HOW PROVIDENCE AND OTHERS HELPED 



just before the sleepers were required, Govern- 

 ment interposed and commandeered all that were 

 available for military purposes, so we had to 

 dispense with them. Providence, however, once 

 more came to the aid of the Society, and conferred 

 upon it the inestimable boon of the finest of fine 

 weather during the whole period of the show ; 

 a blessing only once before vouchsafed to the 

 Society namely, at Southampton in 1897 within 

 the recollection of the oldest member. True it 

 is that, the week before the show, the rain reduced 

 the implement roadway to the condition of a 

 quagmire, and one traction engine at least was 

 fast bound in it for some time. But a sandy soil, 

 judicious rolling, and brilliant sunshine did much, 

 when once the show opened, to mend matters and 

 save visitors from inconvenience. The foregoing 

 may be regarded as samples of not a few similar 

 difficulties with which the executive had to deal, 

 arising out of an abnormal condition of national 

 affairs. The way out of them was materially 

 smoothed by the readiness with which every- 

 body realized that we were living in no ordinary 

 times, and that allowances must accordingly be 

 made. Consequently, there was no friction, whilst 

 grievances made themselves less manifest than 

 usual. 



There was no escape from thoughts of the war 

 in the show yard, for there were too many re- 

 minders of its existence, both in the absence of 

 several energetic honorary officials who were 

 serving King and Country, and in the presence, 

 as is the case everywhere now, of many wearers 

 of khaki. 



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