ABOUT BUYING A HORSE. 49 



he speaks through the door, and turning a little away from 

 me (his audience), its effect is to remind me of a Ventrilo- 

 quist's entertainment, where the performer pretends to be 

 holding a conversation with some one on the other side of 

 the wall, or outside a door. 



" Mother, where didyer put the stomps ? " he says, in his 

 own voice. 



Ventriloquist's mother (I mean Post-Master's mother from 

 within), " You'll find 'em in the draAver 0' the left 'and side, 

 John." 



Post-Master rummages in the drawer, and calls out, " No, 

 th'aint there." Then he goes to the door again, turns the 

 handle, and holds it the slightest bit ajar, which is exactly 

 what I've seen Ventriloquists do, only without a real mother 

 on the other side — ordinarily some imaginary acquaintance 

 called " Tommy," who has got somehow into a gas-pipe, or 

 some eccentric stranger in the chimney, who is usually 

 addressed with the utmost courtesy on the part of the Ven- 

 triloquist, as " Sir ; " each sentence beginning in this way, 

 "What are you doing up there. Sir?" to which Eccentric 

 Stranger in the Chimney replies, rudely, " What's that to 

 you. Sir?" 



I have noticed that the Eccentric Stranger in the Chimney 

 is invariably rude, while the Ventriloquist is most markedly 

 polite. The Man in the Chimney refuses to move, and 

 asserts his right to stay there as long as he likes ; the Ven- 

 triloquist, still polite, warns him that he is lighting a fire, 

 when the Eccentric Stranger becomes abjectly piteous, and 

 only asks for time to be allowed to reach the top and make 



£ 



