DONCASTER REMINISCENCES 247 



yourself to something you prized very much and 

 which was not valued at all by the present 

 proprietor. On one particular tumble-down 

 door hard by the High Street in Doncaster are 

 half a dozen of the old recorders I covet. No one 

 seems to take notice of them, nobody takes any 

 care of the memorials. I now and then wonder 

 whether it would be any good offering new doors 

 for old, or offering to purchase the ancient stuffy 

 stall. Quite sure am I that opening overtures 

 for buying the plates themselves would be no 

 sort or manner of use, because the price would at 

 once jump right beyond the length of my tether. 

 No sooner do you approach a deal for a fancy 

 article than it soars and soars, and, damn it ! it 

 soars, as the Yankee said of the American Eao^le 

 when he endeavoured to make a speech. The 

 only way with a chance for you in it is to go to 

 work on the lines of the well-known bric-a-brac 

 dealer who, seeing priceless vases in a house to 

 be let furnished, successfully negotiated purchase 

 of the whole establishment, freehold, furniture, 

 fittings, fixtures, stock, lock, and barrel and all. 



