My Humble Opinion.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 244, 12 October 1907, Page 12

My Humble Opinion.

N By f--~ j P__ROT. I

i I THE TIME TO SAY IT. Mr. Reir Hardies recent performance in India has set a whole Empire by the ears. Some, of our friends are even asking for the good's -man's gore. But 1 don't want them to take his gn T e for that csrellent reason that he is a jgood man. i believe that this seeming firebrand, this sower of sedition, privy conspiracy, and other ill things that the prayer-book advises us to hold in detestation, is, in point of fact, a peaceloving, white-haired old gentleman, rivalling that famous bishop of Cervantes (was it not?) who had "a face like a - benediction/ ?n& erring only in that he refuses to square his ideals to the plain ; demands of the practical. And more particularly he has failed io realise that there is a time for all things and that i this is not the time ior telling the natives of India what they have not got. It is one thing, rightly or wrongly, to ; tell a man that somebody deserves =evere ' treatment when that man is sharpening j his carving knife for his Sunday'? dinner; it is quite another matter lo sug- ' gest it to him when he is furiously run:>_g down the street with that _c j carving-knife prepared to give somebody i a speed;- release from a troublous vi-orlci. 1 Similarly I could not help entertaining _ some sentiments with regard to a land- ] lady who once greeted mc at the foot ' of a pitch-dark staircase, down which 1 had come with a jug of water, not • wisely, hut too rapidly, with the greet- • ing. "Goodness', you've spilled water all down the stairs." I don't remember i what I said, but I do remember that my c body in its descent haa performed tricks 1 ir. v negotiating the corn j*-s that previously 1 had attributed only to the ] " boneless wonder "' of a travelling a variety show. Perhaps even using that 1 curious negative power of our mothertongue. 1 blessed her staircase; perhaps < 1 grew exceeding wroth: perhaps—and I ; think this was the ca.se —I was too bat- 1 tered and bruised to protest. But how- 1 ever this may have been. 1 -wish gently to hint that in this instance Procrast—a- t tion should have been allowed to steal r at least a. few hours of that time which t my copy-book used to inform mc he is so o much in the habit of appropriating. •: And how many people there are in the a world who must say exactly what they * think at all times and in all places. And \ it is worse than that* It is also what ' they feel, which is sometimes a very dif- J ferent and a far more trying matter. 1 I have no sympathy with tbe man who F believes it to be his duty on every occa- I sion to represent the conflict—g emotions of his nature with precise vocal, facial. ' and muscular mdi carious; shouting his anger, screwing up his face with con- k tempt, and drawing himself together to * avenge the first imagined insult. To *■ such an in dividual the foment is nothing . —or rather it is a chance foi a more or less uncomfortable display of his super- E abundant self. And the reference is not * always to "his"' either: for I am informied that Mrs. Caudle, whose genius was c always to improve the shining hour, is- : matched by fair but formidable succes- ' ' sors in our own day — charming if '' con_—nd—g ladies who fear tha*. their ! reproaches would next morning have lost much of the force they possess in the j ghostly hour. \ I There is an unhappy order of being . khat bullies the jaded, offends the sor- ] rowing, and harasses the sick—and that '. j without intending the least harm in the i j world. The ebullient type that 'thinks . nothing of the fitness of occasion simply j, : follows the line of least resistance—and . . ■ the unresisting "have to suffer. It is per- . 1 haps not surprising to find so little of the _ 1 fine flavour of tnct in the world -. but the j ' number of people who have not an ele- ; ! mentary notion of whep 'to speak and ,; i when to be silent is surprising, even to |, l those who are obliged to remember that | j the walls of their own dwelling are not|. proof against the stones of the criticised, j | And there is much more than tact in ! • I it—at any rate, if we look at that rather j 1 I depreciated but blessed gift from the ' ! commonest point of view. There is a very 11 | considerable allowance of manliness in ; the sturdy self-sacrifice that leaves a man 1 i silent when the rest of the flock is bleati ing, and that leads him to advance, gently i c I but firmly, a cause whit— he knows to 1•" run counter to prejudice, even at the risk I . of a broken head. And here I do not | wish to over-belaud that famous " candid J i friend." who, nine times out of 'ten is the . ' most untimely, the most unpleasant, and, ' - in lhe depth of things, tbe least fair of ' • j men. Labelling his corrosive acid """ mcdi- i: cine." canting maddening platitudes in |; the midst of death and dismay, such a'; man is often worse than the liar—a cruel ; 1 ; and ing<_ious torturer. The candour of ! • the supporter of an unpopular cause, or j: | the rejector of a cause .that is popular. ! 1 lis to his as economy to usury, as justice ! i .to cruelty, as any fine trait to its fren- j zied and immoral abuse. But even the 1 supporter of a good cause must choose I his moment- and. personally. I should not :i i feel any injustice in the most violent re- | • proof from a sir.gsering son of Bacchus ! j Ito whom T delivered a homily about the i: evils of alcohol. L : An acquaintance of mine argued thel] other day for 'the outspoken man —the |: . man who knows no bars of time or place. ! i : And I think he contrasted,. " honest "j! speech with diplomatically misleading > j speech. Put in that form, of course. |.' ! there is no reply to be made. But I think it will be admitted that the contrast is ; 1 too much emphasised. Common honesty j 1 of speech, or even uncommon honesty, i i does not necessarily imply a brusque . statement of every thought that comes j 1 ■ into our head. Are there not conclusions I i that we prefer not to reach even in our j 1 i own brain —much less advance them to ] ;others? I fancy a healthy-minded man ' . does inward battle against every un- . j worthy suspicion -. but by my friend's < j logic will he not have -to reveal the j i j thought the moment that it takes real j i 'possession of him'" And what of onr i .violent prejudices, our rash judgments. ■ i j our first view, which is often so different ' • i from our last—are they ali to be dragged : ; into the light of day because their ex- I : pression is " honest " ? Imagine the , 1 i clamour of the world, following on the!' ' abolition of -the inestimable " second j; , thought," which is often so much saner. : sweeter, more charitable! As though it c were net bad enough already—this clash ii iof raw. ill-considered opinion and dogmatic assertion! Put more honesty into il i business if you like, and it will not be •; wasted;. but 1 fancy ordinary social inter- i 1 course will profit more by that timely, ; i tactful statement of the truth, which is ' still the truth, even thought it is not sledge-hammered on to us when it is r least wanted. J'