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ROAMIN' IN THE GLOAMIN' 109
moment wakened up in his free seat from a drunken slumber and shouted out, "And a damned good job, too ! My account's pey'd and ye can a' gang tae hell!" That particular concert ended abruptly. On the afternoon of the very last day of the tour, Murdoch and I went out for a stroll in the village which we both felt was due to be the Waterloo of our careers as concert-promoter. The place seemed dead and we were both moodily silent. All at once Mac started to laugh.
"Look at this, Harry I" he said and pointed to a placard which appeared to contain the following extraordinary announcement :
Only Appearance of
HARRY LAUDER
The Audience will join in singing the hymn "Thank God from Whom All Blessings Flow."
At first, being a bit short-sighted, I thought that this was the work of some enemy but closer investigation revealed the fact that one of our posters had got mixed up with the announcement of a religious service to be held in the village on the Sunday following our concert. We both had a good laugh over the incident but behind our merriment was the unspoken idea that the mixing up of the bills was an omen full of evil for our future !
Altogether Murdoch and I lost a hundred pounds each on the tour, returning to Glasgow sadder but wiser men. When I wrote and told Donald Munro of our lamentable failure he replied with a very kindly letter telling us not to be discouraged. He had had the same experience to begin with but this year, even without the support of two great artistes like Lauder and Murdoch, he had cleared quite a decent amount of money! "Try, try, try again, Harry, my lad," he finished up.