LIFE OF THE AUTHOR xxiii 



plenty to pass the time of day with the lone 

 shepherds and labourers to whom a cheery word 

 is a boon). He was marvellously waywise, and 

 used to complain humorously, with considerable 

 truth, that when he did ask for directions he was 

 always sent wrong, and could make out his route 

 far better on a lone hand, though he might never 

 have set foot in that district before. His work 

 obliged him to live ''on circuit," and to reside 

 within fairly short distance of the London termini 

 and close to more than one racecourse. Wherever 

 we lived, he always made the place and district 

 a source of enjoyment, and struck out any amount 

 of excursions and rambles where no one else 

 might have thought of looking for them. The 

 family expeditions that he personally conducted 

 among the Surrey Hills were a ** liberal educa- 

 tion" in better things than chopped-up book- 

 learning, and joys for ever to look back upon. 

 His habits of carrying a stone in each hand when 

 walking for exercise, and of never wearing an 

 overcoat or taking an umbrella, came in for 

 good-humoured chaff from his friends, but he 

 had his reasons. The stones helped his peculiar 

 swinging walk when they were grasped closely — 

 **on one occasion in walking a trial he nearly 

 pulped the second-recording watch doing duty 

 for the right-hand stone." Either overcoat or 

 umbrella would have sadly hampered his action, 



