And Lost It.

Otago Witness, Issue 2252, 29 April 1897, Page 52

And Lost It.

The old adage, "There's many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip," is once more exemplified in the following : —

There once prevailed in a certain town an old custom of giving a clock to any person who would truthfully swear he had minded his own business alone for a year and a day, and had not meddled with his neighbour's. Many pub in a claim, but few, if any, gained the prize, which was more difficult to win than the famous Dunmow flitch of bacon. Though they swore on the four gospels, some little hitch was sure to bo found poaQewhere ; and for all their assertions the clock remained stationary on its shelf, no one being able to prove his absolute immunity from interference in things not in any 1 w&y concerning himself. At last a young man came with a perfectly clean record, and the clock seemed as if ib were about to change owners. Teen remarked the custodian :

" Oh, a young man was here on Wednesday, and he made pretty sure he was going to win the clock — but he missed." Said the'prize-seeker :

" And why didn't he get it ? "

"WhaVsthatto you?" snapped the other t " that's not your business, and — you don't get the clock ! "