ssing sight than a collapsed air-balloon, all moist and incapable
of resurrection, for heaven's sake keep it to yourself.
_Allowance Man_ (_brewing_) sounds hopeful. My only question is: Does
an _Allowance Man_ (_brewing_) fix his own allowance (brewed)?
Am I slightly knock-kneed or am I not? Do write me frankly on the
subject. You have seen me divested of trousers. Because if I am then
I don't think I will try my luck as an _Artist's Model_.
_Athlete_.--Ha! I feel my biceps and find it not so soft. It's
a wearing life, though. Is there such a thing as an _Athlete_
(_indoor_)? You know my speed and agility at Ludo.
I flatter myself I have musical taste, but _Back and Belly Maker_
(_piano_) I consider vulgar--almost indecent, in fact. Such anatomical
intimacy with the piano would destroy for me the bewitchment of the
Moonlight Sonata.
There is something very alluring about _Bank Note Printer_. I see
the chance of continuing the Army trick of making a living without
working for it. Surely a _Bank Note Printer_ is allowed his little
perquisites. Why should he print millions of bank notes for other
people and none for himself? I can imagine an ill-used _Bank Note
Printer_ very easily becoming a Bolshevist.
_Barb Maker_ (_wire_) I do not like. I have too many unpleasant
memories of the Somme. It is a hideous trade and ought to be abolished
altogether.
If I am wrong correct me, but isn't the prime function of a _Bargee_
to swear incessantly? Not my forte, James. What you thought you heard
that day in 1911, when I missed a six-inch putt, was only "Yam," which
is a Thibetan expression meaning "How dreadfully unfortunate!" I knew
a Major once--but that's for another article.
Beneath the heading "Bat" I find _Bat Maker_ (_brick_) and _Bat
Maker_ (_tennis_). Under which king, James? Anyway, I hate a man who
talks about a "tennis bat." He would probably call football shorts
"knickers."
I am favourably inclined towards _Bathing Machine Attendant_ (why
not _Bathing Mechanic_, for short?) What a grand affair to ride old
Dobbin into the seething waves and pretend he was a sea-serpent!
Confidentially, there are lots of people to whose bathing-machines
I would give an extra push when I had unlimbered their vehicles and
turned Dobbin's nose again towards the cliffs of Albion.
My pleasure in stirring things with a ladle nearly decided me to train
as a _Bean Boiler_; but I fear the monotony. Nothing but an endless
suc
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