English Summary

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Three Men in a Boat Chapter 9 Summary

George put to work. The problems of tow-lines and incidents relating to them described. Reaching Penton Hook and decision to travel till Runnymeade as their next halting point.

The author and Harris decided to make George do the work now. However, when they passed him the tow-line, it was very tangled. According to the author, it is a characteristic’ of tow-lines in general that no matter how neatly they are coiled to begin with, they always find ways to get tangled.

The author was reminded of a time when one windy morning, two men managed to untangle their tow-line, only to find that their boat had drifted away. George had a similar amusing incident to share, where a boy and a girl were pulling the tow line, without realizing that there was no boat behind them anymore. Instead, George and his friends hitched their boat to the line and it was quite some time later when the boy and the girl realized that they had lost their boat and were pulling along strangers.

In another incident, the author and George saw a boat with five men relaxing onboard, being towed by a boy on a horse.
The man who was steering, accidentally pulled the wrong line, and the boat ran onto the bank, making most of the men fall overboard. The author felt this was a good thing, for boats being towed at such a speed tended to tangle their tow-lines over other boats’ masts, besides not giving any other boat time to get out of their way. The author also related his opinion about having one’s boat towed by women. He claimed that it was an adventure because they would chatter among themselves, stop towing suddenly and then remember something or the other that they needed from the boat.

The friends reached Penton Hook and since it was too early to sleep, they decided to keep going till Runnymead. The author recalled an instance when he and a female cousin were boating and it was getting late. They had mapped their course so that they would pass by Wallingford, but however much they rowed, they did not reach it. The river had then seemed to take on a dreamlike, haunting, ghostly aspect and they had been most relieved when they heard the sound of badly sung songs, signalling another boating party.

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Three Men in a Boat Chapter 8 Summary

Lunch near Kempton Park and trespassing by the trio. The stance, of the author and Harris, on landowners. The author’s views on Harris ’ terrible singing. George joins them at Weybridge with a banjo!

The author and Harris stopped for lunch near Kempton Park, when they were interrupted by a man who claimed that they were trespassing. The friends thanked him for the information and offered him some bread and jam, but the man seemed upset by the gesture and went away. The author then shared his belief that the man had been hoping to get some money by blackmailing them and that there were many such people all along the river. The correct way of dealing with them was to not give in, but to ask to have the owner of the property get in touch with you.

The author then commented that many landowners by the river had become so selfish that they put in posts and chains with notice boards to prevent people from going up the backwaters and tributaries. This made both the author and Harris very angry. While the author was content to kill the owners and put the notice boards over their graves, Harris wanted to additionally kill their family and friends, bum their houses and sing comic songs on the mins. The author succeeded in convincing Harris to lessen his harsh punishment.

The author then discussed how terrible it was to hear Harris sing a comic song. He also shared how even a high-class party was once mined because of confusion over a German song that Harris had sung. It had all happened because two shameless young men told the party that the song in question was a comedy, whereas it actually was a tragedy.

They reached Sunbury Lock by half past three and the author advised everyone not to try to row up the’ backwaters against the current. Passing by Walton a little later, he commented on how fortunate it was that only a small part of the town could be seen from the river, as the banks were mostly covered with woods and fields. Apparently, Walton was another place which had been visited by both Caesar and Queen Elizabeth. They also passed Oakland Park, where the Duchess of York had lived with several dogs.

They finally reached Weybridge, where they saw George at the Lock. Seeing him, the author and Harris let out shouts and screams, while Montmorency barked, making the Lock-keeper think someone had drowned. George had brought a banjo with him, even though he did not know how to play one.

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Three Men in a Boat Chapter 7 Summary

Their passage through Moulsey locks. The author’s comments on fashion and the dressing sense of people and the apparent lack of it in most people, including his friends. Harris ’ wish to visit a tomb and the events leading to him falling in the food hamper.

As the author and Harris passed through Moulsey Lock, they were surprised to see that there were hardly any other boats on the river at that point. On Sundays, according to the author, there were so many boats on the river that it became hard to see the water at all. It seemed as though all the inhabitants of the nearby areas would descend on the river, in their boating clothes, to enjoy their Sunday.

The author then commented on the dressing sense of the people. He shared his opinion that both Harris and George did not seem to have much sense of what colour suited them the best. He also related an incident when two ladies went boating with them, wearing boating dresses inspired by a Parisian fashion magazine. Throughout the trip, the girls were so concerned about saving their dresses from the dirt and the water that they were unable to enjoy the outing.

The author’s stories were interrupted by Harris, who wanted to visit a nearby tomb, of a lady he knew nothing about. The author commented on the strangeness of the fact that many people seemed to like visiting tombs and graves. He tried to distract Harris from his desire to see the tomb by reminding him that they had to meet George at five o’clock.

Harris then declared that George did not really do any work at all and that his job was just to sit behind a glass window in the bank all day. He also declared that he wanted a drink. The author reminded him that they had lemonade in the hamper. When Harris went to get it, he forgot that he still had the steering lines in his hand, and the boat landed on the river bank. The impact made Harris fall straight into the hamper, with his legs in the air.

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Three Men in a Boat Chapter 6 Summary

Some remarks on early English history and observations on life in general. The author gives his views on the contradictory nature of people who always want what they don’t have and never realize the value of what they do have. Harris narrates an incident when he acted as a guide in the maze at Hampton Court.

Harris rowed the boat down the river, as the author sat back and thought about the beauty of the day and the history of Kingston. The author then commented that Queen Elizabeth had stopped over at many places around the river, as she was especially fond of public inns. According to him, if Harris were to ever become the Prime Minister, he should never allow the innkeepers to place boards outside their inns proclaiming that he had stopped there.

There were many houses in the area, built during the Tudor era. The author commented on one such house which had been converted to a shop and which had a marvellous oak staircase. The owner of the house also had an entire room which was panelled in oak, which he had covered up with bright blue wallpaper, as he found the oak rather gloomy.

Based on this incident, the author observed that people usually have what they do not want and want what they do not have. As an example, the author narrated the case of a boy named Stiwings, in his school, who loved studying, but who fell ill very often and had to miss school. On the other hand, every other boy in school wished that they could fall sick and miss school, but they could not.

The author also raised the question of what was valued as antique in those days. While he was thinking of these matters, Harris suddenly stopped rowing and lay down with his legs in the air. Montmorency jumped up, upsetting one of the hampers and spilling its contents into the boat. It turned out that the author should have been steering, but had forgotten to do so, and the boat had landed onto the bank.

As they were near Hampton Court at that time, Harris and the author got into a discussion about the maze there. Harris had once visited the maze with a cousin, and thought it would be simple to get out of it. He had collected all the people within the maze who were lost, and led them all confidently through it, only to find that he was as lost as the rest of them. Therefore, Harris now thought it was a very fine maze and they decided to visit it as soon as George joined them.

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Three Men in a Boat Chapter 5 Summary

Departure from London amidst much confusion and hilarity. Arrival at Kingston and finally setting off on the boat.

The next morning, Mrs Poppets awoke the author at nine o’clock. Realising that George was still asleep, the author and Harris woke him up by pulling off his covers, hitting him with a slipper and shouting in his ear. They began to get dressed and then realized that they had packed their toothbrushes in the luggage. Having taken them out and having finally dressed, they all sat down to breakfast.

While they ate, George read out the weather forecast from the newspaper. This caused the author to reflect that in his experience, the weather forecast was a fraud. He related an incident where they stayed at home on a bright sunny day, because the forecast was for rain and, the next day, when it was forecast to be sunny, they were caught in a storm and fell ill. The author also expressed his doubts about the usefulness of barometers. Instead, he said that he preferred the opinions of old men, who even if they were wrong about the weather, could at least be appreciated for trying.

After George went to work, Harris and the author took out the entire luggage and waited for a cab. While they waited, all the young boys of the neighbourhood crowded around them, each offering his own opinion about why they stood in the street with the luggage. When an empty cab finally came up, they loaded in the luggage and Montmorency, and made their way to Waterloo station.

There, they spent some time rushing from one platform to another, as no one seemed to have any idea where the train to Kingston would leave from. Finally on reaching Kingston, they loaded their boat with their luggage and provisions, forced an unhappy Montmorency into the boat and set sail.