Three Men on the Bummel
Cite this book
Citation
Jerome K. Jerome. Three Men on the Bummel. 1900. cyclearchive.com, https://cyclearchive.com/books/three-men-on-the-bummel-j-jerome-1900/
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Contents
- Harris says the three friends need a change; George, Harris and the narrator weigh a yachting trip, then settle on a bicycle tour, with the Black Forest as the destination and Harris's plan for tackling the hills. Mrs. Harris interrupts.
- The narrator breaks the plan to Ethelbertha and the wives react; the start is fixed for Wednesday. The friends debate which rider on a tandem does the work, how Harris lost his wife, and the luggage question, with Uncle Podger and a story of a man with a bag.
- Harris and a patent bicycle lamp and an ideal saddle; the meddling 'Overhauler' who offers help with a bicycle. George proposes trying out their German, and Harris's support is secured on conditions.
- Harris's household and alarm clocks, a child's view of the morning, the night watchman and the narrator's early-morning thoughts. Harris's new stove, Uncle Podger's daily departure for the City, and the friends' arrival in London.
- A digression: a Scotchman's courtship story, a journal that promised instruction with amusement, and the 'charms' of the book. The chapter closes with a description of the Black Forest.
- The friends reach Hamburg and travel on to Hanover on the way to Berlin. They meet the polite-conversation lessons of English schools, Harris's fatherly instincts and the road-waterer, and a night in a sleepless city with the cab-horse as critic.
- Between Berlin and Dresden George muses on German order and tidiness, the china dog and the Schwarzwald Blackbirds notice. Harris gives an unappreciated entertainment, and George meets an aunt and three damsels with a cushion.
- On the way to Prague from Dresden station, the party meets Mr. and Miss Jones of Manchester, a guide, and a statue. George tries a bottle of a restorative, and Harris and the narrator resolve on a good action.
- Harris breaks the law between Nuremberg and the Black Forest; George embarks on a career of crime. The chapter compares English and German sinners, German dogs, small boys and students under the rules of the Fatherland.
- The party leaves Baden-Baden to start cycling in earnest on a ten days' tour of the Black Forest. The chapter covers distance by compass and by leg, a lazy machine, the poster cyclist, a griffin, a self-respecting dog and an abused horse.
- A night in a Black Forest farmhouse and its sociability; George refuses to stay in bed after four. The friends lose the road, Harris plays scientist, and they meet a German coachman and a man who spreads English abroad.
- The friends climb a superb view without a restaurant and hear Continental opinion of the Englishman. A man with a brick, the hunting of a dog, a merry old soul on the hill, and the descent in which Harris follows George and the narrator follows Harris.
- A visit to a German university town studying student life: the Mensur, the Kneipe and rubbing a Salamander, with advice to the stranger. It ends with a story of two men, two wives and a bachelor.
- In the closing chapter George would rule the country; the Germans are considered from the Anglo-Saxon view, with their conscience, military instinct, shopkeeping and the New Woman. The Bummel is over.