The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-02-18 00:00:00

"PUNCH AND JUDY' UNDER EXTRA-

ORDINARY CIRCUMSTANCES!

The Special Correspondent of the Standard has sent the
following graphic sketch if an adventure, the romance of
which will scarcely fall to interest the reader:—

It was a long and dreary journey from Arras up to
Calais. What ought to have been but the affair of two
or three hour. occupied • day and a night. The trains
were in a state of melancholy bewilderment, and the
engines seemed to have lost all their old dash and
animation. The few that had the intelligence to stop
for passengers were so crowded with troops that for
hours it was hopeless to dream of obtaining a seat. At
last, after interminable hours of crawling, we stopped
at a little station near Hazebruck, when we were in.
formed there would be a delay of four or five hours. It
was near midnight—no bee' or lodging of any kind
in view for milen, and the cold, one of those things,
as Little Toddlekins says, "more easily imagined
than described." A young artillery officer, who
had been travelling with me from Douai, began
to complain of hunger, and it made me remember
that I hail not eaten for eight or nine hours. By a
wonderful piece of luck I was the fortunate possessor
of one of those iuventions I shall evermore reverence
—the half of • roll of somebody's concentrated essence
of beef-tea. Being no house near I proposed to eat it
as it was, but the culinary instinct of my companion
was sublime. He borrowed • tin pot from one of the
engine drivers, and cutting dainty slices from the roll,
mixed them with some lumps of ice, for of water there
was none, and with the aid of a little black bread, that
would have been the better for a thaw, some salt and
pepper, finally placed the pot on the dying embers of
the engine fire. In ten minutes or so a delicious
fragrance stole kindly out of the little tin vessel is
which all our hopes were centred, and in &esteeming
basin of delicioun soup we drank the health of the
inventor and showered blessings on hie head.
It was something more than chance that then aug-
gested to us the idea of occupying the hours that re-
mained in a brink walk of some miles along a country
road. The night was radiant with brightness—the
snow glistening under the white 1110011, and the whole
country beaming with an irresistible invitation to come
and look at it. In a short time we had left the little
station far in the distance, and after about an hour's
brisk walking, we all of a sudden stopped short at
something we saw on the side of the roes!. The first
glimpse in the indistinct light, for it was under the
' shadow of some trees, made me think it was a sentry-
box—only it was so lofty that it would have required a
soldier of at least ten f.et high to oacupy it. I re-
marked this to my friend, but he answered with charm-
ing naivete that there were very big men in France.
But the next instant a curious feeling of recognition
stole upon me, only it made no, think I must be
dreaming. However, I went straight up to it, and
then saw, what any street boy in London would
have known on the daikest night, and at any distance.
Notwithstanding the almost wild improbability, there
it stood, in the middle of a long lonely country road,
like a goblin waiting for an appointment, the old and
unmistakeable original Flinch and Judy. The poor
thin rag of green bsize, that wan wont to veil the
mysteries of the performance wee drawn tightly round
theism wooden pillage, era a pitiful Mime to keep

—out the cold; but—thiTiale stage -i-vas iriedir open,
with a desolate, vacant expression, that wan strangely
like a threatre when the lights are pot out, The
miniature window on the left, so exclusively devoted
to the thrilling " businees 'of the clown, and through
which he first appears to the intense rapture of the ex.
pectant audience, wee hanging on a broken hinge.
Close by was the big drum and a little way beyond
the ashes of a fire that had long gone out. Seeing
no sign of life, I I tilled open the covering, for a sadden
fear came upon me ; but the noise awoke two men, who
had been sleeping the ground, crouching between
some boxer, does to one another in the abeisliite neces-
sity of warmth. In the same of one lay a little dog, so
weak and benumbed with cold that it had not even the
strength to bark at us.
Before we let them tell a word of their story, or
explain the situation, we set to and lighted a glorious
fire, and in almost less time than it takes to de-
scribe, a gipey kettle was swinging over the crackling
wood, filled with the remainder of our essence of beef
and fresh ice from the fl aided fields. The little dog
was placed on an old coat close to the heat, and then
we four sate mead the fire ; end what a strange scene
it was! So strange that at times I could barely
realise it, as I looked at the brightening faces of
the two London strollers. But the officer showed
not the least surprise in the world. Camp life was
his specialite, and he took it quite as a matter of course
--busying himself heaping more wood on the fire, and
adding to the contents of the kettle from the seemingly
inexhaustible roll. When the soup was ready neither
of the men would taste it, till the little performing dog
had hippie' up many mouthfuls. It is impossible to
tell how touching and mar ly this action seemed, and
how it silently drew !tato the two vagabonds. There was
no mistaking their appetite and relish when once they
began, and it made us hungry again looking at them.
At last, when the soothing tobacco had gone round,
I ask rd them what on earth had brought them over to
France and in such fearful timer? " You ate, sir,"
said one of them, " we heord the theayters was closed,
and we fancied somehow the French would be 'and up
for amusement. Taint the first time we've been in
the country. Me and my pardner, Richard Tweak
by name, sir, we was three summers running in Nor-
mandy and 13rittany. Not as we was in the drama
then, but in the acrobat and sitgleg business. We
knows enough of the language, especially money, to
get along ; but this time it's as much sympathy,
you see, sir, as speculation. Me and my pardner
we don't agree with the Government, which we
considers low, and me and Tweak we're a showing of
it to the French." And then he described to us, some.
times diverging into eccentric French for the benefit
of my companion, how they had wandered down from
the sea, into the heart of the country, through
numberless villages and hamlets, where they had
always been kindly received, never encountering
surpicion or distrust, but always a gentle welcome.
And the quick dramatic instinct of the people had
eoozed in a moment the idea of the entertainment,
all' I appreciated it with childish delight.
It would till many pages were I to repeat their odd
adventures and the amusing incidents of their journey.
The young officer lay on the ground, playing with
Toby, for whom the tire and hot drink had done won•
dem hut all the time listened with eagerness to the
stroller's tale. It was a wonderful story, and full of
the deepest interest, and I could not help thinking
what a chartnimr opportunity it would have been to
make a tour with them, and what facilities one would
have for discerning the real feelings of the people about
the war.

Tweak was in ITO a man of thought, and smile but
little. Once he told us a etory of a namesske of bin
(on odd name by the bye), who had died on a desert
shore. It was a little dismal, but then he wee the
man who performed in the drum and pipes. But he
had a sib nt reverence for his " pardner," who ha I
wonderful powers of narration that many would
have envied, and whose descriptions were no vivid
and lifelike that you saw the picture in a
moment. One ntglit, after they had ttu. Iged across
country for several hours, they missed the dog.
They were almost hearth, iiken at the lose, and wan-
dered about during three days and nights, making in-
quiries and searching ler his, This very evening,
just as it began to grow dark, they found him crawl-
ing along the road, which they had passed by a week
back, almost dy lug of hunger, and even unable to eat
the hard dry breed which was remaining of their day's
provisions. " I do not know what the figures woull
have done without him, sir," said the man, "tie and
the doctor had such beautiful business together."
It was no: till the night had glided into the grey of
the coming morning, and the last star had reluctantly
retired, that we thought of going back to the station.
I felt a strange, almost sad regret, at parting with the
two homeless vagabonds with whom we had become so
suddenly friend,, and whose eccentric notion of sy
pathy contrasted not a little oddly with the opposite
sentiments of many of their country people, even
though living in France. They were going in an opposite
direction, but insisted before they went. o giving saloon
performance for the Iniinefit of the French officer. It
was impossible to refuse, for it was an evident
expression of their gratitude for our slight hospitality,
Surely, never before was Pucch and Judy witnessed
under such extraordinary circumstances. There was
just enough light to distinguish, but nothing more.
The green cloth was adjusted, and Richard Tweak
struck up the overture on the pipes and drum just as if
he were before a large audience in Tottenhamicourt road.
And there were only the French artilleryman and my,
self, standing in the middle of the read, in a strange
country covered with snow, far from any human habis
tation, and beginning to shiver a little with the c 4d.
It was so odd to hear the first shrill noted of Punch
ring out on the silent road; and hid first appearance
throush the still lingering darkness had eomethieg mu it
positively gloat-like. The little dog was yet too ill to
perform, but he wagged his tail weakly once or twice,
as if in deprecation of tie absurdii y of the entertain-
ment without his co-operation. My companion was
jest as delighted as any small boy, and when it was
over, forced on the men—who were most unwilling to
accept it—the price of two stalls at the opera. Two
minutes later we had shaken hands with them, and
were on our way to the train—often turning back with
a lingering look at the wooden theatre slowly din.
appeasing through the long grey shadows on the ri ad.