Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-10-17
Our Visit to Oxford Circus.

The day after our ARRIVAL in Lo,,,.
was Thad's birthday, and anon. IN
presents he received was a BRIGHT WI, es
sovereign, which father said he m3;~b.
spend as he pleased.
"Now, Thad," I observed, with ~,
kindest 'elder-brotherly" air, .remem'
Der this is your day, and that YOU car
do or buy Just what you like"
For an instant or two he made 40 ro-
ply. Then he suddenly broke out:
'Say, Max, this is Saturday, isn':itm
eyes"
"Wcll then, said Thad, draw,ns .
long breath rs he handed me his Sow
cre:gn, 81 want you to take me to tha
Oxford Circus. See, the omnibus that's
just stopped owe there goes right nv
it, and we'll be in time for tie maj.
ince.n
ooh, what a cherub of a br,thern
was my inward thought, as Selling thu
money in one hand and Thad in tha
other, I started for the bus.
We managed to reach it before #
moved on, and scrambled to the seats
on the roof i'll high glee. Suddenly il
occurred to me that 1 had not vet in.
quired whether we were going in the
proper direction.
''How stupid!!" ! reflected, as 1 shout.
cd to the conductor to tell me how far
it was to Oxford Circus.
r 'Hit the hother way" he replied.
with a grin, rs he caugh! me by the left
leg, which | was about to plant on "a.
cancy in my eagerncss 60 descend.
He helped Thad down, and then wa
both stood impatientl7 on the sidewalk.
waiting for another bus. going the 9th.
or way. with "Oxforh Circus on it 10
come along. At lag: we saw one. and
got in.
And now Thad began to grow anx.
ious lest we should be late for the per
Torrance, which it was natural to sun.
pose would commence at two. 1t was
ten minutes past tina. hour when wa
heard the cry "Hoxford Circus."
"Whcre is it?' l ventured to ask 81
we got down.
"Why. 'ere." replied the conductor.
"Well, I don't see anything that
looks like a circus building OF tent
either; do you, Thadp"
"No; but p'r'aps it's down one of
these streets a little way" he suggest
ed. dispose you ask somebody, Max"
Accordingly l stepped in front OF an
old gentleman who was walking rather
slowly, and said: eff o please, sir;
will you tell me where the Oxford Cr-
Gus is?"
"Just down this street, half a square
from here, my son." he answered,
pleasantly.
l thanked him, hurried Thad along,
and when we reached the sort of square,
looked carefully at every building
within sight, but not a flaming circus
poster nor even a plain circus sign could
[ see.
"Oh, hurry. Maxi" pleaded Thad.
Spurred OF to renewed eNertions BY
this entreaty, [ stopped a passer-by and
renewed my query.
"Here it is" was the reply: and the
man waved his hand carelessly in the
direction of the building in front Of.
which we had been standing, and
passed on.
I glanced up and saw on the corner
of what L had taken for a simple re-
tail store, the words: "Oxford Circus"
"a piece of stupidity in me-" I re-
Elected, as we entered the shop. "Of
course l mustn't expect to find every
thing exactly as it is in America
And walking up to M of the counters,
| threw down the sovereign and asked
for two tickets.
1.-TWO WHAT" exclaimed the clerk,
who was a short young man with q long
head.
'Why, two circus tickets" l re-
f,,ron1 -, ~ 1,,,lo, 4>-o How much,
are they?"
"Circus tickets?' repeated the.
man, staring at me as if J.
were one OF the genie in the Arabian
Nights just coming out of the bottle.
''What circus?"
"Why, Oxford Circus, of course
And l tried to look as offended as posi-"
bic at the disrespectiul manner in
which felt my eleven years were be-
ing treated.
sob, no, no, no! ha, ha, ha?' he
suddenly burst forth. 'sThis is .
Mourning-Goods shop. 'Jackson'sE En-
porium OF Mourning Goods at your
service, young man. Have you losI
any friends recently? If so, Wen tit
you out, only we mostly deal with Ia
dies:'' and then began stufling his hand
kerchief down his throat to stop another
tit OF mirth, while he slapped himsel
on one knee, then on the other, as II 10
drive the joke into each SIDE OF his
body.
Naturally I became very indignant
while Thad, foreseeing that he ~ss
likely to miss the performance entirely
began to cry. l picked up the sovei,
cign and gave it back to him, wa
about to lead the way out OF the s1oie
through millions Of yards OF ola1 I
Grape, bombazine, and all the hao'l,,
ments of woe that ladies wear, When
the clerk recovered breath enough "
explain that Oxford Circus meant sl'nf
ply the circle formed by the junction.
Oxford with one or two other stree"
and that. But I. did not wait 10 he''
any more. n
81 might Just as we'll be in Germany
or France,'I reflected, bitterly as wv
rode back to the hotel; ''if l can uD
derstand my own language"
Father thought the affair alnlosv in
good q joke as q former adven'ufe
Berlin, but he promised to Jake us ~.
real show and let Thad keep the 'o u