A TRUE STORY OF THE STREETS.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3997, 14 May 1884, Page 4

A TRUE STORY OF THE STREETS.

Tho other morning two gentlemen were looking out of tho window of a house Avhen they observed a cabbage roll off a market Avaggon that Instantly over a dozen well-dresfed and apparently sane persons began yelling after the waggon, as though the vegetable had been a gold watch. The driver stopped, looked back at the cabbage, yawned, and drove on. "AVhat an absurd fuss, people in the street mako over trivial occurrences," said one of the gentlemen. "Now, I'll bet a silk hat I could get a crowd of five hundred persons around that cabbage inside of thirty minutes, and yet not leave this room."

" I take the bet," said his friend, pulling out his watch. '' Are you ready ?''

"Yes ; give the word." "It is now 11.30. Go!"

The proposer of the wager led his friend to tho window, threw up the sash, and taking a cane, pointed earnestly at the mud-covered cabbage with a terrified expression.

Presently a cabdriver noticed the action, and began to stare at the vegetable from the kerbstone, and then a bootblack stopped, then a bill-poster, a messenger-boy, and a merchant.

" AVhat's the matter P" inquired a German, approaching the innocent base of his national dish.

"Don't touch it ! Look out there ! Stand back !" shouted the gentleman at tho window. .

At his horror-stricken tones the crowd fell back precipitately, and formed a dense circle around the innocent cabbage. Hundreds came running.up and the excitement increased rapidly.

"Look out there !" frantically screamed the bettor waiving his cane. "Take that dog away quick !"

Several stones Avere throAvn at a cur that Avas sniffing around the cabbage.

"Take care!" said a cabdriver to a policeman, who was shouldering his way through the mass. " It's an infernal machine, nitro-glycerine—or something."

Meanwhile the pavement was blocked, tho street became impassible, women screamed and rushed into the shops, and a shopkeeper began to tie a bucket on the end of a long pole Avith Avhich to pour Avater on the doA'ilish invention.

The crowd by this time numbering over a thousand, the two gentlemen moved away from the window and sat down. In a few moments there was a hurried tap at tho door, and there appeared a man who had been sent as a delegate from the mass meeting outside.

"1 should to know, gentlemen, Avhat the facts aro," he said. " AVhat facts ?"

" AVhy, what there is peculiar about that cabbage out there ?" " Nothing in the world," Avas the soft reply, " except that it seems to bo surrounded by about a thousand of the biggest fools in town. Do anything else for you ?"

The man reflected a moment, said he thought not, and retired. —Tit Bits.