About: Mike and Psmith by P. G. Wodehouse
MIKE AND PSMITH
Produced by Christine Gehring, Ginny Brewer and PG DistributedProofreaders
MIKE AND PSMITH
ByP.G. WODEHOUSE
MEREDITH PRESS/NEW YORK
Copyright 1909 by A. & C. Black
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
1. MR. JACKSON MAKES UP HIS MIND2. SEDLEIGH3. PSMITH4. STAKING OUT A CLAIM5. GUERRILLA WARFARE6. UNPLEASANTNESS IN THE SMALL HOURS7. ADAIR8. MIKE FINDS OCCUPATION9. THE FIRE BRIGADE MEETING10. ACHILLES LEAVES HIS TENT11. THE MATCH WITH DOWNING'S 12. THE SINGULAR BEHAVIOR OF JELLICOE13. JELLICOE GOES ON THE SICK LIST14. MIKE RECEIVES A COMMISSION15. ... AND FULFILLS IT16. PURSUIT17. THE DECORATION OF SAMMY18. MR. DOWNING ON THE SCENT19. THE SLEUTH HOUND20. A CHECK21. THE DESTROYER OF EVIDENCE22. MAINLY ABOUT SHOES23. ON THE TRAIL AGAIN24. THE ADAIR METHOD25. ADAIR HAS A WORD WITH MIKE26. CLEARING THE AIR27. IN WHICH PEACE IS DECLARED28. MR. DOWNING MOVES29. THE ARTIST CLAIMS HIS WORK30. SEDLEIGH V. WRYKYN
PREFACE
In Evelyn Waugh's book _Decline and Fall_ his hero, applying for a postas a schoolmaster, is told by the agent, "We class schools in fourgrades leading school, first rate school, good school, and school."Sedleigh in Mike and Psmith would, I suppose, come into the last namedclass, though not quite as low in it as Mr. Waugh's Llanabba. It is oneof those small English schools with aspirations one day to be able toput the word "public" before their name and to have their headmasterqualified to attend the annual Headmaster's Conference. All it needs isa few more Adairs to get things going. And there is this to be noted,that even at a "school" one gets an excellent education. Its onlydrawback is that it does not play the leading schools or the first rateschools or even the good schools at cricket.
But to Mike, fresh fromWrykyn (a "first rate school") and Psmith, coming from Eton (a "leadingschool") Sedleigh naturally seemed something of a comedown. It took Mikesome time to adjust himself to it, though Psmith, the philosopher,accepted the change of conditions with his customary equanimity.
This was the first appearance of Psmith. He came into two other books,_Psmith in the City_ and _Psmith, Journalist_, before becoming happilymarried in _Leave It to Psmith_, but I have always thought that he wasmost at home in this story of English school life. To give full play tohis bland clashings with Authority he needs to have authority to clashwith, and there is none more absolute than that of the masters at anEnglish school.
Psmith has the distinction of being the only one of my numerouscharacters to be drawn from a living model. A cousin of mine was at Etonwith the son of D'Oyly Carte, the man who produced the Gilbert andSullivan operettas, and one night he told me about this peculiarschoolboy who dressed fastidiously and wore a monocle and who, when oneof the masters inquired after his health, replied "Sir, I grow thinnahand thinnah." It was all the information I required in order to startbuilding him in a star part.
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