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Three Men in a Boat was meant to be a serious travel guide to the Thames, between Kingston and Oxford. Instead, it is one of the wittiest, funniest fictional jaunts down a river ever written. The three men are based on author Jerome and two of his friends. The dog "developed out of that area of inner consciousness which, in all Englishmen, contains an element of the dog."Tags
Recommendations
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TadAD Imagine Bertie, Bingo and Barmie trying to organize a two-week boating expedition up the Thames. Conversely, imagine J., Harris and George trying to steal a cow creamer for their aunt. There you have it.
130
raizel Both have spiritual, transcendent moments in what are, for the most part, silly stories.
72
myshelves Victorian police novel utilizing the theme of Jerome's book.
10
cbl_tn If you enjoy humorous travel stories, you can't go wrong with either one of these books. Both books include descriptions of visits to the Hampton Court maze.
01
aulsmith Two books which appear to be about mundane matters on the surface, but are really about how to live life to the fullest
Cecilturtle version moderne sur une rivière française
cf66 It's the same scenary
Member Reviews
Hee! And more hee! This is meandering and relatable and silly and almost infinitely charming. It’s pastiche and satire and travelogue and slice-of-life all rolled into one, with an unreliable narrator, long set-ups to the jokes, and pratfalls. So many pratfalls. Victorian literature this is not! Except that, of course, it is.
I’m still mulling over how Jerome made this work. It shouldn’t. There’s no plot or character development, just a series of moments and memories and general buffoonery. There’s barely even dialogue as we’re used to it! But the characters, especially the narrator J, absolutely shine and everything from the episodes to the colloquial narration feels timeless and familiar. I, too, have had trouble cooking show more scrambled eggs. I, too, have had nights out camping when I just can’t get comfortable. I, too, complain about traffic and get sentimental about views.
I think the real beauty of this book is that it works on many levels, because while I’m talking up the “look at this doofuses” comedy stuff, this is also a travelogue. It does tell you the sites and the history and the good pubs. It just also happens to be so over-the-top about it that it becomes a parody of travel guides—and there is the time capsule aspect too. Jerome’s portrait of English life and the Thames Valley of the 1880s is perfect. It’s a reminder that however stuffy the Victorians seem, they also had a fabulous sense of humour about themselves.
Recommended to anyone who likes silly British people or silly British books, but especially to fans of P.G. Wodehouse.
Warnings: One instance of the n-slur. Two instances of the g-slur within a single paragraph. One use of “Oriental” in reference to fashion. Victorian opinions of women not necessarily shared by the author.
8/10 show less
I’m still mulling over how Jerome made this work. It shouldn’t. There’s no plot or character development, just a series of moments and memories and general buffoonery. There’s barely even dialogue as we’re used to it! But the characters, especially the narrator J, absolutely shine and everything from the episodes to the colloquial narration feels timeless and familiar. I, too, have had trouble cooking show more scrambled eggs. I, too, have had nights out camping when I just can’t get comfortable. I, too, complain about traffic and get sentimental about views.
I think the real beauty of this book is that it works on many levels, because while I’m talking up the “look at this doofuses” comedy stuff, this is also a travelogue. It does tell you the sites and the history and the good pubs. It just also happens to be so over-the-top about it that it becomes a parody of travel guides—and there is the time capsule aspect too. Jerome’s portrait of English life and the Thames Valley of the 1880s is perfect. It’s a reminder that however stuffy the Victorians seem, they also had a fabulous sense of humour about themselves.
Recommended to anyone who likes silly British people or silly British books, but especially to fans of P.G. Wodehouse.
Warnings: One instance of the n-slur. Two instances of the g-slur within a single paragraph. One use of “Oriental” in reference to fashion. Victorian opinions of women not necessarily shared by the author.
8/10 show less
"I like work; it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours." (pg. 144)
One of those rare, effortlessly enjoyable reads that is only heightened by how surprisingly fresh it is when you come across it. Upon first hearing of Three Men in a Boat, Jerome K. Jerome's 1889 jaunty travelogue, a modern reader feels a chill in their veins. 'Classic' Victorian 'humour', you think, preserved as fondly-remembered 'light' literature: surely it would be an absolute travesty; unfunny, overblown and aging about as well as the fashion sense?
Not a bit of it. It's not only Jerome's boat journey down the river Thames which is bracing, but the humour itself. Quite simply, the book is a delight to read; fresh, colourful, wholesome and legitimately show more funny. Jerome is a natural raconteur and his boyish banter with Harris and George, his two boon companions, shines through the pages. There are comic encounters, wry asides and satirical observations, all of which hit home. To keep the pace of his narrative running smoothly, Jerome frequently digresses into outlandish anecdotes to illustrate the point he is making; it proves to be a winning formula. And I've not yet said anything of the dog: the three men in a boat are accompanied by Montmorency, a fox terrier who "laboured under the fixed belief that, whenever Harris or George reached out their hand for anything, it was his cold damp nose that they wanted" (pg. 39).
I'm conflicted in how to approach this review, for though I want to produce some of the novel's funniest moments and asides as evidence for the book's casual charm, I find that most of them work much better in context; Jerome's set-up and narrative voice add a persistent tone to the piece that really makes it all work together. Suffice to say there are many good examples; a fact which itself recommends the book, considering it is less than 200 pages long.
The bum notes are few: there are occasional flowery digressions into more regular travelogue material, but these are harmless enough. The only real flaw came late on, when Jerome details finding the dead body of a suicidal woman floating in the river. It's hard to get back into the hat-at-a-jaunty-angle swing of things after that. Nevertheless, Three Men in a Boat is a surprising, endearing breeze of a book that would be charming enough if it was just relating a Victorian river-jaunt through lovely countryside. Adding genuine humour, camaraderie and a Bank Holiday picnic-y freshness makes this slight, unassuming volume something really special. show less
One of those rare, effortlessly enjoyable reads that is only heightened by how surprisingly fresh it is when you come across it. Upon first hearing of Three Men in a Boat, Jerome K. Jerome's 1889 jaunty travelogue, a modern reader feels a chill in their veins. 'Classic' Victorian 'humour', you think, preserved as fondly-remembered 'light' literature: surely it would be an absolute travesty; unfunny, overblown and aging about as well as the fashion sense?
Not a bit of it. It's not only Jerome's boat journey down the river Thames which is bracing, but the humour itself. Quite simply, the book is a delight to read; fresh, colourful, wholesome and legitimately show more funny. Jerome is a natural raconteur and his boyish banter with Harris and George, his two boon companions, shines through the pages. There are comic encounters, wry asides and satirical observations, all of which hit home. To keep the pace of his narrative running smoothly, Jerome frequently digresses into outlandish anecdotes to illustrate the point he is making; it proves to be a winning formula. And I've not yet said anything of the dog: the three men in a boat are accompanied by Montmorency, a fox terrier who "laboured under the fixed belief that, whenever Harris or George reached out their hand for anything, it was his cold damp nose that they wanted" (pg. 39).
I'm conflicted in how to approach this review, for though I want to produce some of the novel's funniest moments and asides as evidence for the book's casual charm, I find that most of them work much better in context; Jerome's set-up and narrative voice add a persistent tone to the piece that really makes it all work together. Suffice to say there are many good examples; a fact which itself recommends the book, considering it is less than 200 pages long.
The bum notes are few: there are occasional flowery digressions into more regular travelogue material, but these are harmless enough. The only real flaw came late on, when Jerome details finding the dead body of a suicidal woman floating in the river. It's hard to get back into the hat-at-a-jaunty-angle swing of things after that. Nevertheless, Three Men in a Boat is a surprising, endearing breeze of a book that would be charming enough if it was just relating a Victorian river-jaunt through lovely countryside. Adding genuine humour, camaraderie and a Bank Holiday picnic-y freshness makes this slight, unassuming volume something really special. show less
Written in 1899, this book could easily be contemporary, just change the scenery a bit and give these guys another mode of transportation. The three men in question, J, George and Harris, along with Montmorency the dog, decide to take a camping trip down the Thames (and when I include the dog in the decision making, it is not a stretch). The dynamics between the men is just what I would expect today of three young men on a camping excursion, particularly three men who are not overly adept at living an outdoor life. The humor is subtle and sometimes hilarious, and while there is little in the way of a plot, the book is sheer fun.
I can’t sit still and see another man slaving and working. I want to get up and superintend, and walk show more around with my hands in my pockets, and tell him what to do. It is my energetic nature. I can’t help it.
Seriously, I know this man! I might be related to him. Hell, I might be married to him.
The book is replete with this kind of sarcasm and anecdotes that show how little human nature has changed in 120 years. There is a maze experience that had me rolling, a struggle with a tin can of pineapple, and a fish tale that keeps growing. The boys fix a stew to which ”Montmorency, who had evinced great interest in the proceedings throughout, strolled away with an earnest and thoughtful air, reappearing, a few minutes afterwards, with a dead water-rat in his mouth, which he evidently wished to present as his contribution to the dinner…”
I’m not always good with comedy, but that got a laugh, even as my skin crawled thinking of the dead rat being put into the stew pot. Takes a certain kind of humor to really capture me. This did. Once again, I think I might have been born too late. I suspect I would have been at home in a previous century.
It takes three girls to tow always; two hold the rope, and the other one runs round and round, and giggles.
Maybe I would have been the giggler. show less
I can’t sit still and see another man slaving and working. I want to get up and superintend, and walk show more around with my hands in my pockets, and tell him what to do. It is my energetic nature. I can’t help it.
Seriously, I know this man! I might be related to him. Hell, I might be married to him.
The book is replete with this kind of sarcasm and anecdotes that show how little human nature has changed in 120 years. There is a maze experience that had me rolling, a struggle with a tin can of pineapple, and a fish tale that keeps growing. The boys fix a stew to which ”Montmorency, who had evinced great interest in the proceedings throughout, strolled away with an earnest and thoughtful air, reappearing, a few minutes afterwards, with a dead water-rat in his mouth, which he evidently wished to present as his contribution to the dinner…”
I’m not always good with comedy, but that got a laugh, even as my skin crawled thinking of the dead rat being put into the stew pot. Takes a certain kind of humor to really capture me. This did. Once again, I think I might have been born too late. I suspect I would have been at home in a previous century.
It takes three girls to tow always; two hold the rope, and the other one runs round and round, and giggles.
Maybe I would have been the giggler. show less
In which an otherwise sensible dog takes a trip up the Thames with three hapless humans, and somehow manages to come out of it unscathed. As do the humans, one of whom tells the tale. It's Wodehouse witty, and owes much to Twain as well. Hang on to your sculls, because you'll laugh 'til you squeak for breath one minute, and be moved to find a good biography of Queen Matilda or Edward the Confessor in the next.
Reviewed in 2012
Reviewed in 2012
Three men and another passenger of whom I cannot speak embark upon a watercraft to explore the upper reaches of the Thames. Jerome was poking fun at stuffy types who undertake adventures while believing bookish intelligence will adequately take the place of practical knowledge. I am happy to say I only read about these fools instead of adding to their number, keeping my foolishness at home where it belongs.
It's fun to know that long before people googled illness symptoms on the Internet they were already doing it in medical books and coming to the same erroneous conclusions. Modern technology merely makes this more convenient. Similarly, road-rage has a precursor in 19th century riverboating: "The mildest tempered people, when on land, show more become violent and blood-thirsty when in a boat." We are following a time-honoured tradition when we get behind the wheel and begin cursing everyone else.
Obligatory observation: strange tonal changes appear when the comedic adventure is rudely interrupted at unexpected times by poetical landscape descriptions or dramatically depicted historical scenes. Do not worry, more absurdity will soon follow. show less
It's fun to know that long before people googled illness symptoms on the Internet they were already doing it in medical books and coming to the same erroneous conclusions. Modern technology merely makes this more convenient. Similarly, road-rage has a precursor in 19th century riverboating: "The mildest tempered people, when on land, show more become violent and blood-thirsty when in a boat." We are following a time-honoured tradition when we get behind the wheel and begin cursing everyone else.
Obligatory observation: strange tonal changes appear when the comedic adventure is rudely interrupted at unexpected times by poetical landscape descriptions or dramatically depicted historical scenes. Do not worry, more absurdity will soon follow. show less
Generally, I dislike Victorian authors. Many, like Dickens, were writing for serialized publication in magazines for which they were paid by the word, and it shows. JKJ, on the other hand, strikes the right balance for a modern audience. His work is just florid enough to evoke an after-dinner conversation with a skilled raconteur. He has a fine sense of how long he can indulge in describing a place before moving on to something happening. 3MiaB is filled with fine dashes of gentle, self-deprecating irony and occasional stabbing wit. One need not be a scholar of 19th century history or literature to appreciate its content.
Three Men in a Boat is a completely and absolutely delightful waste of time. I must have bookmarked at least twenty hilarious passages to go back and read again for a last chuckle before returning to the library (I may subject you to some of them if the mood hits me before I wind this up). I listened and then read so I could enjoy the nonsense dialogue (both verbal and literary) a second time. Published in 1889 this book is in the Public Domain and available for free download from the Gutenberg Project and probably elsewhere. It is also available on Kindle Unlimited. There are several audio versions, probably all good, but I chose the narration by Hugh Laurie and the delivery was perfect!
The (very lean) plot: Three idle young men show more (Jerome, George, and Harrison), who seemingly have nothing better to do with their time than to ramble reflectively for hours regarding their hypochondriasis ailments and on every other moronic thought that pops into their heads, decided that although a sea voyage might benefit their health. They did not have the time to do so - but, they mused, wouldn’t it be lovely to book a boat and take a fortnight boat-ride holiday of canals and locks on the river Thames? Although this does sound sublime, these three young swells and their dog Montmorency, are not taking a barge cruise but rather more like a camping trip along the Thames and since they are adept at absolutely nothing but sloth they are in for surprising adventures (surprising to them but not to the reader). The plot here is nothing more than a vehicle for the comical ruminations of Jerome.
Before setting out, the three of them carefully planned – down to the last detail – what they needed to prepare for their trip. If this was today, it would probably read like one of my camping trip lists starting with the essentials: electronics and chargers, blow-up mattress and snuggly bedclothes, wet-wipes, tissues, toilet paper, Tupperware laden food supply, plastic dinner service (shame on me), wine, flashlights, and at least half a dozen family card games. But since it was 1889 the prep and carriage was a lot more cumbersome and there are a few hilarious descriptions of their packing.
Of course, they forgot to pack a can opener and there is also a funny passage describing their attempts to get at the pineapple inside a tin. (Okay, I can't resist, i'm still chuckling so I'm adding the scene below:)
They had a tarp cover of sorts and frame to protect them from the rain (and there was plenty of it)…their struggle to construct the covering had me giggling (too bad they couldn’t hop over to the convenience store at the gas station near my house – they could have bought a tent that pops open to a three room villa for $20)!
On their sightseeing tour they were lost in a maze for a few hours with about twenty other people who were lost inside including the staff member who came in to help them find their way out.
One night, after mooring the boat and heading into the town for a pub, on the way back, it was raining so hard they decided to spend the night in town but there were no rooms to be let. They considered punching a policeman but then they mused that the policemen might just punch them back instead of hauling them in to spend the night in jail.
By the end of he story Jerome was pooped…he felt he had been put upon and that the others should share in the work (his rationale):
To be honest, I had never heard of Jerome K. Jerome, before reading a review of this book by GR Friend Peter. I was sure it must be a pen-name for Oscar Wilde, because it was Wilde who popped into my head as soon as the humorous rambling began. Jerome K. Jerome was in fact a writer of the same period and may have traveled the same literary circles, but they do not appear to have been friends. I read a little blurb on the internet suggesting that it might even have been Jerome who outed Wilde in one of the former’s publications, but the latter was hardly discreet. show less
The (very lean) plot: Three idle young men show more (Jerome, George, and Harrison), who seemingly have nothing better to do with their time than to ramble reflectively for hours regarding their hypochondriasis ailments and on every other moronic thought that pops into their heads, decided that although a sea voyage might benefit their health. They did not have the time to do so - but, they mused, wouldn’t it be lovely to book a boat and take a fortnight boat-ride holiday of canals and locks on the river Thames? Although this does sound sublime, these three young swells and their dog Montmorency, are not taking a barge cruise but rather more like a camping trip along the Thames and since they are adept at absolutely nothing but sloth they are in for surprising adventures (surprising to them but not to the reader). The plot here is nothing more than a vehicle for the comical ruminations of Jerome.
Before setting out, the three of them carefully planned – down to the last detail – what they needed to prepare for their trip. If this was today, it would probably read like one of my camping trip lists starting with the essentials: electronics and chargers, blow-up mattress and snuggly bedclothes, wet-wipes, tissues, toilet paper, Tupperware laden food supply, plastic dinner service (shame on me), wine, flashlights, and at least half a dozen family card games. But since it was 1889 the prep and carriage was a lot more cumbersome and there are a few hilarious descriptions of their packing.
“…chaos reigned… and then there remained the hampers to do. They began in a light-hearted spirit, and I looked at the piles of plates and cups, and kettles, and bottles and jars, and pies, and stoves, and cakes, and tomatoes, &c., and felt that the thing would soon become exciting.It did. They started with breaking a cup. That was the first thing they did. They did that just to show you what they could do, and to get you interested. Then Harris packed the strawberry jam on top of a tomato and squashed it, and they had to pick out the tomato with a teaspoon. And then it was George’s turn, and he trod on the butter…and they stepped on things, and put things behind them, and then couldn’t find them when they wanted them; and they packed the pies at the bottom, and put heavy things on top, and smashed the pies in. They upset salt over everything, and as for the butter! I never saw two men do more with one-and-twopence worth of butter in my whole life than they did (they obviously never watched Last Tango in Paris). After George had got it off his slipper, they tried to put it in the kettle. It wouldn’t go in, and what was in wouldn’t come out. They did scrape it out at last, and put it down on a chair, and Harris sat on it, and it stuck to him, and they went looking for it all over the room.”
Of course, they forgot to pack a can opener and there is also a funny passage describing their attempts to get at the pineapple inside a tin. (Okay, I can't resist, i'm still chuckling so I'm adding the scene below:)
"It cast a gloom over the boat, there being no mustard. We ate our beef in silence. Existence seemed hollow and uninteresting…. George drew out a tin of pine-apple from the bottom of the hamper, and rolled it into the middle of the boat, we felt that life was worth living after all…Then we looked for the knife to open the tin with. We turned out everything in the hamper. We turned out the bags. We pulled up the boards at the bottom of the boat. We took everything out on to the bank and shook it. There was no tin-opener to be found...Then Harris tried to open the tin with a pocket-knife, and broke the knife and cut himself badly; and George tried a pair of scissors, and the scissors flew up, and nearly put his eye out. While they were dressing their wounds, I tried to make a hole in the thing with the spiky end of the hitcher, and the hitcher slipped and jerked me out between the boat and the bank into two feet of muddy water, and the tin rolled over, uninjured, and broke a teacup….Harris went up into a field and got a big sharp stone, and I went back into the boat and brought out the mast, and George held the tin and Harris held the sharp end of his stone against the top of it…It was George’s straw hat that saved his life that day…Harris got off with merely a flesh wound…We beat it out flat; we beat it back square; we battered it into every form known to geometry—but we could not make a hole in it. Then George went at it, and knocked it into a shape, so strange, so weird, so unearthly in its wild hideousness, that he got frightened and threw away the mast. Then we all three sat round it on the grass and looked at it."
They had a tarp cover of sorts and frame to protect them from the rain (and there was plenty of it)…their struggle to construct the covering had me giggling (too bad they couldn’t hop over to the convenience store at the gas station near my house – they could have bought a tent that pops open to a three room villa for $20)!
On their sightseeing tour they were lost in a maze for a few hours with about twenty other people who were lost inside including the staff member who came in to help them find their way out.
One night, after mooring the boat and heading into the town for a pub, on the way back, it was raining so hard they decided to spend the night in town but there were no rooms to be let. They considered punching a policeman but then they mused that the policemen might just punch them back instead of hauling them in to spend the night in jail.
By the end of he story Jerome was pooped…he felt he had been put upon and that the others should share in the work (his rationale):
“I said I thought Harris would have been showing a more proper spirit if he had suggested that he and George should work, and let me rest a bit. It seemed to me that I was doing more than my fair share of the work on this trip, and I was beginning to feel strongly on the subject. It always does seem to me that I am doing more work than I should do. It is not that I object to the work, mind you; I like work: it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours. I love to keep it by me: the idea of getting rid of it nearly breaks my heart. You cannot give me too much work; to accumulate work has almost become a passion with me: my study is so full of it now, that there is hardly an inch of room for anymore. I shall have to throw out a wing soon. And I am careful of my work, too. Why, some of the work that I have by me now has been in my possession for years and years, and there isn’t a finger-mark on it. I take a great pride in my work; I take it down now and then and dust it. No man keeps his work in a better state of preservation than I do….”
To be honest, I had never heard of Jerome K. Jerome, before reading a review of this book by GR Friend Peter. I was sure it must be a pen-name for Oscar Wilde, because it was Wilde who popped into my head as soon as the humorous rambling began. Jerome K. Jerome was in fact a writer of the same period and may have traveled the same literary circles, but they do not appear to have been friends. I read a little blurb on the internet suggesting that it might even have been Jerome who outed Wilde in one of the former’s publications, but the latter was hardly discreet. show less
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Author Information
Jerome K. Jerome was born in Walsall, Staffordshire, England on May 2, 1859. He grew up in London and had to leave school at the age of 14 because of his parents' death. Afterwards, he worked as a clerk, an actor, a journalist, and a school teacher. In 1885, he published his first book On the Stage - and Off: The Brief Career of a Would-Be Actor. show more This was followed by numerous plays, books, and magazine articles including Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow, Second Thoughts of an Idle Fellow, Three Men in a Boat, and Three Men on the Bummel. He founded the weekly magazine To-Day in 1893 and edited it and a monthly magazine called The Idler until 1898. He also worked as a lecturer. During World War I, he enlisted in the French army as an ambulance driver because he was rejected for active service in his own country. He published his autobiography My Life and Times in 1926. He suffered a paralytic stroke and a cerebral hemorrhage and died on June 14, 1927. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Is contained in
Jerome K. Jerome Collection, Vol 1: Three Men in a Boat, Three Men on the Bummel, Tea-Table Talk by Jerome K. Jerome
Jerome K. Jerome: 14 books in 1. 3 Men in Boat (To Say Nothing of Dog)-3 Men on Bummel-Diary of Pilgrimage-Novel Notes-Paul Kelver-Tommy & Co-They & I-All Roads Lead to Calvary-Idle Ideas in 1905 by Jerome K. Jerome
The Collected Complete Works of Jerome K. Jerome (Huge Collection Including Three Men in a Boat, The Philosopher's Joke, Three Men on the Bummel, Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow, And More) by Jerome K. Jerome
Three Men in a Boat | Three Men on the Bummel | Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow: The best of Jerome K. Jerome by Jerome K. Jerome
Has the adaptation
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Three Men in a Boat
- Original title
- Three Men in a Boat
- Alternate titles
- Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog) (To Say Nothing of the Dog)
- Original publication date
- 1889
- People/Characters
- Jerome 'J.'; George; William Samuel Harris; Montmorency
- Important places
- River Thames, England, UK; Kingston upon Thames, London, England, UK; Reading, Berkshire, England, UK; Wallingford, Oxfordshire, England, UK; Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, UK; Marlow, Buckinghamshire, England, UK
- Related movies
- Three Men in a Boat (1920 | IMDb); Three Men in a Boat (1933 | IMDb); Three Men in a Boat (1956 | IMDb); Three Men in a Boat (1975 | IMDb); Hanging a Picture (1915 | IMDb); Drei Mann in einem Boot (1961 | IMDb)
- First words
- There were four of us - George, and William Samuel Harris, and myself, and Montmorency.
- Quotations
- I can't sit still and see another man slaving and working. I want to get up and superintend, and walk round with my hands in my pockets, and tell him what to do. It's my energetic nature. I can't help it.
I like work; it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours.
You start on Monday with the idea implanted in your bosom that you are going to enjoy yourself. You wave an airy adieu to the boys on shore, light your biggest pipe, and swagger about the deck as if you were Captain Cook, Sir... (show all) Francis Drake, and Christopher Columbus all rolled into one. On Tuesday, you wish you hadn't come. On Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, you wish you were dead. On Saturday, you are able to swallow a little beef tea, and to sit up on deck, and answer with a wan, sweet smile when kind-hearted people ask you how you feel now. On Sunday, you begin to walk about again, and take solid food. And on Monday morning, as, with your bag and umbrella in your hand, you stand by the gunwale, waiting to step ashore, you begin to thoroughly like it.
...George, who would not be able to get away from the City till the afternoon (George goes to sleep at a bank from ten to four each day, except Saturdays, when they wake him up and put him outside at two), would meet us there... (show all).
The case was becoming serious. It was now past midnight. The hotels at Shiplake and Henley would be crammed; and we could not go round, knocking up cottagers and householders in the middle of the night, to know if they let ap... (show all)artments! George suggested walking back to Henley and assaulting a policeman, and so getting a night's lodging in the station-house. But then there was the thought, "Suppose he only hits us back and refuses to lock us up!"
We could not pass the whole night fighting policemen. Besides, we did not want to overdo the thing and get six months.
He told us that it had been a fine day to-day, and we told him that it had been a fine day yesterday, and then we all told each other that we thought it would be a fine day to-morrow; and George said the crops seemed to be co... (show all)ming up nicely.
That is the only way to get a kettle to boil up the river. If it sees that you are waiting for it and are anxious, it will never even sing. You have to go away and begin your meal, as if you were not going to have any tea at ... (show all)all. You must not even look round at it. Then you will soon hear it sputtering away, mad to be made into tea.
Fox-terriers are born with about four times as much original sin in them as other dogs are, and it will take years and years of patient effort on the part of us Christians to bring about any appreciable reformation in rowdine... (show all)ss of the fox-terrier nature.
And yet it seems so full of comfort and of strength, the night. In its great presence, our small sorrows creep away, ashamed. The day has been so full of fret and care, and our hearts have been so full of evil and of bitter t... (show all)houghts, and the world has seemed so hard and wrong to us. Then Night, like some great loving mother, gently lays her hand upon our fevered head, and turns our little tear-stained faces up to hers, and smilies; and, though she does not speak, we know what she would say, and lay our hot flushed cheek against her bosom, and the pain is gone.
In later years, Reading seems to have been regarded as a handy place to run down to, when matters were becoming unpleasant in London. Parliament generally rushed off to Reading whenever there was a plague on at Westminster; a... (show all)nd, in 1625, the Law followed suit, and all the courts were held at Reading. It must have been worth while having a mere ordinary plague now and then in London to get rid of both the lawyers and the Parliament. - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)And Montmorency, standing on his hind legs, before the window, peering out into the night, gave a short bark of decided concurrence with the toast.
- Original language
- English
- Disambiguation notice
- unabridged
Contains Three Men in a Boat, Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow, Second Thoughts of an Idle Fellow and Three Men on the Bummel.
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