"Such as I am, sir-no great subject for a boaster, I admit-you see in me a product of my time, sir, and of very worthy parents, I assure you."-Ezekiel Joy. As a very small lad, at home in Tarn Regis, I had but one close chum, George Stairs, and he went off with his father to Canada, while I was away for my first term at Elstree School.