of Aston Park, including the Hall, which had been offered to
them, as he said, "dirt cheap." Biggs, a little way off, took up
a subject with which he was more intimately connected--the Queen's
Hospital, whose financial affairs, just then, were in a lamentable
state of collapse. One set of talkers in the room were intent upon the
one topic; at the other end, the other subject was uppermost. Thus the
two matters became somewhat "mixed up" in the ear of a listener, and
thus they suddenly jostled together in the mind of Walsh. All in a
moment the thought arose--"Why not borrow the park and give a
pic-nic for the hospital?" With him, such a matter required little
consideration; with him, to conceive was to act. In a few minutes he
was on his legs, and at some length, with considerable eloquence and
characteristic energy, he, amid the rapt attention of the company,
propounded the scheme which had suggested itself. He was followed by
other speakers; the scheme was rapturously received by the audience;
it was unanimously resolved that if the use of the park could be
obtained, the fete should be held; a deputation was appointed to wait
upon the proprietors of the park; and a provisional committee, with
Mr. Walsh as chairman, was elected to carry out the preliminaries.

No time was lost. In a few days the desired permission to hold a fete
in the park was obtained. Other gentlemen joined in the movement, and
a large and influential permanent committee was formed. Walsh took up
the matter with his usual energy and with most sanguine views.
This was to be no _mere pic-nic_ now! It was to be such a fete as
Birmingham had never witnessed, and would not readily forget. The
attractions were to be such as would draw people, from all quarters.
The preparations were to be on the most gigantic scale, and the
result was estimated by Walsh at a clear gain of L250 or L300 to the
hospital. Some of the more cautious thought the scheme a little wild,
and on far too extensive a scale for success; but the indomitable
chairman, who had fully considered the _pros_ and _cons_, threw into
the movement the whole force of his almost superhuman energy, and
carried conviction to the minds of the most timid of his colleagues.
The scheme was enthusiastically resolved upon, although, as Walsh
said, after the fetes were over, "Some of us were actually frightened
at what we had undertaken."

The fete was to be held on the 28th of July. It fell on a Monday. By