Art irritated him and
science bored him. He despised his own family and disliked everybody
else. For exercise he yawned, and his conversation was mainly confined
to an occasional shrug.
"Nobody liked him, but everybody respected him. One felt grateful to him
for his condescension in living at all.
"One summer, I was fishing over the Norfolk Broads, and on the Bank
Holiday, thinking I would like to see the London 'Arry in his glory, I
ran over to Yarmouth. Walking along the sea-front in the evening, I
suddenly found myself confronted by four remarkably choice specimens of
the class. They were urging on their wild and erratic career arm-in-arm.
The one nearest the road was playing an unusually wheezy concertina, and
the other three were bawling out the chorus of a music-hall song, the
heroine of which appeared to be 'Hemmer.'
"They spread themselves right across the pavement, compelling all the
women and children they met to step into the roadway. I stood my ground
on the kerb, and as they brushed by me something in the face of the one
with the concertina struck me as familiar.
"I turned and followed them. They were evidently enjoying themselves
immensely. To every girl they passed they yelled out, 'Oh, you little
jam tart!' and every old lady they addressed as 'Mar.
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