Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1893-07-22

dance and becoming businesslike, "goin
anywhere Monday
Not along o you, cheeky. You go
long o Beller Dawson, like wot you did
Easter"
BLOW Beller Dawson; she amt no
good. I'm goin on the flats. Gomez
Lizerunt, delighted but derisive, ended
with promise to see" The bloke had
come at least, and she walked home with
the feeling of having taken her degree.
She had half assured herself of it two
days before, when Sam Cardew threw an
orange peel at her, but went away after
little prancing on the pavement.
Sam was smarter fellow than Billy
and earned his own living. Probably
his intentions were serious, but one must
prefer the bird in hand.
There is no other fair like Whit Mon.
days on Wanstead flats Here is a
square mile and more of open land where
you may howl at large. Here the pub.
lie houses are always with you; shows,
SHES, swings, merry -go-rounds, fried fish
stalls, donkeys, are packed closer than
on Hampstead Heath.
Also you may be drunk and disorderly
without being locked up, for the stations
won't hold everybody, and when all else
has palled you may set fire to the turf.
Hereinto Billy and Lizerunt projected
themselves from the doors of the Holly
Tree ON Whit Monday morning.
But through hours and hours of fried
fish and half pints both were conscious Of
deficiency. for the hat of Lizerunt
was brown and old, plush it was not, and
its feather was mere foot long and
very rusty black.
Now, it is not decent for factory girl
from Limehouse to go bank holidaying
under any but a hat of plush, very high
in the crown and of wild blue or a
wilder green, carrying also an ostrich
feather, pink or scarlet, or what not
that springs from the fore part, climbs
the crown and drops as far down the
shoulders as may be.
Lizerunt knew this and would have
stayed at home without bloke, but q
chance is u chance,
Billy. too had vague impression
muddled, but not drowned in half pints
that some degree of plush was con-
dign to the occasion and to his own ex-
/ penditure.
/ Still there was no quarrel, and the
/ pair walked and ran with arms about
each others necks, and Lizerunt
/ thumped her bloke ON the back at proper
/ intervals, SO that the affair proceeded
very regularly, although in view of Liz.
erunt's shortcomings Billy did not insist
upon the customary exchange of hats,
/ Everything went well and well enough
/ until Billy bought ladies' tormentor
and began to squirt it at Lizerunt.
/ For then Lizerunt went scampering
madly with piercing shrieks until her
/ bloke was left some little way behind,
! and Sam Cardew, turning up at that
moment and seeing her running alone in
I the crowd, threw his arms about her
| waist and swung her round him again
and again as he foundered this way and
I that among the SHES and the hoky poky
/ barrows.
'''Ullo, Lizer. Where are Y a-comin
| to? If | admit laid old o YER
But here Billy Chope arrived TO de
mand what Sam Cardew was doing with
I his gal Now. Sam was ever reader for
fight than Billy was, but the sum Of
Billy's half pints was large, wherefore
the fight began.
/ On the skirt OF the hilarious ring Lizor
runt, after some small cutlery, triumphed
aloud. Four days before she had no
| blode. and here she stood with two. and
these two fighting for her! Here in the
public gaze on the 1atsl For almost
Eve minutes she was Helen of Troy,
/ And in much less Billy tasted repent
ance. The haze of half pints was dis
PEELED, and some teeth went with it.
/ Presently he rose and made a running
/ kick at the other. but being thwarted in
I bolt flung himself down, and it was
/ like to go hard with him at the hands Of
1 tie crowd. Punch, you may, on Wan.
fted flats, but execration and worse is
your portion il YOU kick anybody except
/ your wife.
But as the ring closed the helmets Of
/ two policeman were observed working
I inward above the surrounding heads,
and Sam Cardew, quickly assuming his
/ coat, turned away with such an air Of
I blamelessness as is practicable with q
damaged eye. while Billy went of I'M
/ Needed in the opposite direction.
I Billy was all very well, but Sam was
! better. She resolved to draw him for o
I feathered hat before next bank holiday.
I So the sun went down on her and her
/ bloke hanging on each others peeks and
( struggling toward the Romford road
with shouts and choruses. The rest was
tramcar, low music hall, half pints and
/ darkness.
I Billy took home his wounds. and his
mother, having moved his wrath by ask
/ ing their origin, sought refuge with
neighbor. His revenge be accomplished
/ in two installments. Two nights Later
/ Lizerunt was going with jug Of beer
when somebody sprang from park cor
ner, landed her under the car, knocked
her sprawling and made off to the sound
Of her hullabulloo. She did not see who
II was. but she knew, and next day Sam
I Cardew was swearing he'd break Billy's
/ back
He did not, however, for that evening
gang Of seven or eight fell on him with
sticks and belts. They were Causeway
I chaps. while Sam was Brady's laner,
which would have been reason enough
BY itself. even if Billy Chnpe bad NOT
been one OF them.l
I He lay at home for nearly four weeks,
and when he stood up again it was in
many bandages. Lizerunt came often
/ TO his bedside. and twice she brought an
orange.
But the weeks went on Ii was q
month, and Sam had left his bed, and
Lizerunt was getting little tired Of
bandages- Also she had begun to doubt
and consider bank holiday scarcely q
1 fortnight on
| Fer Sam was stone broke. and plush
hat was farther away than ever. And