Page:Once a Week Jul - Dec 1859.pdf/384
November 5, 1859.]
HOW I BECAME A HERO.
373
HOW I BECAME A HERO. By G. P.
PART I. THE JOURNEY
Every one was gone or going to the sea- side, or
to the north of Devon, or to the Malvern Hills;
that is, every one not already gone, or determined
to go, to the Rhine or to Germany, or to the last
seat of war. There were people having money in
their pockets who were determined to sniff the
Thames no longer than they were absolutely
obliged; others again who, having suffered, were
taking flight, seeking safety in change of air, and
in change of scene, forgetfulness.
Others again — were they many or few? I cannot tell — -just went “for a little change.” I am of that hist number. I present myself as a hero with but little of a taste for wandering — contented with my own country; not worn-out by debates and com- mittees; not even sick of the Thames. Simply a lover of change, and of change requiring only a little , and that little only once a year. Do you say, “What a hero!” and look scornful? Have you settled that I am not a hero at all? Let me remind you that some men have heroism thrust upon them, without any apparent predestination in their physiognomies.
Let me tell you, for your encouragement, how,
not being, as you rightly observe, the least bit of
a hero when I started, I became one during my
“little change,” and hope to remain a hero for the
rest of life.
I went from a great city to the sea-side. I went with a portmanteau, a carpet-bag, a hat*box, and an umbrella, all of them in white-canvas cases. I went a long day’s journey by rail. I stopped at the Beachly Station, and there was directed into an omnibus which, after an hour’s tiresome jolt- ing, brought me to the Beachly Hotel. Myself, my portmanteau, carpet-bag, hat-case, and umbrella, with the addition of three newspapers, a shilling railway-book, and a Bradshaw, collected on the journey, were then deposited in a fly, and at half- past six o’clock on a summer evening I was sud- denly brought up at No. 7, Bellevue Terrace, w here I was expected.
But my journey had not been without inci- dents. The carriage in wdiich I had set out was at that time vacant of all persons and things except myself and my belongings. Where it first stopped a change occurred. A man wrho looked of no par- ticular age, but probably numbering years between
No. 19.