An Autobiography of an Ancient Athlete & Antiquarian

AUTOBIOGRAPHY All the summer and autumn I led an invalid life, and my only outing was a day at Gately Hall. J.B.R. came and saw me on the 9th to r 1th. My old sister Bessy died at Heme! Hempstead on the 30th September "after 21 years of suffering patiently borne." She was 86 when she died, and had lived a good life all her life. Her death, of course, affected me greatly, especially as I was so unwell myself. CONCLUSION. With my 73rd birthday, which I attained on the 31st October, 1916, I will conclude my tale. In the previous pages I have set out the story of a life which has been of considerable interest to myself; in fact, I have lived several lives at the same time, and think I may say, have worked bard at each of them. The habit of burning the candle at each end and melt– ing it in the middle is a tiring one, but at 73 I am still alive and fairly healthy, with heart and lungs still sound, just to show that athletics don't kill everybody. It is sad to think how little one has accomplished in a 1ong life. All I can think of to claim are:- In athletic matters t I introduced popular paper-chas- 1ug to the public, for which the "Times" recently gave me credit in respect of the military cross-country running, which is now so popular, and has earned me the title of ·• father of paper-chasing running." In literary matters I have compiled and published rather over 80 indexes, handbooks, and the like, mostly relating to Norfolk topography and pedigrees, which will save future workers some trouble, and I have done some useful work at the Free (now the Public) Library at Norwich, to which all my collections have gone or will go, and where I have done a lot of hard work in respect t I may also claim to have suppleweuted the dictionary by introducing to it (r) the phrase "coruwon or garden," borrowed of course from entomology. It harl a great vogue iu "The Pink 'un" aud similar papers for some time. (2) A new form (I fear now obsolete) of spelling bees as a rou11d game, originally intended by me to stop card playing by the T. H. and H. at Roebampton (see p. 54). (3) The term "obstacle race," for the weird scheme for steeplechases we promote<l in 1867, anrl for which I was honoured by a column of abuse i11 the "Saturrlar Review" (see p. 30).