“WHAT THINK YE OF LEWIS?”

Marlborough Express, Volume III, Issue 133, 29 August 1868, Page 6

“WHAT THINK YE OF LEWIS?”

Our P. D. is getting quite a genius—we almost begin to think that he is ambitious, and aspiring to our own position. This week he handed in the following as his latest production, with an intimation that he purposed writing an epic, or something of the kind, upon an occurrence in High Street:— “ The above question has almost become world-wide. It was first of all. Spoke in gentle accents, like the rippling wave of a summer sea, softly breaking on a sandy beach; it now thunders like the roar of the ocean, lashed into fury by the hurricane's blast. It was first of all confined to Australasia, and the Archipelago of the South, but the Overland Mail, and the Atlantic Telegraph Cable have excited an almost overwrought interest in the great question, and Caucasian, Mongolian, Malayan, Negro, North American Indian, and the Maoris, are now earnestly engaged in discussing daily the all-absorbing question—“ "What think ye of Lewis 1" The Yankees have arrived at the conclusion that Lewis is a natural-bom genius, and that he is a legitimate descendant of the inventor of wooden nutmegs. The English indignantly repudiate the assertion, and exult hysterically as they claim him for a countryman, the Maoris regard him (probably in consequence of the supernatural sound emitted from his whistle !) as the re-embodied spirit of Kereopa, and avert their heads with superstitious reverence, as they humbly slink past the Royal Telegraph Stables; the Persian immortalizs him in fable ; and the Spaniard sings his praises beneath the window of his lady’s chamber, to the silvery accompaniment of the guitar, and by the chastened sentimental light of the illustrious moon !!! And now, to his Marlborough patrons we will confide the grand secret, and set at rest the bewildering question. Lewis is a self-made man. If patience, industry, and indefatigability constitute genius, then, indeed, he is a genius, and the Yankees are right! As such he becomes a model and example for the rising generation, and the Blenheim Mutual Improvement Society should at once publish his life, and place it in their archives. When in the height of commercial panic, Lewis boldly defied fate, and reared the graceful structure known as “The Royal Mail Telegraph Stables,” in the midst of desolation; Alfred-street was regarded as little better than a “ back slum •" but the echo of his fame soon redeemed the locality, and it is now traversed by all the great functionaries of the land, who gaze with veneration upon Lewis’s block Of buildings, as they continually pass and re-pass. , None but the most accomplished “thoroughbreds,” are suffered to inhale the salubrious bjeezes of the R.M.T.S. Hairyf&oed men have long been discarded -■■ ■■ a large blot has obliterated the remainder of the M.S.S., which appeared to have ended in a gush of eloquence, written with a running accompaniment of tears. We shall expect Lewis to carry the Express to Picton all next year for nothing, after this infliction!