MB. TOOLE'S PRACTICAL JOKES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 9497, 28 April 1894, Page 2 (Supplement)

MB. TOOLE'S PRACTICAL JOKES.

HOW HE WAS REPAID. In Sala's Journal we find the following amusing story :—

Mr. "Johnnie" Toole, I have just discovered, has lately been very busy again at playing off practical jokes on unsuspecting friends. A few weeks ago I was very much pleased at receiving a nice little hamper from Northampton, which upon examination proved to contain a beautiful Melton pie, two pounds of delicious looking sausages, and a plum cake. Inside the lid of the hamper was a strip of paper, on which was inscribed, " With Mrs. William Black's kind regards to G.A.S. and Partner." Two days afterwards I called upon my nearly next-door neighbour, Mrs. Black, to thank her for her seasonable little present, but was disappointed to find that the partner oi the great novelist was nob at home. The following evening I was just about to write our thanks when a note was handed in from Mrs. Black thanking us for a beautiful Melton pie, sausages, and plum cake which we had sent them from Northampton. I could make nothing at all of the mystery, so determined to wait until I could see Mr. and Mrs. Black, and ascertain from them if they had a clue to the generous individual who was acting as the medium for our apparently mutual gifts. When at the festive board of the author of " Highland Cousins," the interesting novel now running in the Graphic, I learnt that the practical joker was an old and mutual friend, " The Best Man," now appearing nightly at Toole's, hard by the Strand. Mr. Toole had certainly the best of me, for I had not the slightest idea he was the perplexing donor of the Melton pies when I travelled up in the Pullman car with him a fortnight ago. He was perfectly grave when he casually asked me " if I had seen our friends the Blacks lately" ; neither was there the faintest suspicion of a twinkle in his eye when I replied in the negative, and he remarked that " he had not been able to look in at Paston House either." Mr. Toole little knew what was awaiting him that day in town. It appears that Mr. Infield, of Brighton Theatre Royal and Sussex Daily iNews renown, and Mr. William Black were strolling along the Marine Parade together, and upon Mr. Black relating to Mr. Infield the story of the " Black and Sala Melton Pork Pie Mystery," the managing director of the Theatre Royal, Brighton, in common parlance " blew the gaff" by exclaiming, "Now I know why Toole wrote to ask me for the exact addresses of you and Sala ! He must have sent the pies from Northampton|!" It is said that a Scotchman, particularly a Highlander, can hold his own even with a Toole in the trumping of ever such a clever practical joke. Early in the after* noon of the day when Mr. Infield solved the mystery which surrounded the Melton pies, Mr. William Black sallied forth to the nearest telegraphic office, and despatched the following message to Mr. John Lawrence Toole Wife and I delighted; accept your invitation for dinner to-night. Coming by five train. Wire if evening dress." \ Back came a hurried message from the King William-street comedian :— " For goodness sake, don't start. Some mistake; no dinner, no evening dress, no nothing, but old enemy, the gout. Wire me explanation about dinner invitation. Can't possibly entertain." , " Melton pies, sausages, and plum cake," replied the author of "A Daughter of Heth."