Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 99, December 27, 1890Various
General
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 99, December 27, 1890
Various
English wit and humor -- Periodicals
It was now morning, and the old abbey stood out in grand outline
against the glorious scarlet of the setting sun. Entering an inn,
I called for refreshment for man and beast, and, having authority
for considering myself qualified to act as representative of both,
consumed the double portion. Thinking about the whiskey I had just
discussed, as I rode along, I came to a milestone, standing on its
head, and a sign-post in the last stage of hopeless intoxication. It
was here that a police constable turned his lantern upon me with a
pertinacity that apparently was calculated to challenge observation.
Annoyed, but not altogether surprised, I declared my opinion that it
was "all right," and fell asleep. When I awoke, I found that I had
travelled some hundreds of miles, and, strange to say, my horse was as
good as when it had started. From what I could gather from the signs
on the road (I have been accustomed to Forestry from my earliest
childhood), it seemed to me that, while I was slumbering, I must
have passed Macclesfield, Ramsgate, Richmond (both in Surrey and
in Yorkshire), and was now close to the weirdest spot in all
phantom-populated Wiltshire--a place in its rugged desolation
suggestive of the Boundless Prairies and BUFFALO BILL--Wild-Westbury!
Greatly fatigued, I entered a second inn, and enjoyed a hearty meal,
which was also a simple one. I am a liquidarian, and take no animal
or vegetable food, and have not tasted fish for nearly a quarter of a
century.
When I wished to continue my journey to Bath, I found _Cats'-meat_
so disinclined to move, that I thought the best thing to do in the
interest of progress, was to carry him myself. He was very light--so
light that I imagined the automatic weighing-machine must have been
out of order when I tested it. Almost in a trance I walked along,
until, stumbling, I fell, and dropped _Cats'-meat_ into a well. And
then another strange thing happened. The horse with its jet-black tail
and mane, emerged from the water as white as snow! Apparently annoyed
at the treatment to which it had been accidentally subjected, it
fled away, and I lost sight of it amongst the hills that overlook
Wild-Westbury. And then the strangest thing of all happened, and has
been happening ever since!
[Illustration: Interesting to the Medical Profession. "The Annual
Indigest."]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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