IN THE SMOKING ROOM 157 



Somebody or other would ask him if, when he 

 missed a big trout, he addressed the surrounding 

 air in fluent Welsh. " Ah, that is not amongst 

 my accomplishments," he would reply, " unless I 

 am hard put to it. ... By the way, did you ever 

 hear about the two Welsh colliers coming back 

 from work ? When crossing a bridge they saw 

 two men fighting below. One of the colliers, 

 pointing to the two men, said : c And who is that 

 down by there 1 shouldn't wonder ? ' And his 

 mate replied : * Well, indeed, I do not know, so 

 they do tell me ! ' The Major was encored for 

 this, and he proceeded : " Then there is the tale 

 of a Welsh mate in a windjammer, having some 

 trouble with a young hand. The mate said to 

 the lad : * Come here, Di Jones, come here, you 

 little rascal ; I was tell you six or five times once 

 before that your face was like a mice, and if I 

 run you 1 will overtake you till I catch you, and 

 I will smack your back before your face.' ' 



One evening, at an hotel largely filled with 

 grayling fishermen, 1 fell in with rather a character. 

 He had just come back from military service 

 abroad, and was soon off to India on some 

 Government work. Saying he was anxious to 

 send his son to a good public school at home, he 

 asked if anybody could tell him of a really good 

 school. Everybody seemed interested in the 

 intellectual quest. A learned man said that at 

 one school, in addition to a sound all-round 

 education, the classics received special attention. 

 " No, I don't want the classics," said he. Other 



