Peck's bad boy abroad

In Short

This episodic comic novel follows the globetrotting antics of the irreverent youth Hennery—the original "Bad Boy"—and his pompous, easily duped father as they embark on a grand tour across Europe, Russia, and the Middle East. Written as a series of letters back to a grocer friend in America, the book captures their absurd encounters with world leaders, historic sights, and local customs. It has endured as an artifact of early twentieth-century American humor, defining a rowdy, anti-establishment strain of satire that pit American homespun bravado against foreign tradition.

The Story

The journey begins when young Hennery and his father ("Dad") leave home on the advice of doctors who recommend travel to cure the old man's lingering ailments. Hennery vows to keep his father's mind occupied, a promise he fulfills by orchestrating an endless series of outrageous practical jokes. Before they even board their transatlantic steamer, Hennery tricks his father into demanding that a group of armed Western cowboys dance for him, resulting in a hail of gunfire around the old man's boots. In Washington, D.C., Hennery convinces Dad that a horse chestnut planted in his bed is the first symptom of smallpox, setting a pattern of manipulation that continues around the globe.

Crossing the Atlantic, the pair land in England, where Dad immediately clashes with British customs. In London, they brave the suffocating fogs, tour the grim Tower of London, and go horseback riding on Rotten Row, where Dad is promptly thrown from a jumping horse into a ditch of dirty water. Crossing over to Paris, Dad develops a quick fondness for absinthe and gets into trouble posing as a Mormon bishop. Moving through Switzerland and Monte Carlo, the pair gamble away their money and must bluff their way out of hotels before traveling to Italy. In Venice, Hennery capsizes a gondola carrying his father, and in Rome, Dad gets chased by lions near the Coliseum and is briefly stranded among the mummies in the Catacombs.

Their travels turn increasingly hazardous as they move east into Russia. Prompted by a stranger to offer unsolicited diplomatic advice to the Tsar during the Russo-Japanese War, Dad finds himself in St. Petersburg. During a night ride through the snowy countryside, Hennery drags a piece of raw meat behind their sledge, convincing his father that a pack of stray neighborhood dogs is a horde of ravenous wild wolves. Moving through Constantinople, the two tour a Turkish harem, where Hennery hands the young Sultan a piece of candy spiked with cayenne pepper. In Egypt, Hennery touches off a Roman candle and a giant firecracker inside the tombs of the Pyramids, sending tourist guides and bats into a panic.

After dodging trouble in Spain, Germany, and Belgium, the pair head home via Cuba. In Havana, after visiting the wreck of the USS Maine, Dad overindulges in local fruit and suffers severe stomach cramps. Hennery secures an ox-cart driven by a local man and falsely claims Dad has cholera, causing the driver to panic and run the ox at top speed over the cobblestones. The rough ride successfully cures Dad's indigestion, leaving him bruised but intact as they prepare to head back to the United States.

How It Unfolds

The journey begins After leaving home to seek a health cure for Dad, Hennery and his father travel through Washington, D.C., and New York before setting sail across the Atlantic. Hennery establishes his routine early, tricking his father with fake medical scares and labeling his luggage with chaotic warnings.

London fog and French absinthe Arriving in England, the pair contend with dense London fogs, inspect executioner blocks at the Tower of London, and fall off horses in Rotten Row. They cross the English Channel to Paris, where Dad samples absinthe, tries to court local women, and climbs the Eiffel Tower.

Disaster in Monte Carlo and Italy After going broke at the Monte Carlo casino tables, Hennery and Dad flee to Italy, where Hennery tips his father out of a Venetian gondola into the Grand Canal. In Rome, Dad gets lost in the Catacombs and suffers through a series of swindles surrounding a trip to Mount Vesuvius.

Wolves in St. Petersburg Traveling to Russia with grand ideas of advising the Tsar on foreign policy, the pair take a sledge ride through the snowy countryside. Hennery bait-trails local dogs with raw liver, convincing his terrified father that they are being pursued by a pack of man-eating wolves.

Pyramids and spice in the East In Constantinople, Hennery offers cayenne pepper-filled candy to the young monarch, causing an uproar at court. Moving on to Egypt, Hennery ignites fireworks inside the ancient tombs of the Pyramids, terrifying the tour guides and causing a stampede for the exits.

The final leg home Passing through Spain and Belgium, the pair cross back over the Atlantic to Cuba. After inspecting the harbor in Havana, Dad gets sick from eating fruit, and Hennery cures him by convincing an ox-cart driver that his father has cholera, prompting a frantic, jostling ride through the streets.

The People

• Hennery ("The Bad Boy") wants constant entertainment and has an appetite for mischievous chaos. Unfazed by foreign cultures, historic monuments, or authority figures, he views the entire globe as a playground for his elaborate practical jokes. Though he orchestrates endless scares for his father, he keeps the old man moving and energetic throughout their travels.
• Dad wants to be recognized as a distinguished gentleman, a man of strong personality, and an authority on world affairs. Plagued by hypochondria, gullibility, and an easily inflated ego, his desire for status constantly lands him in embarrassing predicaments, whether he is attempting to lecture cowboys, court fake countesses, or advise foreign monarchs.
• The Old Groceryman acts as the unseen audience and confidant back home. Though he never leaves his store, his letters and memory anchor Hennery to America, serving as the benchmark against which Hennery measures every foreign sight and smell.

In Its Own Voice

"If I could get one more smell of that keg of sauerkraut back of your counter, when it is ripe enough to pick, I think I would break right down and cry for joy."

Hennery writes from Geneva, homesick for the familiar scents of his local grocery store back in the United States.

"There is no fun anywhere except in America unless you make it or buy it."

Reflecting on their sobering visit to the Tower of London, Hennery summarizes his view of international travel to his friend back home.

"Say, Hennery, they will rob you anywhere, even in the grave, and if this Catacomb show is over, and the curtain has gone down, I want to get out of here..."

Dad recovers his spirits after getting separated and briefly stranded among the remains in the Roman Catacombs.

What It's Really About

Beneath its sequence of absurd pranks and travel mishaps, the book presents a satire of turn-of-the-century American nationalism and the phenomenon of the Gilded Age tourist. Dad embodies the pompous, naive American traveler who travels abroad expecting deference, yet understands almost nothing of the history or customs of the places he visits. Hennery represents an unruly, irreverent American spirit that refuses to bow down to European nobility or ancient history. The narrative continually contrasts the formal, traditional structures of the Old World with the raw, chaotic energy of American boyhood, suggesting that behind America's growing global ambition lies a headstrong, reckless adolescence that is equal parts destructive and irrepressible.

Why Read It Today

This work offers a vivid window into early 1900s popular humor and the cultural mindsets of pre-World War I America. Readers who enjoy classic slapstick, historical travelogue satire, or Mark Twain's travel writings like The Innocents Abroad will find much to appreciate in Hennery's relentless schemes. The book moves at a rapid pace, relying on over-the-top comic exaggeration and dramatic irony as Dad falls for trap after trap set by his own son.

However, modern readers should approach the text aware of its era's limitations. The narrative contains frequent period slang, heavy phonetic dialect, and unabashed ethnic stereotypes typical of early twentieth-century American vaudeville humor. Foreign populations—from Italian locals to Turkish officials and Russian drivers—are routinely reduced to caricatures, viewed entirely through the narrow, xenophobic lens of the American travelers. For those interested in literary history, the book remains a fascinating document showing how turn-of-the-century popular fiction processed world travel, imperialism, and national identity through lowbrow comedy.