About The Author
Jerome Klapka Jerome was born on 2nd May, 1859 in Belsize House, Bradford Street, Walsall, Staffordshire, England. Jerome’s childhood was very difficult as his parents were falling into financial ruin and it left its mark on him.
The young Jerome attended St Marylebone Grammar School. He wished to go into politics or be a man of letters, but the death of his father when Jerome was 13 and of his mother when he was 15 forced him to quit his studies and find work to support himself. He was employed at the London and North Western Railway, initially collecting coal that fell along the railway, and he remained there for four years.
Jerome was inspired by his older sister Blandina’s love for the theatre, and he decided to try his hand at acting in 1877, under the stage name Harold Crichton.
On 21 June 1888, Jerome married Georgina Elizabeth Henrietta Stanley Marris, nine days after she divorced her first husband. The honeymoon took place on the Thames “in a little boat,” a fact that was to have a significant influence on his next and most important work, Three Men in a Boat.
On 14 June 1927 Jerome died in Northampton General Hospital after suffering a series of strokes. He was cremated at Golders Green, Middlesex on 17 June and his ashes buried at St Mary’s Church, Ewelme, Oxfordshire.
Introduction
This is a humorous story about the confusion and mess created by people who are inexperienced in the art of packing. The narrator of the story and his two friends decided to go on a holiday. The author thought that he was an expert in packing. He asked his friends, George and Harris to leave packing to him. When he had finished packing, certain things remained out. He opened the bag again. In the same way, he had to pack and unpack time and again. The packing was still not complete. Harris and George undertook to do the rest of the job. But they were also not expert in packing. They damaged a number of things and did the job shabbily. At last the packing was complete by 12.50 in the night. They went to bed with the intention of waking up at 6.30 in the morning.
Summary
The author and his friends decided to go on a holiday. The author thought he was an expert in packing. He told his friends, George and Harris that he would do the packing. They at once agreed to his suggestion. The narrator started packing. It seemed a longer job than he had thought it was going to be. At last he finished packing. But Harris told him that he had not packed the boots. He opened the bag and packed the boots in. Then when he was going to close it, an idea came to him. He was not sure whether he had packed his toothbrush.
So he unpacked the bag and took everything out but could not find the toothbrush. Then he shook everything one by one. At last he found his toothbrush in a boot. He repacked once more. Now George asked him if he had packed the soap. He decided not to do the packing again. A little later he realized that he had packed his tobacco pouch in it. So he reopened the bag and repacked it. He was able to complete the packing at 10.05 p.m.
George and Harris said that they were not satisfied with the packing done by the author. So they decided to do it themselves. But they created chaos while packing things. They started packing with breaking a cup. Then Harris packed the strawberry jam on top of a tomato and squashed it. George trod on the butter. They put things and could not find them when they wanted them. They packed the pies at the bottom and put heavy things on top and smashed the pies. Harris found butter sticking to the sole of George’s slipper.
He got the butter off the slipper and put it on a chair. Harris sat on the butter and it stuck to him. They started looking for it all over the room. Then suddenly George saw it on the back of Harris. When they finally found it, they packed it in the teapot. Their dog increased the confusion. He thought lemons to be rats and chased them. He put his leg in the jam and spoiled it. At last, the packing was completed at 12.50 and the three friends went to sleep with the intention of getting up early the next morning.