BREAKING THEIR HEARTS.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume VII, Issue 2, 10 January 1891, Page 20

BREAKING THEIR HEARTS.

For the first three weeks we had an old kicker at our hotel. He wasn’t a general kicker, but only kicked on one thing—the sashes worn by the lolly-pop young men who came down to mash the sea. The instant one showed up on the veranda the old kicker would make up to him and whisper:— ‘ If it hasn’t run too long I can cure you in a week.’ ‘ What ?’ ‘ Your rupture. I see you wear a truss. Never saw one worn outside before, but it may be a good idea.’ ‘ This is no truss. This is a sash. ’ ‘ Oh—aw—excuse me. Thought it was something new in trusses. Then you aren't ruptured ?’ ‘ No, sir.’ ‘ So much the better.’ An hour later he would make up to the same chap again and inquire ‘ Rapture any better ?’ ‘ Didn’t I say I had no rupture ?’ ‘ Oh—aw—certainly. But you still wear a truss, I see. ’ ‘ Truss ! This is a sash !’ ‘Oh, I see ! Yes, yes !’ And on the second day of his stay that sash would disappear, never to be seen again. The old kicker worked this trick on twenty of them, and the day he went away we presented him with an address and escorted him to the railway station.