The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-08-06

brother Ralph. who now
 7E lived with me on the edge
 WI of Ham Common. had come
 home from Australia with a
 curious affection of the
 eyes. due to long exposure
 to the glare out there, and
 neeessitating the use of
 clouded spectacles in the open air. He had not the rich complex ion of the typical colonist, being indeed peculiarly pale, but it appeared that he had been confined to his berth for the greater part of the voyage while his pre- maturely gray hair was sufficient proof that the rigors of bush life had at last undermined an originally tough consti- tuition. Our landlady who spoiled my brother from the first, was much con cerned on his behalf and wished to call in the local doctors but Ralph said dread ful things about the profession and quite frightened the good woman by arbtrari- ly forbidding her ever to let doctor in side her door l had to apologize to her for the painful prejudices and violent language of these colonists,' but the old soul was easily notified She had fallen in love with my brother at first sight, and she never could do too much for him. It was owing to our landlady that took to calling him Ralph. for the first time in our lives, on her beginning to speak of and to him as MT. Rallies
 "This won't do" said he to me. Its name that sticks"
 2 Tt must be my fault! She must have heard 1t from me-" said I, self-reproach- fully.
 You must tell her it's the short for Ralph"
 But it's longer"
 .1ts the short" said he and you've got to tell her so.'
 Henceforth I heard as much of MT. Ralph" his likes and his dislikes, what he would fancy and what he would not, and oh, what dear gentleman he was. that l often remembered to say, Ralph, old chap" myself
 It was an ideal cottage as I said when found it. and in it our delicate man be- came rapidly robust Not that the air was also ideal for, when 1t was not rain ing, we had the same faithful mist from November to March. But 1t was some thing to Ralph to get any air at all, other than night air, and the bicycle did the rest. We taught ourselves, and may I never forget our earlier rides through and through Richmond Park when the nfternoons were shortest, upon the in- comparable Ripley Road when we gave day to it. Rallies rode a Beeston Hum Der. a Royal Sunbeam was good enough for me. but he insisted on our both hay Ing Dunlop tires.
 "They seem the most popular brand. I had my eye on the road all the way from Ripley to Cobhafn. and there were more Dunlop marks than any other kind. Bless you, yes they all have their special tracks, and we don't want ours to be ex- tra special; the Dunlop's like a rattle snake, and the Palmer leaves telegraph wires, but surely the serpent Is more in our line"
 That was the winter where there were so many hurglaries in the Thames valley from Richmond upward. It was said that the thieves used bicycles in every case, but what is not said? They were some times on foot, to my knowledge, and we took great interest in the series. or, rather, sequence, of successful crimes. Rallies would often get his devoted old lady to read him the latest local accounts while I was busy with my writing (much l wrote) in my own room. We even rode out by night ourselves to see if we could not get on the tracks of the thieves, and never did we fail to find hot coffee on the hob for our return. We had indeed fallen upon our feet. Olso the misty nights might have been made for the thieves. But their success was not so consistent, and never so enormous, as people said, es- pecially the sufferers, who lost more vau- ables than they had ever been known to possess. Failure was often the caitif S portion, and disaster once; owing, ironi-