THE WESTMINSTER AQUARIUM.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12070, 13 September 1902, Page 5 (Supplement)

THE WESTMINSTER AQUARIUM.

AN ELEGY.

[by scrykyor.]

'I'm Aquarium is doomed. So I see in an English paper. And doomed in favour of something so austerely respectable as a Great Central Wesleyan Hall, or something of the kind.

To the colonial the words "Westminster Aquarium'' probably convey less than Westminster Abbey. Certainly there was always something incongruous about their proximity. liven as a boy 1 wondered how if, was that two national institutions of such a different character came to stand almost at. nodding distance. But it seemed one of the anomalies of the Constitution, and troubled me as little, by the time I had pushed open the swing doors and entered —the Aquarium.

Perhaps some will smih maliciously to hear the Aquarium spoken of in these terms of respect sorrow. Yes. I know tli.; Aquarium has "a past;" 1 know that 'r..< good name is tarnished and that evil things are spoken of it. But the Aquarium of my memory is a child's playground, where no evil has entered in. You pushed open the swing doors and you were in a bewildering palace, of enchantment. Let me try to picture it. I remember nothing until' the turnstile was passed and vet were free of Fairyland for the modest 'sum of a shilling. The first thing that struck you was the atmosphere. The Aquarium had a savour of its own. reader. So far as I remember the first sensation that reached you as you stood taking in the scene was'of a properly "watery" kind —perhaps by virtue of the management, No one could say on entering: "Why Aquarium'.'"' tor the first thing one saw was half a dozen glass tanks of fishes and corals put away in convenient corners, and then came that whiff of saltiness I mistake not —an ocean breeze in miniature borne on a gust of warm air. After that cr.me a rush of mingled odourssawdust and tan, the theatre" Japanese, fans, assorted scents, sandalwood, new toys, and silk dresses. Sounds are the next impression that tickle my memory as I grope my v.av baekwuids, an even more characteristic medley than the smells. You hear a piano jingling far away in some dee]) echoing galfery : you hear nearer at hand the tinkling of a "music-box : then whistles breaking in, the kind of whistle that grows on the end of a toy whip, or perhaps the bleating of a tin trumpet or the rattling of a tambourine ; voices keep up an undertone of sound, with here and there a laugh nearer or farther away, and the trample of many feet on the wooden flooring. An organ bieaks in from other echoing recesses, or an orchestra if there is a performance; then there may be the cracking of a whip or the calls of acrobats; and everything echoes in great cavities of gallery and dome, and behind it all there is that dull muffled roar of the ocean that beats night and day along the stony causeways of London.

As for the sights that distracted your eves in every direction —and all for a shilling don't know whether my pen is eoual io it. 'fry to imagin/c, reader, a vast hall, or a ilor.en vast halls all converging into one (this is the impression on a child's inclination —:t may have been shabby enough'), and filled and rendered confusing with overhead galleiies and stalls of every description of useless vendible called "fancy,"' and side doors., and tanks, and curtains, and corridors, and printed encouragements to see. or buy, or pay extra, and vistas of long walks among the stalls, with effects of light and shade—the light coming down from a glass dome somewhere in the middle and high overhead, under which there were trapezes and acrobats' gear hanging in mid-air, dizzy platforms and narrow" footrt.-ts, and down below chairs ranked bet ore a stage. My words are feeble to paint tin glories of the place. The stalls alone would till pages, all kept by beautiful young ladies, who offered you tovs. or lace, or musical instruments, or spun-glass ornaments, or Japanese fans, or corn-erasers. You could have your name set in a rubber stamp, or your portrait cut in black paper by a professional silhouettist (the last of his" race. 1 should think), or watch artistes in sweetmeats preparing ions specialties Then a bull tings, and somewhere or other there is a side show, a phrenologist lecturing on a, reformed burglar's head, or a, '•professor" of some ■weird American black art. And then there are. the gloric of the performance, with endless varieties of artistes, jugglers, and clowns, ghastly hair-raising episodes in mid-ail on those terrible trapezes (which we always regarded with a feeling that was move terror than joy. and yet was joy on the whole). Then, again, there were the side-shows, with a live whale in a tank (or was it a shark, or a seal:), and freaks of other kinds, and the swimming-bath, and the celebrated Beckwith family, who - But my pen is running away. It is time 1 bade a last farewell to the Aquarium and its pleasures. It may rise again elsewhere, but what is a rechauffe? I have no heart am' no desire to anticipate such a thing. The Aquarium of my boyhood is a thing now that no '"after impressions'' can violate of mutilate or destroy. It is better so.

"Johnnie, your hair is wet. You've been swimming again." "'I fell in. ma!" " Nonsense; your clothes are perfectly dry!" " Yes'm. I knew'd you didn't want me to wet 'em, so I took 'em off before I fell in." Smith: "What happened to JohnsonV" Jones: "He was in a terrible railway accident yesterday." Smith : " You don't say so. Was he much hurt?" Jones : " No, fortunately he escaped with only a few scratches on his face." Smith: "Lucky fellow. How did it occur?" Jones: "Well, in the tunnel." Smith: "In the tunuei?" Jones : "Yes. He kissed the wrong gir«." One of the survivors of the Martinique disaster has arrived at Paris. This is a doll, no doubt the delight of some little Martiniquaise. On its skirt were the words "Primary School of St. Pierre (Martinique." If dolls could speak what a terrible history this particular one might unfold !

NEW ZEALAND IS A FREE COUNTRY. Have your bicycle made free by getting: a good free wheel fitted to it. Skoates Cycle Co. have the largest and best assortment in town.