"Eat Sawdust Without Butter"

In yesterday's entry, I wrote about Rudie Lehmann's daughter Rosamond, and Selina Hasting's biography about her. Today, it's time to go back to Rudie Lehmann as I have a rare picture to share with you all. The illustration on top is from the July, 1896 of Baily's Magazine of Sports and Pastimes (No. 437, Vol. LXVI). In this issue is an article about "Mr. R. C. Lehmann", of whom it's said: "Few names are better known, few faces are more familiar in the aquatic world and the resorts of the rowing men, than that of the gentlemen whose linements will be seen on the [...] page."

The article also mentions Lehmann as a barrister, who once wrote a book with the "ponderous title", A Digest of Overrules Cases. The article continues to say: "The bar, however, did not hold him for long; possibly he realised the directness of Lord Thurlow's question [...] to a father who asked him if he would recommend his son to go to the bar, "Sir, can your son ear sawdust without butter?'" Lehmann's book, the article states, "is the sawdust; for the relish Mr. Lehmann turned to the lighter paths of literature."

The article also mentions Lehmann's many dogs: "At one time he might almost have started a small dog show of his own, for his kennel consisted of seventeen [dogs]."