Tom Brown's School Days

Ronald Rowlands April 2005

Recently I was at a campervan and motor home rally at Horsham Victoria. The people were friendly, mostly retired.

While looking at an exhibit I started up a casual conversation with a chap standing beside me. He had a pop-top campervan similar to mine. I asked him how he earned his livelihood. He thought for a while, then answered, "I suppose I'm a jack-of-all-trades, but you could call me an engineer's welder". He came from Albion Park.

During the course of the conversation I happened to mention that I was a book collector and he told me this story.

When he was a small boy he was given a copy of "Tom Brown's School Days". It was a very old attractive edition. Unfortunately it was misplaced or lost before he had a chance to read it. He doesn't remember what actually happened to it.

Last year, he is now 61 years of age, he was rummaging around in a charity "op" shop and came across a copy of "Tom Brown's School Days". It was the same old attractive edition he had been given and it brought back a host of childhood memories. He purchased the book, this time with the intention of reading it.

When he got home and examined the book more closely, it had his name in it! It was the very same book he had been given as a child!

And the final stitch in this yarn... his name is "Tom Brown". (He still hasn't read the book.)