8 THE MERRY GEE-GEE 



rough-rider and nagsman, London 

 brakesman and four-in-hand man, driven 

 a hansom, made a book on the course, 

 and gone to bed hungry ? This may be 

 only an apprenticeship, may be, and 

 doubtless is, only partially ''going 

 through the mill," but it's enough for 

 me, with thanks — very many thanks. 



I believe the proper and recognized 

 thing for an out-and-out amateur author 

 such as I am is to engage an editor, or 

 coach, or some such "bird of prey," to 

 knock one's ideas and scribblings into 

 readable shape and sound English, but 

 I will have none of these. I am just 

 going to run riot as my fitful fancy dic- 

 tates ; and if (as is more than probable) 

 none but an old pal or two will ever 

 struggle through it, what matter if it is a 

 disconnected, egotistical, and ungrammati- 

 cal jumble ? One promise I distinctly 



