RUS IN URBE
A Sketch in Regent's Park.
"They ain't on'y a lot o' sheep! I thought it was Reciters, or somethink o' that."
Scene—A railed-in corner of the Park. Time—about 7 p.m. Inside the inclosure three shepherds are engaged in shearing the park sheep. The first shepherd has just thrown his patient on its back, gripped its shoulders between his knees, and tucked its head, as a tiresome and obstructive excrescence, neatly away under one of his arms, while he reaches for the shears. The second is straddled across his animal, which is lying with its hind legs hobbled on a low stage under an elm, in a state of stoical resignation, as its fleece is deftly snipped from under its chin. The third operator has almost finished his sheep, which, as its dark gray fleece slips away from its pink-and-white neck and shoulders, suggests a rather décolletée dowager in the act of removing her theatre-cloak in the stalls. Sheep, already shorn, lie and pant in shamed and shivering bewilderment, one or two nibble the blades of grass, as if to assure themselves that that resource is still open to them. Sheep whose turn is still to come are penned up at the back, and look on, scandalised, but with an air which seems to express that their own superior respectability is a sufficient protection against similar outrage. The shearers appear to take a humorous view of their task, and are watched by a crowd which has collected round the railings, with an agreeable assurance that they are not expected to contribute towards the entertainment.
First Work-Girl (edging up). Whatever's goin' on inside 'ere? (After looking—disappointed.) Why, they aint on'y a lot o' sheep! I thought it was Reciters, or somethink o' that.
Second Work-Girl (with irony). They look like Reciters, don't they! It do seem a shime cuttin' them poor things as close as convicks, that it do!
First W. G. They don't mind it partickler; you'd 'ear 'em 'oller fast enough if they did.