The County Council has solved the great Mudford mystery by deciding in
favour of Mrs. ARBLE MARCH, who is in the seventh heaven at being the
Seventh Councillor. A wise Legislature had it in contemplation that
possibly when the great measure came to be worked, it might not
be found to act, however much you pulled the string, and it was
accordingly left to the County Council to set on its legs any poor
little Parish Council which might have been brought into the world
without its full number of members. Thus it came about that Mrs. MARCH
got elected. The actual circumstances of her election gave rise
to some comment. She was proposed by the Primrose League Ruling
Councillor of one adjoining parish, and seconded by the Knight
Harbinger of another. Our County Council is a strongly Tory body, and
she was easily elected. There was a great outcry against this, as an
act of political partisanship. It was. But when it became known that
Mrs. LETHAM HAVITT'S friends and supporters were all avowed Radicals,
popular indignation seemed suddenly to flicker out.
It may be, however, that the indignation only transferred itself to
me, for I myself have got, in a most extraordinary and unexpected
fashion, into a great hobble. It arose in this way. Having been
elected on to the Parish Council at the top of the poll, and
having, moreover, been subsequently the recipient of innumerable
congratulations from my fellow-parishioners, I not unnaturally--so I
still venture to think--desired in some way to show my appreciation of
the kind treatment I had received. I accordingly determined to make
to every elector a present of coals, and to carry out that intention
issued the following circular:--
_To the Electors of Mudford._
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,--For your kindness in electing me at the top of
the poll, I can find no terms sufficiently warm to express myself. In
commemoration of the great occasion, and as a small thankoffering for
my return, I beg your acceptance of the enclosed Coal Ticket, which
will entitle you to 2 cwt. of coal from any of the village coal
dealers.
Your obliged and obedient servant,