Three Men in a Boat a typical boating holiday of the time in a Thames camping skiff. This was just after commercial boat traffic on the Upper Thames had died out, replaced by the 1880s craze for boating as a leisure activity. Following the overwhelming success of "Three Men in a Boat", Jerome later published a sequel, about a cycling tour in Germany, titled "Three Men on the Bummel" (also known as "Three Men on Wheels", 1900). The story begins by introducing George, Harris, Jerome (always referred to as "J."), and Jerome's dog, named Montmorency. The men are spending an evening in J.'s room, smoking
Three Men on the Bummel of the comments on cycling are relevant—and funny—today. Those who have purchased ergonomic bicycle saddles, intended to relieve pressure on the perineal nerves, may not know that these are not a new invention: Jerome's comic stereotypes of Germany and the German character have aged less well, yet provide some picture of the country during the period of the German Empire, at least how it was popularly perceived in Britain. Generally, the country is portrayed as clean and orderly, yet heavily policed, with the authorities strictly enforcing even the most trivial of a vast number of laws and regulations (this causes