OUR REPRESENTATIVE MAN. 271 



something in the offing through a telescope. It struck me 

 that he is so accustomed to this as to be unable to nee with- 

 out it, and that consequently he had sighted me a long way 

 off, and had reckoned up the full importance of Elvira on 

 my hat. 



However, the value of a chat with him is, that, at no ex- 

 pense, unless you suggest a glass of wine (he is too great a 

 swell for beer), you can pass in the eyes of the admiring 

 public for a member of the Club in whose grounds you are 

 standing. After this, you can walk with a prouder air. 

 Should the Signalman be your only acquaintance, and you 

 are not on speaking terms with members of the Royal Family, 

 or any of the noblemen and titled gentry, your time (this to 

 the reader) will hang a bit heavy on your hands, and I advise 

 you, as you value your holiday, to take the steamer for Ryde ; 

 for, after all, you are lost at Cowes ; Ryde is the better place 

 of the two, and from Ryde you can go anywhere by coast, 

 train, or boat, which you can't from Cowes. Your Represen- 

 tative was much struck by the smallness of the Island, and 

 everything in it. The whole thing is a toy. The Tramway, 

 to begin with, is a toy, brightly coloured, with a neat conduc- 

 tor. The little Railway Station is a toy ; so's the miniature 

 train, which should be wound up and go by clockwork instead 

 of steam. Then the hills, and the plains, and the bridge, and 

 the little people walking about, and the little shops and the 

 little shopkeepers, all toys, every one of them, and the whole 

 thing could be stowed away with nmch neatness and precision 

 in a few boxes such as the Germans make for toy-packing. 

 Shanklin is just what you'll see in one of the toyshop windows 



