n
unawares. Now, this is not only bad hygienically, but is apt to have
very awkward consequences of a different kind. One man more wakeful than
the rest casts his eye around, seeking for his prey. He spies an
unfortunate lapped in profoundest sleep. His hand steals out and
clutches a book. He hurls it--and in a moment all is confusion. Each
man, starting from his guilty slumbers, springs up to cast the
proverbial stone, and in this case usually a book, at his fellow-sinner,
vowing that he has been watching the nodding of the victim, and only
waiting for the proper moment to visit him with condign punishment. And
so, with protestations, objurgations, and such light and cheerful
pastime, the hours roll away till the happy 10.30 comes, when all
incontinently roll off to bed.

[Illustration: "'TAKE IT OFF.'"]

But if the men go to bed early, they make up for it by rising early too;
and if they are sleepy at night, they feel delightfully fresh in the
morning. A brisk walk over the common sends the human barometer spinning
upwards; they feel ready for any fun that comes in their way. And, alas!
did not this same buoyancy of spirit not many years ago involve certain
respectable oarsmen in a difference with the executive? _Tacenda_,
indeed! Yet if a rabbit springs up out of the gorse, and the dogs are
off in full cry, can nature in such a mood be stubborn?

In between whiles the men are left almost entirely to themselves, and
are free to seek what innocent diversion they please. The choice
certainly is not very varied. Beyond paying a visit to the opposing
crew, chatting with friends who have come to see the practices, or
looking in at the local skittle alley, there is very little to do. But
if they lack diversion themselves, they do not fail to cause great
delight to the juvenile population of Barnes and Putney. It must be
premised, for the benefit of all who are not _habitues_ of Putney, that
the crews always wear during their training the coat and cap of their
University Boat Club, and flannel trousers. There are reasons which
make this a very necessary and laudable practice; but in the juvenile
mind it gives rise to the most uncompromising scorn, which finds various
ways of expressing itself. "Take it off" is one of the most popular of
these, and though it certainly suffers from a lack of originality, it
appears to give great satisfaction. Another, more recondite, but perhaps
ironical, is "Put it on." "Where's yer trouse