Jerry Mugg—My Neighbour

Maoriland Worker, Volume 5, Issue 177, 24 June 1914, Page 7

Jerry Mugg—My Neighbour

By 'THE INNOCENT."

•Tcnr.v Miißg.w.a man "as knows' tilings. , ' <\ t , jcast, thai; is, his. own opjujpu of himself. .Sometimes.'lie condescends to give mc the fanncfit of'lij.s wide experience , , and expresses Itts sorrow to. my personal 'Irleuds, thai lie eajouot courorl mc 1o that rational state yf wind which he so cnjw.ys.'. u llow do you pass your 'time?" -he asked mc ono day. You dou r t smoke, you don't, I)oozo,.y»ii don't do nothing, only try to wake other folks as- balmy ns yourself." .:. -. "Th'o fact is," I replied (somewhat meukly, I 'admit), , " "I £jid there is so much wants 'clonic to'alter the rotten j aystom under which w<? live that I cau't find tinjc to acquire such excel- j lent, attributes of manliness as smoking,' boozing and playing two-up." "You make nu , tired 1" said Jerry, j "You're always gcttimj at> it, some .vay. SosherUsml Soshorlisnil Boshorlism! y« 'ere, Innocent, it's turuin' your brain. Re like mc, slicic■ to your father's colour and you won't be J far out!" • "I'm afraid if nil your ancestors had held your views you'd be skying cocoanuts at your young brothers, sisters and cousins, and you'd) be wagging a-toil, instead oj manipulating a jacksaw, ,, I retorted. . | "TJieio you go! That's- ; another .of your silly notions/ said Jerry. "You break mc up. If men came from monkeys, it 'nd say so in the Bible. Any- \ way] won't argue with you, 'cos you j can't take .it in." .-■■■■. 1 held my peace, and for quite a while Jerry Mugg thought solidly, try-, ing to concoct something to wither mc up; but finding the effort too much for him, ho turned to mc with his quiet. greasy smile, and said: "Well, how's Sosberlism comin' on, Innocent?" "Socialism is all right," I answered j quietly, ■ "It's booming." j "Do you ever read the 'Evening Post , ?" he queried, with a knowing look. * I signified by a nod of the head that I sometimes was foolish enough to do even that. . "\Vell, there it is in black and white, and you can't get awuy from it. ■ It says in the 'Post' as'how you SosherUsts want to rob everybody of everything to give every thing to everybody. Now, iE that's the- case, isn't it better to let things bo as they are?" "Bμ t I don't know as that is the case,' , ' said I. "Oh, of course you don't! And that's what the 'Post' and the 'TJominipn , is I trying to hammer into you, ii: i only take it in; ,, 'retorted Jerry heatedly. "Look here, Innocent, let mc put the matter before you so as you can get hold on it. You're • a Sosherlist and I'm . . . Well, I'm .Terry l Mugg. j [Jerry Mugg is a man of brawn.] Sup- - posing I have a shilling in my picket, i and you come along and • say, 'Split that bob, come now.' 'No,'-.I says, say I, 'It's , mine, I've worked for it.' Then what do you do? You pull out a- shooter and knock mc down and take the whole bbb—that's Sosherlism. Sosherlists want to go halves in everything—even in wives." '"That's all new to mc, I said. . "Of course it is!" said' Jerry "You're that sort of blok<? that help them Sosherliste to think they are somebody." "But supposing as you suppose: would you be there while I was knocking you down and going through your pockets?" J "I'm not saying as you'd go through my pockets," he said, eyeing mc over. "All the same, if you tried it on mc you'd have a hot time." "You moan that?" I asked. "You bet, every time! The man as takes Jerry Mugg down ha s to be up to to-morrow to do it." Then he proudly straightened himself to liis full height and looked at his muscles. "What are you thinking about, Innocent?" he added. "Oh, just tanking about what you were saying." ~ "You were. Now, I've hopes on you, sonny," said he patronisingly. „ "1 was just thinking . . . ." I repeated slowly. j "Well, go on," said Jerry. ' "Thinking that the landlord takes you down for a pound a week ly, and the baker • and the butcher,! and the coalman, and the tailor and the bootmaker, and a dozen others gather round you, like blow-flies round dead meat, a-nd you part up"like a two-year-old caught stealing sugar, till be-i tween one and the other they take you; down for every blessed penny you've ' earned." ( Jerry Mugg. looked bothered and 1 serious, so I continued: "You, with all your brawn and muscle (something to be proud of, I admit), suffer yourself to bo threatened, abused, insulted, summoned, and imprisoned by a horde of vampires who have sweated, ill-used, and cheated you! Who have worked you to build their splendid houses and to put up in a hovel for yourself for which they charge yoyi rent; who adulterate every morsel of food you put in , your mouth, and then, for fear you should charge them with it, have created a bogey and called it Socialism, to frighten you with, telling you it's going to take your last shilling from you— which, by the way, they took from you last Saturday!" Jerry Mugg plunged his hands to the uttermost depths of his pockets, and; jingling some nails he carries there to encourage respect from hi 3 penniless workmates, looked vacantly at the new moon.