546 THE JOURNEY TO PALESTINE 



to propose to a man to join, and he were to say, Well, what 

 is your object ? I should have to reply like the needy knife- 

 grinder, ' Object, God bless you, sir, we've none to show.' 



The matter at last was wittily disposed of. No proposition 

 of the kind was to be entertained * unless the name of the new 

 member contained all the consonants absent from the names 

 of the old ones. In the lack of Slavonic friends this decision 

 put an end to the possibilities of increase.' * 



After the death, in February 1892, of Hirst, a most devoted 

 supporter of the club, who * would, I believe, present it in his 

 sole person rather than pass the day over,' only one more meet- 

 ing took place, in the following month. With five of the six 

 survivors domiciled far from town, meeting after meeting feU 

 through, until the treasurer (Hooker) wrote, * My idea is that 

 it is best to let it die out unobserved, and say nothing about 

 its decease to any one.' 



Thus it came to pass that the March meeting of the club 

 in 1892 remained its last. No ceremony ushered it out of 

 existence. Its end exemplified a saying of Hooker's : * At 

 our ages clubs are an anachronism.' 



END OF VOL. I. 



AT THE BALLANTYNE PRESS 



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