si/s THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL ENDOWED BY THE DIALECTIC AND PHILANTHROPIC SOCIETIES ? UI 00006140455 This book is due at the WALTER R. DAVIS LIBRARY on the last date stamped under ‘Date Due.” If not on hold it may be renewed by bringing it to the library. DATE DATE DUE __ DUE RET. 4 & el a ¥ = e yA ae JU \ } | Z a Avs ; ’ i y |} LUV hana | eeee | es Payee Dp hepe 9 '@ Inet. y a - rae ty) oer me eas ON L. ME} BUM -HREE ME E ” By the same Author. THREE MEN IN A BOAT. DIARY OF A PILGRIMAGE. PHOUGH TSSOP ANesL Di FELLOW. SKETCHES IN LAVENDER. STAGELAND. ETC. *% Win EAN SK 3 wont Weataig ing ihir es eal eS SA Captain Goyles watching the weather, PR USS Copyright. Entered at Stationers’ Hall Saas . \2 i) ee Ss NV} / 5 OD 2 THREE MEN ON /%%= THE BUMMEL BY fen OME* K.. JRKOME BRISTOL J. W. ArrowsmMiTH, I1 Quay STREET LONDON SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT AND Co, LIMITEE Arvrowsmith’'s 3/6 Series. Wheien D.O,.O,e& TO THE GENTLE GUIDE, WHO LETS ME EVER GO MY OWN WAY, YET BRINGS ME RIGHT—— TO THE LAUGHTER-LOVING PHILOSOPHER, WHO, IF HE HAS NOT RECONCILED ME TO BEARING THE TOOTHACHE PATIENTLY, AT LEAST HAS TAUGHT ME THE COMFORT THAT THIS EVEN WILL ALSO PASS—— TO THE GOOD FRIEND, WHO SMILES WHEN I TELL HIM OF MY TROUBLES, AND WHO, WHEN I ASK FOR HELP, ANSWERS ONLY “ wAIT!’’?—— TO THE GRAVE-FACED JESTER, TO WHOM ALL LIFE IS BUT A VOLUME OF OLD HUMOUR—— TO GOOD MASTER Time ttt) oeetiet be tP LE WORK OF A POOR FUE EE IS DEDICATED. a Drea ; Ris ee ie i iy i: os ae Adee iE. be ha ne his Mi: 24 te” ie =e ; 6 Chree Mew on the Bummel, rat VE heer: Three men need change—Anecdote showing evil result of deception—Moral cowardice of George—Harris has tdeas—Yarn of the Ancient Mariner and the Inexpertenced Yachtsman—A hearty crew—Danger of sailing when the wind ts off the land—Impossi- — bility of sailing when the wind is off the sea—The - argumentativeness of Ethelbertha—The dampness of the xiver—Harris suggests a bicycle tour—George thinks of the wind—Harris suggests the Black Forest-—George thinks of the hills—Plan adopted by Harris for ascent of hills—Interruption by Mrs. Harris. ; HAT we want,” said Harris, ‘‘is a change.” At this moment the door opened, and Mrs. _ Harris put her head in to say that Ethelbertha had sent her to remind me that we must not be late getting home because of Clarence. Ethelbertha, I am inclined to think, is unnecessarily nervous about the children. Asa matter of fact, there was nothing 9 IO Three Men on the Bummel. — wrong with the child whatever. He had been out with his aunt that morning; and if he looks wistfully at a pastrycook’s window she takes him inside and buys him cream buns and ‘“ 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 Ethelbertha thinks he is sickening for something. Mrs. Harris added that it would be as well for us to come upstairs soon, on our own account also, as otherwise we should miss Muriel’s rendering of ‘‘ The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party,” out of Alice in Wonderland. Muriel is Harris’s second, age eight: she is a bright, intelligent child; but I prefer her myself in serious pieces. We said we would finish our cigarettes and follow almost immediately ; we also begged her not to let Muriel begin until we arrived. She promised to hold the child back as long as possible, and went. Harris, as soon 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. George suggested ‘‘ business.” It was the sort of suggestion George would make. A bachelor thinks a married woman doesn't know enough to get out of Three Men on the Bummel. Ti the way of a steam-roller. I knew a young fellow once, an engineer, who thought he would go to Vienna ‘‘on business.” His wife wanted to know “‘what business?’ He told her it would be his duty to visit the mines in the neighbourhood of the Austrian capital, and to make reports. She said she would go with him; she was that sort of woman. He tried to dissuade her: he told her that a mine was no place for a beautiful woman. She said she felt that herself, and that therefore she did not intend to accompany him down the shafts; she would see him off in the morning, and then amuse herself until his return, looking round the Vienna shops, and buying a few things she might want. Having started the idea, he did not see very well how to get out of it; and for ten long summer days he did visit the mines in the neighbourhood of Vienna, and in the evening wrote reports about them, which she posted for him to his firm, who didn’t want them. | I should be grieved to think that either Ethel- bertha or Mrs. Harris belonged to that class of wife, ‘but it is as well not to overdo “ business ””—it should be kept for cases of real emergency. | «6 No,” I said, *‘ the thing is to be frank and manly. I shall tell Ethelbertha that I have come to the con- clusion a man never values happiness that is always I2 Three Men on the Bummel. —___. -— with him. I shall tell her that, for the sake of learning to appreciate my own advantages as I know they should be appreciated, I intend to tear myself away from her and the children for at least three weeks. I shall tell her,’ I continued, turning to Harris, ‘‘ that it is you who have shown me my duty in this respect; that it is to you we shall owe——’” Harris put down his glass rather hurriedly. “Tf you don’t mind, old man,” he interrupted, “I’d really rather you didn’t. She’ll talk it over with my wife, and—well, I should not be happy, taking credit that I do not deserve.” “But you do deserve it,” I insisted; “it was your suggestion.” ‘““It was you gave me the idea,” interrupted Harris again. ‘You know you said it was a mistake for a man to get into a groove, and that unbroken domesticity cloyed the brain.” ‘““T was speaking generally,” I explained. lt ‘struck me