THE DAYS BEFORE YESTERDAY



FOREWORD


The Public has given so kindly a reception to The Varnished Pomps
of Yesterday (a reception which took its author wholly by
surprise), that I have extracted some further reminiscences from
the lumber-room of recollections. Those who expect startling
revelations, or stale whiffs of forgotten scandals in these pages,
will, I fear, be disappointed, for the book contains neither. It
is merely a record of everyday events, covering different ground
to those recounted in the former book, which may, or may not,
prove of interest. I must tender my apologies for the insistent
recurrence of the first person singular; in a book of this
description this is difficult to avoid.




CONTENTS



CHAPTER I

Early days--The passage of many terrors--Crocodiles, grizzlies and
hunchbacks--An adventurous journey and its reward--The famous