An escort of the 21st Hussars brings up the rear. Policemen follow,
and after them a stray mail-cart, a butcher's boy with his tray; after
that, not just the deluge, but the crowd.
"Oh, mamma!" says Willie, "the beefeaters didn't come! Nine of them
there are in my book, and a grand one going in front, blowing a
trumpet. And the man holding his thumb to his nose at the sheriffs;
and the policeman knocking a thief down with a staff! And the lord
mayor had no spectacles on. That's not fair! Do beefeaters eat lots of
beef, mamma?"
"Oh, no," says Charlie, with a superior air, "they are only sideboard
chaps."
Willie is still more puzzled, until he is told that in the olden time
servants so costumed used to stand by the sideboard, or buffet, as
it was called, at feasts, and so got the name of buffetiers, and by
degrees the name became changed into beefeaters, which was more easily
remembered by the people.
[Illustration: THE LORD MAYOR OF LONDON'S SHOW.]
From our window we could not, of course, follow the procession on its
winding way, nor had we seen it start.
Pages:
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98