"HELD UP."

Evening Post, Volume LXXIV, Issue 108, 2 November 1907, Page 6

"HELD UP."

WAYLAID BY THE FAIR. IX A GOOD CAUSE. Tlio heart of man is sorely distracted in tlv 1 . stieets of Wellington today. At ', every corner stands a winsome- girl, gcnorally attractive!}* arrayed in white, and she says to the populace not "Hands up," but. "Hands in" to the pockets for j the shilling, the sovereign, the half- < ciowH, the sovereign that is so much ■ needed by the St. John Ambulance Association. Who can resist the appeal < that speeds from sparkling eyes and , roguish lips? Man falls an easy prey to the blandishments. In self-pTotection ho (or some ■of him) converts florins and i shillings into three-penny bits, and has i three-pennyworth of smile and sw&st ' "Thank you" all along the line. It is a day when the sun is expanding the heart of humankind. The sun is ' in league with the piomotcrs of the , great battue. The people to-day forgive other people therr tiespa-sses as they 1 hop.? themselves to be forgiven. The \ cold weather which might nave chilled , the generous impulse is far away— Eomewhoie down in the Antarctic re- J gion. The "blues" arc- all up in the heavens, and nob in the hearts of way- < farers. The barometer is up, and so are ■ the people's spirits. The ladies are irre- j sisiible, and' therefoio the cash is trek- < king steadily fTom pockets into the little boxes. i By quarter-past twelve the first watch < of the long day, "which began at 8.30, was over, and the coffers were being ] borne- into the secretary's temporary i office at the Town Hall. Tho contents of fourteen of the pTefcty little traps — a pile of silver, copper, and gold (three sovereigns and a half-sovereign) amounted to about £55. This was a good beginning. It looked as if the harvest would ran to something over £500. An army of ■ about 125 ladies ' is posted at most of the strategic points throughout th» town. They are not -ill on duty at once, but sufficient are on the stations to guard all tho principal arteries of traffic. A man may bo missed at one morner, bnt he will be caught at another, xio cannot go to the. General Post Office, he cannot stroll on to the wharf, he cannot go anywhere in particular without hning pleasantly hela up. His only safe refuge is a tram car, but to escape in this way he would be required to spend more in fares than would make a substantial contribution to the ambulance fund. Offices, too, have been cheerfully raided ; nobody lost a glimpse of the übiquitous box. The smilers are the ones whose boxes are the heaviest at the end of a vigil. A reporter who kept an eye on a corner was thoroughly convinced about the .commercial value of a good smile. On one side of the road stood a timid girl, who was rather inclined to hold her box as if it was a hot potato. Sho was mostly a graven image ; tho men passed by. Just opposite a droll, arch girl stooped to conquer. Her box was a musical instrument; her face wtis a .deadly battery. Many men surrendered yards before they came within the zone of fire, and had tho money ready. Others, who like the process of being cajoled by a nice voice, halted and affected to demur for a few moments, but' the cash was produced. "It is very hot," said one girl to | a reporter,' after she had been working in the sun for two or three hourcs, "but the people have treated me very nicely. They couldn't have been nicer. Even boys on milk carts threw pennies down, and even the boys who sweep the str'eete gave their mite.' 1 She, smiled at the recollection of -her successes with smiles. Her box held £8 or £9. REQUEST OP £500. The late Mr. M'Menainen, of Terawhiti, bequeathed. £500 to tho St. John Ambulance Association, to bs invested to provide funds for the employment of a nurse among the sick poor.