UNKNOWN

Wairarapa Standard, Volume XX, Issue 2058, 22 April 1887, Page 2 (Supplement)

UNKNOWN

{!liS(-i:rc limits ami iJrroiuos ; \ ■] ; v;hi-..;tg!i a hideous London ! -dim ; :k- .d l.i;n [..= li.ire ami dicker in the wind. T1 h■ 1 1- >;irsl' li.nl;its shriek, tin’ 1.1 ". .I children cry .-;in!ly, from the jii-1 >l:c houses onne the contused babble of laughter and cursing and the rank wafts nf in-rid smoke. Hlmvzy women, draggled women, brazen women, drnnkon women pass you ; Ugly main nighthirda scowl at yu with savage eyes : foultnoutlied young' girls— mere children, alas ! salute you with impudent confidence and the night is full of rank odors and bleared lights. You enter a narrow alley, watching carefully the manoeuvres of the skulking creatures who slouch around with humped shoulders and evil gaze. A door opens and yon are in the midst of a strange assemblage. A bevy of women gather around some long tables and watch you with dull curiosity. Here is one who is pinched with hunger ; her thin fingers are knotty at the joints, her hair is woefully scanty, and she looks beaten, bloodless, sorrowful. Here is a bold creature who meets your look with a hard, brutal stare; she has hoard the chimes of midnight. Here is a specimen of the ordinary dirty, garrulous trollop so freely produced in the wilderness of London. Here is a mere female animal, a creature without soul, who sits callously glowering at vacancy. A coarse laugh sounds out harshly and thena<juiet voice, with the tone of a mellow bell, soars along the low room and instantly the disorder is stilled. You move to the head of the room and yuu are greeted by a white-haired woman dressed in black. Her eye is like steel, her lips arc composed, her forehead is very placid and her manners are the manners of a great lady. She is lit to move in any assembly in the world and her dignity would draw the eyes of men and women wherever she went. Jleautiful she has been and the exquisite remains of her fairness remind yon of some .splendid budding grown gray with stress of years. When she speaks, you hear that indefinable accent which is attained oiilv by people who live among ultra refined people from their earliest yens. A lady this of the highest breeding. mi feel as if you were in the presence of a ipieen. yet she puts you at ease instantly and falls into conversation with polished glac e. Witty she is in a subtle way ami her wit is so strangely blended .vitli pathos as to present a nniipie product of intellectual chemistry. She knows the world, and can liash out an occasional speech worthy of the saloon, ratio r than of this dingy shed; hut the rnimg aspect of iier face and the essential | tones of her voice are,those of one to I whom the allair.s of the world are of small moiiien'. She masters the evil assemblage in front of In-r, ami the boldest sail lliat ever disgraced her sex is reverential towards the grave, kind lady, whose will dominates all. As you talk, she tells you of her work. This refuge is open everv night for the homeless, and her duty is to help those wlio are poor, to heal "those who are sick, to raise with loving, mereifill Wolds and deeds those who are fallen. None are t-.o base for this lovely, all embracing charity. I’.nuances in plenty she can tell, and she does so with a soft, I matter of fact sweetness. Leery form of human wretchedness is known to her, and her eyes are lived day by day on sights of woe. Hoes she ever leave that fearful • pi.liter ; Never! Think of that, () discontented, puling foil; i Tins lady, who was once beautiful, rich, courted, 1 has given up all for the sake of working I hj, nclieciitly in (lie weary world, ami she ! passes her days in an appalling London | slum. Lords and ladies of hir own class see her, hut they remain only for a little | time : she sh-iys at her post with still eoti- | stairy, and hears the squalor, the ennui, i the lo iths.mic sights and .sounds, the roj cit.il of wringing ivmrds of misery. She j is content even to forego her name, and h- i very identity has perished from the I brilli nit world that once knew her. “ I ; am S.shr / 11 ill. ’.--he says,with a Courtly i .-.ode. ae.l that is all. Here is one who j 1 . an honor p, I. aid m, to Lnglsnd, to the j human rave, ioiini/ obscurely in a place where ci "I men of the belter class hardly dare veil'ure.

litc Circus and t'ircus Pcaplc.

1 T a.; taste for the circus i.-; reviving. In | Lug! ui.l, the good I’rincc of W ales docs ; not <l.v-s iiii the ling. Tine li tut lords and 1 s"I 'ire realm advocate equestrian i pv-iionii.if.ees, so whit luote can lie said of j p- ipniav l i.-te ! The pei'foi'aiera, alas ! arc 1 <i> ingoM. It rakes no long (o learn tho ! pfol. s-),,i. The artist must love it, and j woik at it night and d .v. He or slie. | must needs be prolieiem in all stages of i the wa.rk. On tho dra.maue hoards a pretty Woman with money, a little inllneiice, and even notoriety, with little or no talent, may succeed for a longer or a .1, -iter time, as happens. I’.nt the circus tider must have talent and arduona tra.intog. No lininhiig imposes on the public. Tilt artist ils<-.s or falls by his or her solid m.uii alone. Lots of people not only think that they can act mi tho theatrical Stage, hut they make others think so. Cnens people are. elanish, and generally inairyin their own profession, A lady mler may marry the ring-master, or the .down. Their children will m urv other I iiig-ma.-dcrs, downs, or riders in yet oilier cirrus t loupes. Acrobats and jugglers are the .same. They all keep within the ring, .-o to ..peak. ( ireus women are hong lived, like dam ers. They must keep their iiiii.dr.s const nitty in play. Tints they throw ..li disease, just as water slides olla (link .s back. They are abstemious as well. I bey must keep a dear head. There would bo no inebriate asylums if there were only i ire’isfolks m the World. The circus people gun electricity from being with horses so much. Ilmiee they are the maddest, mrr i test people in spuds ymt can imagine. They arc like a lot of children, honest, simple, allcetimiale. 'The writer inustemites. t" a hi-.mg bo the eiretis. A circus horse knows a good house, and waits for his applause like any other public per foiiner. The lady riders are a world by themselves. They seem to love their profession, winch, alas! is not the ease with many perfunctory dramatic artists. Then the down, how droll ho is. Arc his jokes •sometimes aged i Never mini), wo iangli ail over again. When he illl.s time, between the lours of the ring, to give space for the panting hi uses and their lelei’s jo hieatl.e anew, I never remember tint, the down ismily “ padding’‘after all. No, he s eins the natural sequence lo ’lie us l of the show..iin:.• asmiidi to he .v! dr,,! b, bd Wayas the handsome, b rid- r v,'e. liew throii Ji the a. |- , .

• YuU :;ce ’’ ■.II : n tin d I ■ uil man m> li-li.” A,',i !n : ' , ;il ad*<Vl -a d- ..1 uh-h(■i \. ,P 1 1 o. r. i n-, y'