MR CHRISTIE MURRAY AND MR ST. MAUR.

Otago Witness, Issue 1901, 10 July 1890, Page 32

MR CHRISTIE MURRAY AND MR ST. MAUR.

By the Northern express on Tuesday evening Mr D. Christie Murray, the well-known author, returned to Ounedin, after a rather prolonged tour in the North. Mr Murray was accompanied by Mr H. St. Maur, who with his company, is announced to appear at the Princess Theatre on Wednesday evening in "Jim the Penman," In the course of a conversation with a representative of this journal, Mr Murray, in reply to questions, gave the following particulars of the manner in which he and his companion came to be left at Ashburton:—

I know all about the charms of early rising— ln theory— and I know something of its discomforts as a matter of food. We tested them on Monday, Mr St. Maur and I, turning out at 6 In the morning *o catch the early train for Ashburton, where St. Maur had business. We breakfasted at Henry's betel and awaited the arrival of the express for Dunedin. In due time it came, and in due time it went away— without us. When I am travelling I trust myself unreservedly to men who know what time ifc is, and who can find their way through the timetable, which is always a no-thoroughfare for me-a sort of impenetrable jungle. I relfed upon St. Maur, for I had heard him say that in the course of three and twenty years of travel he had never mlSHed a train, tit. Maur in turn relied upon a local gentleman who gave him a time eight minute* too fate. As we approached the station with our imagined five minute* in hand, the express started. At first we laughed at our own disappointment The St. Maur Company was advertised to appear on Tuesday evening, aay 180 miles away. That I suppose is about the distance from Ashhurfcon to Dunedin. Surely, said \, we can do that distance" somehow in nine and twenty hours. How about the trains J No train until the morrow, and that arriving a full hour after the advertised time of opening. A sympathetic bystander suggested a buggy to Tlmaru, and the boat from Timaru to Dunediu. We grasped at that promise of relief, the sympathetic bystander went away to bargain for a buggy, and a wire was sent to Timaru to discover the hour of the boat's departure. Reply, a'tor some delay, informed us that we had three hours In which to make BO mile* by road. General consensus of opinion that the distance could not be covered in less than eight. That hope was abandoned. Then the Bymp&thetio bystander, who was just as. interested and just as eager to be of service as if he had had a little fortune hanging on the enterprise, hinted at a speoial train. There we stood saved 1 A. speolai train by all means. We consulted the station master, who figured the thing out for us. Seventy-one pounds ten waß all the department asked for, but it was decided to do without the special train. Then, was it possible to drive the whole distance, changing the horses from time to time t We tried to figure that proposition out, and came to the conclusion that in the dead of night we should get nobody to turn out for ub to make ohanges, and we gave it up. Saint Maur groaned and said the delay would s poll his season. I consoled him, and promised to write the funniest account of the mishap whioh had ever been penned about anything. Everybody has noticed how excessively droll a mishap seems at the time of its occurrence. The spirits rise to meet it, and one laughs coDßumedly But in the daylight of next day the humourous aspeot of the thing somewhat vanishes, and there seems less fun in it than one fancied. The episode fairly bubbled yesterday, and to-day it is as fiat as stale ioda water. Again the lympathetio. bystander came, in. He

formed himself into a deputation, and, on behalf of the citizens of Ashburton, requested ub to lecture. At this proposal the palled spirits of the actormanager revived, and he undertook to work the show. He was ready to go round with a bell if need were, and advertise an event of suoh tranaoendent moment. The deputation of one became clamour-: ous. He found a fellow oltizen and doubled the deputation's forces. Before a representation l bo influential and numerous I felt compelled to yield, as I have known bashful politicians forced to do. I by way of preparation for the night's work went to bed and made up arrears of sleep, whilst the industrious entrepeneur bailed up the town, arresting men on horseback, drivers in buggies, and pedestrians with impartial vigour, and spreading the glorious news abroad. The deputation ot two took power to add to their number and became an executive advertising committee, and the efforts of the three hours left to them produced as good an audience, in point of quality, as I have ever had the pleaBure of addressing, and remarkable, all things considered, even for numbers. Of oourse our luggage had all gone on by the last express, and I had to appear in lounging tweeds upon the platform. You may laugh if you will, but my publio talks are so identified with my own appearance In evening dress that I was in doubt if I could remember my lecture in another suit of clothes. That feeling lasted until I had said " ladies and gentlemen," and then faded away entirely. The leoture was quite a success, and so you see, for once in a way. we " gathered grapes from thorns, and figs from thistles."