Illustrated by L. Raven Hill
A NEW EDITION
BRISTOL
J. W. Arrowsmith Ltd., Quay Street
LONDON
Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent and Co. Limited
1914
to the gentle
GUIDE
who lets me ever gomy own way, yet brings me right—
to the laughter-loving
PHILOSOPHER
who, if he has notreconciled me to bearing the toothache
patently, at least has taught me the comfort that
this even will also pass—
to the good
FRIEND
who smiles when itell him of my troubles, and who
when i ask for help, answers only “wait!”—
to the grave-faced
JESTER
to whom all life isbut a volume of old humour—
to good master
Time
THIS LITTLE WORK OF A POOR
PUPIL
IS DEDICATED
Three men need change—Anecdote showing evil result of deception—Moralcowardice of George—Harris has ideas—Yarn of the AncientMariner and the Inexperienced Yachtsman—A hearty crew—Dangerof sailing when the wind is off the land—Impossibility of sailingwhen the wind is off the sea—The argumentativeness of Ethelbertha—Thedampness of the river—Harris suggests a bicycle tour—Georgethinks of the wind—Harris suggests the Black Forest—Georgethinks of the hills—Plan adopted by Harris for ascent of hills—Interruptionby Mrs. Harris.
“What we want,” said Harris, “is a change.”
At this moment the door opened, and Mrs. Harris put her head in tosay that Ethelbertha had sent her to remind me that we must not be lategetting home because of Clarence. Ethelbertha, I am inclined tothink, is unnecessarily nervous about the children. As a matterof fact, there was nothing wrong with the child whatever. He hadbeen out with his aunt that morning; and if he looks wistfully at apastrycook’s window she takes him inside and buys him cream bunsand “maids-of-honour” until he insists that he has had enough,and politely, but firmly, refuses to eat another anything. Then,of course, he wants only one helping of pudding at lunch, and Ethelberthathinks he is sickening for something. Mrs. Harris added that itwould be as well for us to come upstairs soon, on our own account also,as otherwise we should miss Muriel’s rendering of “The MadHatter’s Tea Party,” out of Alice in Wonderland.Muriel is Harris’s second, age eight: she is a bright, intelligentchild; but I prefer her myself in serious pieces. We said we wouldfinish our cigarettes and follow almost immediately; we also beggedher not to let Muriel begin until we arrived. She promised tohold the child back as long as possible, and went. Harris, assoon as the door was closed, resumed his interrupted sentence.
“You know what I mean,” he said, “a complete change.”
The question was how to get it.
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