222 THE COMPLETE SPORTSMAN 



hoax is tabooed; and a member who balances 

 a sponge above his hostess's bedroom door, 

 lines an uncle's hat with mustard, or gratuitously 

 rings a fire-alarm, is usually requested to resign. 

 No wonder, then, that the roll of membership 

 increases every week, and that almost every 

 practical joke of any importance successfully 

 perpetrated during the last few years has been 

 planned at the headquarters and carried out 

 under the auspices of the S.P.H.G. 



George and I have always regarded publicity 

 as an essential concomitant of success, and in 

 the crowded street we find the most suitable 

 arena for the display of those mirth-provoking 

 qualities which it is ever our ambition to culti- 

 vate and develop. It has long been our custom 

 to devote one whole day of every week to the 

 claims of the Society, and on Monday morning 

 last, when my cousin called for me at my club, 

 and we set off together down Pall Mall, I was in 

 the proper frame of mind to carry out the 

 harmless project that we had already carefully 

 discussed. 



Selecting the first innocent stranger whom we 

 observed approaching in the distance, we fixed 

 him with a radiant smile which increased in 

 cordiality as the space that separated us dimin- 

 ished. We could see our victim vainly racking 

 his brains to try and remember who on earth 



