The scenery consisted of a table, a large chest, a heap of straw and a huge barrel.

The fun consisted in the clown, armed with a bladder on a string, hiding in the barrel, from which he would spring up and deliver a sounding drub upon the head of whatever other character--husband or policeman--might be passing, to their complete perplexity.

They were, of course, incapable of learning anything from experience.

At other times he hid himself or others in the straw, in the chest, or under the table.
When, in a country district such as this, one hears the laughter that greets so venerable a piece of pantomime, one is surprised that circus owners think it worth while to secure novelties at all.

The primitive taste of West Sussex, at any rate, cannot require them.
[Illustration: _Pulborough Church._].