LET US GLANCE AT OUR GAZETTEER #4

 Over the course of this year, I've written four short essays about Arthur Conan Doyle for inclusion in the Sherlock's Spotlight Gazette published by The Beacon Society for young readers. As I finished work on the final essay for 2023, I decided to post the four to this site. Here is the last, a story from Jerome K. Jerome about a vacation in Norway, including a moment in time when Arthur Conan Doyle got a bit ahead of himself.

 

Conan Doyle and family members, Norway, 1892 & Jerome K. Jerome, circa 1890

 

About Arthur, the Author

Glimpses into the life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes

 

The Adventure of the Overconfident Writer

 

By the summer of 1892, a year had passed since Arthur Conan Doyle had made the decision to give up his medical practice with the intention of supporting his family as a publishing author. Feeling very confident in his abilities and bolstered by his strong work ethic, his writing output grew and grew, as did his income and literary fame. 

 

Without a medical practice to attend to, Conan Doyle had time to meet many other successful writers including the humorist Jerome K. Jerome, one of the founders of a new magazine, The Idler. The two men became good friends, so much so that when Conan Doyle took his family to Norway for a vacation that August, Jerome went along for the fun.

It is from this humorist that we learn of an incident in Norway wherein Conan Doyle had a bit too much confidence in his abilities and was left afoot when he inadvertently gave away the horse to his carriage:

Doyle was always full of superfluous energy. He started to learn Norwegian on the boat. He go on so well that he became conceited; and one day, at a little rest house up among the mountains, he lost his head. We had come there in stoljas—a tiny carriage only just big enough for one person, drawn by a pony about the size of a Newfoundland dog, but marvelously sturdy. They will trot their fifty miles in the day and be frisky in the evening. While we were lunching, with some twenty miles still in front of us, a young officer came into the room, and said something in Norwegian. Of course we turned on to Doyle; and Doyle rose and bowed and answered him. We all watched the conversation. The young Norwegian officer was evidently charmed with Doyle, while Doyle stood ladling out Norwegian as though it had been his mother tongue. After the officer was gone, we asked Doyle what it was all about.

“Oh, just about the weather, and the state of the roads, and how some relation of his had hurt his leg,” answered Doyle carelessly. “Of course I didn’t understand all of it.” He turned the conversation.

When we had finished lunch, and the stoljas were brought out, Doyle’s pony was missing. It appeared Doyle had “lent” it to the young officer, whose own pony had gone lame. The ostler, who was also the waiter, had overheard the conversation. Doyle had said “Certainly, with pleasure.” He had said it once or twice. Also the Norwegian equivalent for: “Don’t mention it.”

There wasn’t another pony within ten miles. One of our party, who had taken a fancy to the view, and thought he would like to spend a day or two in the neighborhood, let Doyle have his stolja. But for the rest of that trip, Doyle talked less Norwegian.

Jerome included his memory of the comical horse event in his 1926 autobiography, My Life and Times. Conan Doyle and Jerome remained friends for many years, despite not always agreeing as to politics and spiritual matters. Jerome dedicated his book, Novel Notes, to “Big-Hearted, Big-Souled, Big-Bodied Friend Conan Doyle.” 

 

 

Sources:

Stashower, Daniel. Teller of Tales: The Life of Arthur Conan Doyle. Henry Holt and Company, Inc., 1999, pp. 126-27, 135-36, 166-68, 169, 260, 329.

Jerome, Jerome K., My Life and Times. 1925. Independently Published, Amazon Associate Publishing, 2023, pp. 108-11, 142, 174.

The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia: A Life in Pictures, https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com. Accessed 4 October 2023.

Britannica: Jerome K. Jerome, English Writer. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jerome-K-Jerome. Accessed 6 October 2023.