHOWMAN'S LIFE 



dignified restraint, expressive of the difficulty he 

 experiences in putting up with the secretary's 

 presence. The picture, apart from its suggestive- 

 ness, has a claim to consideration as a psycholo- 

 gical study of character. If it survives the advent 

 of Lord Macaulay's New Zealander it will probably 

 be quoted at Historical Societies' Meetings in 

 those far-off days as an irrefutable proof of the 

 baselessness of the tradition which asserted the 

 existence in the year 1912 of a citizen who united 

 in his own person two such distinct individualities 

 as a Mayor and a Showman. The photograph 

 will be successfully appealed to as affording clear 

 evidence of two separate entities, differentiated 

 one from the other by well-defined temperamental 

 characteristics as shown by the play of their 

 respective features. 



An incident early in the year 1914 gave me far 

 too much pleasure to allow of its being left un- 

 recorded here. It represented an honour which 

 anyone having any connection with agriculture 

 could not but highly appreciate, whilst the kindly 

 feeling underlying it appealed to me very strongly. 

 It took the shape of a communication to me from 

 the Council of the Royal Agricultural Society of 

 England, stating that, in recognition of my services 

 to agriculture, they had unanimously elected me 

 an honorary life member of the Society. Coming 

 from those to whom agriculture owed so much, 

 and being entirely unexpected, I should be less 

 than mortal did I not greatly value such a com- 

 pliment, especially as the Bath and West Council 

 were not slow to express their gratification at the 

 bestowal. Its worth was much enhanced by the 



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