Chapter I: Front Matter

RECOLLECTIONS

By David Christie Murray

With Photogravure Portrait of the Author and a number of Original Letters, of which one by George Meredith and another by Robert Louis Stevenson are reproduced in facsimile.

London

John Long Norris Street, Haymarket

1908

CONTENTS

Chapter I........9

The Unlucky Day of the Fool's Month--High Street, West Bromwich--My First Pedestrian Triumph--The Common English Bracken--The Sense of Beauty.

Chapter II........14

My Father--The Murrays--The Courage of Childhood--The Girl from the Workhouse--Witchcraft--The Dudley Devil--The Deformed Methodist--A Child's Idea of the Creator--The Policeman--Sir Ernest Spencer's Donkey--The High Street Pork Butcher.

Chapter III........28

My Father's Printing Office--The Prize Ring--The Fistic Art--First Steps in Education--A Boy's Reading--Carlyle--Parents and Children--A School Chum--Technical Education--Plaster Medallions.

Chapter IV........42

A First View 01 London--Charles Dickens--The Photograph--On the Coach to Oxford--The Manuscript of Our Mutual Friend--An Unpublished Chapter--Dickens as Reader--The British Museum Reading-Room.

Chapter V........53

I Enlist--St George's Barracks--The Recruits--From Bristol to Cork--Sergeants--The Bounty and the Free Kit--Life in the Army--My Discharge--A Sweet Revenge.

Chapter VI........67

Towards Journalism--Dr Kenealy as Parliamentary Candidate--The Wednesbury Advertiser--George Dawson--The First Private Execution--Misprints--The Black Country Sixty Years Ago--Aunt Rachel Old Servants--Local Poets--Mining Dangers.

Chapter VII........84

George Dawson as Editor--Birmingham Politicians--John Bright's Nervousness--The Black Lake Rescue--The Pelsall Hall Colliery Disaster--Archibald Forbes--Out of Work--Edmund Yates and The World--The Hangman--Human Oddities--A Mislaid Cheque--Hero Worship--Three Stories of Carlyle--Journalism.

CHAPTER VIII.......118

The House of Commons Press Gallery--Disraeli as Orator--The Story of the Dry Champagne--The Labour Member--Dr Kenealy's Fiasco--Mr Newdigate's Eloquence--Lord Beaconsfield's Success--“Stone-Walling”--Robert Lowe's Classics--The Press Gallery and Mr Gladstone.

Chapter IX........141

The Russo-Turkish War--Constantinople--His Friend the Enemy--Col. Archibald Campbell--The Courage of Non-Combatants--Father Stick--Turkish Economy--Memories of Constantinople.

Chapter X........159

Constantinople--The Massacre of Kesanlyk--A Sketching Expedition--Failure of Supplies--Correspondent for the Scotsman and the Times--Adrianople--The Case of the Gueschoffs--The Bulgarians.

Chapter XI........177

Retrospect--Return to London--Interview with Mr Gladstone at Ha warden--Reminiscences.

Chapter XII........189

First Fiction--A Life's Atonement--The Casual Tramp--Poor Law Relief--Charles Reade--The Cloister and the Hearth--Wilkie Collins--The Figure in Mediaeval Costume--Joseph's Coat--At Roche-fort--Rainbow Gold--The Anarchist--The Police--The Text of Scripture.

Chapter XIII.......221

Eight Hours in Melbourne--The Australian Born--Australians and the Mother Country--The Governor--The Sydney Bulletin--The Englishman in Australia-Australian Journalism--The Theatre--The Creed of Athleticism--The Future.

Chapter XIV.......257

Mr Rudyard Kipling and “Brugglesmith”--New Zealand--Its Climate--People--Future--Neds Chum--Sir George Grey.

Chapter XV........268

The Dreyfus Case--Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Opinion--Meeting at the Egyptian Hall--Interview with Zola--Maître Labori--M. Henri Rochefort--Major Esterhazy.

Chapter XVI.......285

A Few Letters--George Meredith--J. M. Barrie--Advice on Going to America--A Statue to Washington--Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the Right Hon. Joseph Chamberlain, M.P.--Robert Louis Stevenson--Mr Edmund Gosse on the Neo-Scottish School--My Contemporaries in Fiction--Sir Arthur Conan Doyle--Mr Joseph Hocking--Robert Buchanan--Mr E. Marshall Hall, K.C.

Chapter XVII.......311

Sixtieth Birthday.

RECOLLECTIONS