WHEN A PIPE'S A FRIEND.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 10, 12 January 1934, Page 6

WHEN A PIPE'S A FRIEND.

There are some inanimate tilings which in the couree of time become,, with- constant usage, a real flricnd to man. T got a very good instance of this when sitting with an old seafaring gent. In the course of Ins reminiscences I proffered him the usual cigarette, and he smilingly took, out a battered, scarred pipe> which he called a "eherry-oot." "Paid one and six for it nigh fifteen years ago when I was in the London Docks," he eaid. "It has sailed with me everywhere. I romember when I was shipwrecked in a trawler in the North Sea. The first thing I did on being picked up was to take out the 'cherry-oot.' Of course, the 1 'baccy was all wet, but I borried a bowlful. It ha£ smoked all kinds of toba.cco. Its one extravagance was an English brand at eigh-teenpen.ee an ounce. It has been charged with black shag, Virginian brands, all kinds of I&land. insults round the tropics, Continental- abominations, and a peculiar, concoction picked up in the China Seas which, if it was not opium, was a very good imitation. Tts greatest attempt was an evil-sinelling, diabolical root forced upon mo by a coolie in Calcutta, 'Phaugh!' That was the only time I revolted against smoking. At times tobacco ran out at .sea, and I have filled the pipe with tea, but, what with burning quickly and frequently going out, there was no enjoyment. Not that it was the pipe's fault, mind!" I asked him if it had at any time been broken. * "Nary a once," was the reply. "The stem is as good as on its birthday. The bowl, as , you can eee, is worn and chipped with age, but it is still good for years. I only lost it once, and it was sent intact across 5000 miles of sea by Captain X with a note saving I had left it in his cabin. I took good care that I did not lose it again." Our smoke was finished to satisfaction, and as the old seaman thumbed in the remaining tobacco and wadded a further supply into the bowl for future use, I eaw his final choice was New Zealand tobacco. "Yes," he said, "the pipe's a real friend. You see, it's all I have left out of all my friends, and I like to sit here watching the sea, and smoking the pipe till the last boat shall take us home on the last tide." —BOUVBRIE.