OF AN ONLY CHUB 231 



Otherwise they would wreck halls, and all de- 

 struction of property is to be deprecated. There- 

 fore Purfling, by saving the halls from destruction, 

 plays a useful part, and there are too few useful 

 men. I too am a useful man. By abstaining 

 from addressing meetings I too save halls from 

 destruction. For all these reasons I will spare 

 Purfling. 



The chevin then is, and shall be further, un- 

 masked. James Lavender shall be told and every- 

 body else. I will spread it about. I will tell 

 the men who touch their hats when we meet in 

 the village of an evening. Instead of saying " A 

 fine night" or "a wet evening" I will say 

 "There is a chevin by the bridge. Tell it out." 

 So the thing shall be known to all users of the 

 bridge. I would, were I competent in lettering, 

 inscribe a signboard thus " It is only a chevin," 

 and set it up on the bridge end. But I cannot 

 letter nicely and I must depend on the mouth- 

 to-mouth method. James, son of Joe, and others 

 who go that way will in future look over-rail 

 upon a chevin and will know what they see. And 

 they will spit upon the chevin. If they do not 

 I will pay them till they do. And the chevin 

 will know himself unmasked and the envious 

 blood of him will turn black with rage, and he 

 will float belly up, and the shrimp will eat him. 



