130 WAYFARING NOTIONS 



the accustomed invite which formerly adorned the 

 Harrow Inn. I forget at the moment quite how 

 it ran, but know that it began : '' Come, my dear 

 brother, let's comfort each other." Then it 

 went on something Hke this : '' Here's wine and 

 good ginn " (gin with a double '' n " or *' n n," as 

 the School Board says the repeat should be 

 expressed), " Brandy within. Cyder and two- 

 penny fit for a king." A friend, kind enough to 

 keep me posted regarding sporting news as 

 chronicled in Chicago, wanted to know whether 

 the Alma on Weston Green — or Cow Marsh, as 

 some call it — stands where it did. To that query 

 I could answer that the Alma is In one respect 

 like Scotland, in that It does stand where it did. 

 But — and this is a dreadful but — under new 

 management the sale of ''Grandfather's Ale" 

 has been discontinued ; at least, so the polite 

 new boss told me last time I ventured into that 

 part of the country where strangers, golfers claim- 

 ing no local connection, play their game on a bit 

 of common cut up by footpaths as Is a Union 

 Jack by stripes. 'Twas with a heavy heart that, 

 after seeing the " Orate and VIgllate " on the 

 almshouses opposite Thames DItton Station, 

 allowed to be covered by creepers, and so hidden 

 from the gaze of wayfarers who might profit by 

 the pious Instruction, I passed to the Harrow and 

 found ''Come, my dear brother," etc., no^ to be 

 found, and going round the corner to the little 

 ale-house by the pond, and Hansler House, where 

 poor old Charley Hewitt used to live, then heard 

 the sad news that the grandfather's clock had 

 stopped, never to go again — I mean that Grand- 

 father's Ale at the Alma was disestablished. 

 *' Iconoclasm," says I, "is making my little world 



