BEER, GLORIOUS BEER!

NZ Truth, Issue 131, 21 December 1907, Page 5

BEER, GLORIOUS BEER!

— + A LABORER'S AWFUL CRIME. Prigs the Ganger's Swankey. A Sydney-street Park Idyll. Man, taking him all round, is a forgiving sort of animal, who, on the spur of the moment, says and does things, which, after cool reflection he regrets and calls himself an ass and sets out to b,eg somebody's pardon. Of course, it's different with a woman. Man, or most of his species, stand a lot without a murmur. He forgives and forgets, and over -a bleaker of beer or some other exhilarating tonic will clasp the bitter enemy of five minutes before to his bosom " and tell him that he didn't mean it. that the heat provokes one to bad ' temper and proves to the other fellow that he is whiter a man than ever a white New Zealand will be. Woman doesn't do that sort of thing. She cherishes up old scores, and as Byron says, what prize money is to seamen, so is revenge to women. Anyhow, "Truth" has wandered off its track. This has nothing to do with women and is not to be read by women, whioh is . ahout the best thing to say to make her read. As "Truth" set out to say, men are generally forgiving animals. Some will thank you for stealing their wives and make you a present of soim'e furniture to set up housekeeping. Punch a man for nothing at all, and he'll probably punch? back and forgive you. Rob him of his worldly possessions, and he might entertain a -grudge against you for years, bnxi m the long run he'll learn to respect you as being cleverer than he is. Force him to "the Bankruptcy Court and he'll BEAM BRIGHTLY ON EVERYTHING. At first there are lowering clouds o'er his countenance, but m the course of time the sweet sunshine of his smile will dispel them and he'll murmur gently something or other about the vicissitude of things generally. Put him on a "stumer" and he'll reckon, -the jockey a bad horseman. All these and more the general run of male biped will stand, but there is a limit. Rob him of his beer and he'll curse you. Like -a fiend incarnate, he will pursue you* and hound you to an unhonored and untimely grave.* As it is certain death for a raam to stand (between an alligator and water, between a venomous snake and its hole, between a bear and her cubs, so it is "pizen" to steal another man's beer. Deadly will be his hate, malignant his spleen, swift and sure will the thief's end be. Such, atanyrate, is the honest belief of a laborer recently employed on the Sydney Park works, where one Ganger Kellaher reigns m all his beery supremacy. It was a short and sadly sweet story, if "Truth" may he so permitted to remark, that was poured into our sympathetic ear one day this week. It was not a tale of idleness or incompetency leading to a man's instant dismissal. He might have loafed and lounged and reposed or rested, or whatever workdodging comprises. He might have heen a laborer worthy of his hire, paid every fortnight by a benevolent Oity Corporation. He might have been anything, but when he descended to the low, the mean, the paltry, the contemptible, the scurvy trick of DRUSBK'UNGi ANOTHER MAN'S BEER, and that other man being the ganger and his boss, /hell's furies and the exquisite tortures, of a Spanish Jew and heretic roasting were insignificant circumstances compared to the enormity. Biff ! Out he wont into tbe cold, coM world, with the unnecessary advice to get work. Nor did the sacked man stand on the order. of his going. He went, hut not overburdened with a heavy-wrought conscience. No pangs of remorse gnawed at his very vitals. He threw down, his pick, and surveying the wreqk of dead marines, and did he curse his 'folly? No, he wished there was more beet to drink. Not alone was bis thirst assauged. Others drank beer— the ganger's beer— 'hut* he was the martyr for other men's swankey sins. pte had to pay the penalty, and that was •Hie sack, and he walked away deeply cursed by the ganger, who mourned his beer, his beautiful quench-thirst-ing beer, that had been run over m the "cutter" by other men on the job. No matter how hard the toil, the ganger bad his beer. There was "lashuns" of it. The ganger had daily more than he wanted m more than one sense. The laborers longed and thirsted. The temptation was too great to withstand, and they fell to on the ganger's beer. Capital crime it was m the ganger's eye. He'd forgive mostly anything. He was a bit tough on the men under him occasionally. Did they loaf, he wasn't always too hard on them . Did they call him names he smiled benignly. If they cursed him he roared m laughter. HfE'D STAND ANYTHING but being robbed of his beer. His good name was nothing to the good beer that was stored on the works. And this is the sort of thing the ratepayers are taxed for. It's up to the Council people to liven this ganger up a bit. Men need not be denied a glass of beer even m work hours, but this ganger goes a bit too strong, and its like his infernal cheek to instantly dismiss a man because he prigged his swank. <