The Club Smoking Room

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 21, 25 May 1907, Page 20

The Club Smoking Room

By

HAVANA

w SCfTOtvE, doctor,’’ observed the I iiecuttnant, “that what you people ■ <-,ill acute septicaemia is what the B man in the street calls the plague? You all seem very reticent about the ma it ir. and the general publie are left very much in the dark. We don’t, of course, want to be seared out of our life by fahe. alarms, but we would like to know the extent of our danger and what preesuth as we ought to take. Prevention, von know, is better than cure, and » good o-al cheaj<er. I question whether excessive zeal in quarantining does not sometimes defeat its own end. I see it mentioned in Evelyn’s Diary that during the Great Plague in London quarantining led people to avoid giving notification of infection. Business men would rather hope for the best in any suspicious case on their premises, and run some risk, than iueur the enormous loss of trade certain to be caused by their places being placed under quarantine. It would seem that it is not easy even for qualified medical men to always correctly diagnose the symptom-." <s■ •• Ihe word ’plague,’” answered the medico, “ is, of course, not a medieal term strictly speaking. Septicaemia is a term used, for various kinds of blood poisoning, of which plague is one. I can quite see the force of your argument about quarantine. and grave risks are run by the general public through neglect to give timely not.ee of any suspicious case. But the highly contagious nature of the disease makes the greatest precaution necessary. The difficulty might be overcome by the Government giving some compensation to those who have suffered loss. The main thing is to cleanse our cities. Plague is essentially a disease caused by dirt and overcrowding. All fruit shops and butchers' shops should receive constant in epection, house refuse should be removed every day. The eity slums should be dealt with by the Town Council. The Government should appoint a dictator, with absolute power to do what he thinks best in the interests of public health. A spasmodic crusade, conducted under the inlluenee of a scare, ean never do any permanent good. What we want is a second Hercules to cleanse our Augean st .shies by a process that shall be as complete and permanent as the turning of the rivers Alphcus and Pencils was in an cient days. But I don’t think you fellows need lie scared, as if people are reasonably cai< nil thi-re is not much risk.” \ * <®> ” Amongst minor plagues,” said the niri i liar.t, “1 wish something could be done to pul a stop to the large amount of petty pilfering that goes on in most of our M-npoil towns. I opened up a ease of whisky tin- other day, and I found a bottle quite empty, though the cork and capsule were intact. Someone had most ingeniously extracted the contents, though I’m blessed if I know how they did it. Over and over again I have found goods missing, and the total loss at the end of the year totes up to a pretty big figure. Several of my customers have made comgdaints, ansi I believe the matter is far more serious than the general public imagine. I don't know if any of you fellows have noticed it.”

“ I know that in my establishment,” replied the business man, “ petty thefts are of frequent occurrence. I don’t know whether to blame my customers or my employees. We keep the strictest watch, and employ several private detectives at sale times; but wc seem quite unable to cheek the evil. Women- ean so easily evade detection, as there is nothing easier than to slip a few things into a bag while the assistant’s back is turned. Even if you catch them at it, what can you do? ft is not always possible to prove their guilt; it is so easy for them to say it was a mistake, and also very often youwould lose more custom, by making a fuss than the things are worth. T wonder whether, as a nation, we are becoming less honest, and the old catechism lesson about picking and stealing has been superseded by the School Journal? If our parson friend was here he would probably have something to say on the subject. Hullo! here he is. We were just talking about you, parson, and wondering whether you could throw any light on the general decay of national honesty.” <®> <3> “We were not discussing you personally,’ began the Cynic, “we were merely discussing plagues in general, and somehow. . . . but here the skipper interrupted him by trying to bring up his favourite topic of the dishonesty of foreigners, and of foreign seamen in particular. He had just begun a defence of tlw Britisher by showing that it was those “beastly niggers and Dagos that broached Hie cargo,” when the business man told him that they wanted to hear the parson’s opinion, not his. I am sorry, said the elerie, to interrupt the flow Of our friend’s eloquence. That is where we fellows have the advantage. We can rely on a free course for the delivery of our sermons, though the other day when I was taking service at a leads to gambling and consequent disturbed by one of the congregation falling asleep in an arm chair and snoring loudly. I intend preaching next time I am there on the subject of inattention, though I have not yet fixed on a suitable text. (“Take up they bed and walk,” murmured the Cynic). Bui about this subject you were discussing. I don’t believe for one minute that as a nation we are dishonest, but I think we attach too much importance to outside show and appearance, and this leads many people into temptation. Our young folk like pleasure and amusement, am! to be as well dressed and generally stylish as those in a better position. This Heads to gambling and consequent dishonesty amongst men, and to petty pilfering amongst women. We really want to teach people self-control, the sobermindedness of St. Paul, a virtue very difficult to inculcate in the young at any time, and more especially in a country •where great liberty and freedom of action is given to boys and girls alike. But I don’t want to preach a sermon, and have you all falling asleep in your arm chairs like my settler friend. What does our scholastic member think of the new School Journal?” <S> <i> «> "I think it rubbish,” said the school master, “that is to say, eoMideriiif what

it cost to produce. It is no better than any of the readers at present in use. There may be something in the contention that it will save the everlasting change of books that is always going on. I expected the journal would be a general paper, like ‘The Schoolmaster,’ and would contain specimen lessons of all kinds, as well as hints ou teaching. There is room for a good paper for the teaching profession, but I can’t say that I think the present production is exactly what is required.” “And yet,” chimed in the Cynic, who at last saw his way to a clear run, “there is some excellent moral teaching in the paper. The poem about the cat being forbidden to wash before eating will appeal to many a hungry lad impatient of the maternal injunction to go and tidy himself before sitting down to tea. The statement that some “beaks” are pointed, and some “beaks” are round reads like a sly allusion to our local J.P.’s. The paper is a capital study in the natural history of a well-known fruit, and as it is in three parts I would suggests that it be bound up together in an auburn cover and take as its motto Tennyson’s lines: “Tn gloss and hue the chestnut when the shell Divides threefold to show the fruit within-,’ ”