How to be Healthy and Unhappy by Jerome K. Jerome. Short summary

5 seconds

Jerome was talking to Mrs. Wilkins about the benefits of eating cod. The woman argued that the fish was not healthy, especially in the spring. She added that if you listen to people, you can’t eat anything.

1 minute

Once there was a conversation between an English writer and Mrs. Wilkins about the benefits of good nutrition.

The lady stated that cod is especially harmful to eat in the springtime. She also talked about the fact that some people had better not listen — otherwise any food would be forbidden.

According to his recollections, in the old days cod was inexpensive. For a couple of pence you could buy a fish of medium size, and for 4 — a large one.

The author decided to tell an incident from his youth. At that time the English writer lived very poor — at times he even had to starve. One day he forgot his umbrella in the omnibus because of his own absent-mindedness. But soon Jerome received a new and at the same time not at all cheap umbrella from a rich gentleman — he decided to make a gratuitous gift to the poor man.

After a while, the author surrendered the richly decorated umbrella in a pawnshop. With the proceeds he bought a cheaper equivalent of the item, as well as cod.