Three men on the bummelJerome, Jerome K. (Jerome Klapka)
General
Three men on the bummel
Jerome, Jerome K. (Jerome Klapka)
Bicycle touring -- Fiction; Black Forest (Germany) -- Fiction; British -- Germany -- Fiction; Humorous stories
"There were about half a dozen of us standing there," he continued, "and,
of course, I am not experienced. The thing started suddenly, and that
jerked me backwards. I fell against a stout gentleman, just behind me.
He could not have been standing very firmly himself, and he, in his turn,
fell back against a boy who was carrying a trumpet in a green baize case.
They never smiled, neither the man nor the boy with the trumpet; they
just stood there and looked sulky. I was going to say I was sorry, but
before I could get the words out the tram eased up, for some reason or
other, and that, of course, shot me forward again, and I butted into a
white-haired old chap, who looked to me like a professor. Well, _he_
never smiled, never moved a muscle."
"Maybe, he was thinking of something else," I suggested.
"That could not have been the case with them all," replied Harris, "and
in the course of that journey, I must have fallen against every one of
them at least three times. You see," explained Harris, "they knew when
the corners were coming, and in which direction to brace themselves. I,
as a stranger, was naturally at a disadvantage. The way I rolled and
staggered about that platform, clutching wildly now at this man and now
at that, must have been really comic. I don't say it was high-class
humour, but it would have amused most people. Those Germans seemed to
see no fun in it whatever--just seemed anxious, that was all. There was
one man, a little man, who stood with his back against the brake; I fell
against him five times, I counted them. You would have expected the
fifth time would have dragged a laugh out of him, but it didn't; he
merely looked tired. They are a dull lot."
George also had an adventure at Dresden. There was a shop near the
Altmarkt, in the window of which were exhibited some cushions for sale.
The proper business of the shop was handling of glass and china; the
cushions appeared to be in the nature of an experiment. They were very
beautiful cushions, hand-embroidered on satin. We often passed the shop,
and every time George paused and examined those cushions. He said he
thought his aunt would like one.
George has been very attentive to this aunt of his during the journey. He
has written her quite a long letter every day, and from every town we
stop at he sends her off a present. To my mind, he is overdoing the
business, and more than once I have expostulated with him. His aunt will
be meeting other aunts, and talking to them; the whole class will become
disorganised and unruly. As a nephew, I object to the impossible
standard that George is setting up. But he will not listen.
Therefore it was that on the Saturday he left us after lunch, saying he
would go round to that shop and get one of those cushions for his aunt.
He said he would not be long, and suggested our waiting for him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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