'When, a year later, a senior apprentice -a Clarion Scout -gave me a copy of the penny edition of Blatchford's "Merrie England" of which he had sold a large quantity "round the frames", its matter was so very different from what its title had led me to expect that I put it aside unread. Years later circumstances caused me to hunt out this copy of "Merrie England" and give it serious consideration. I read it with avidity from end to end. In less than an hour it had done my business completely. Why I would hardly so much as look at a book which, later on, had so enduring an effect on me is worth puzzling out.'