Passing Notes.

Digger (Invercargill RSA), Issue 37, 26 November 1920, Page 6

Passing Notes.

BY JACQUES.

Laugh where we must, be candid whare wa can. — Pope.

Gavin Brighton again sets me a poser. Aftor quoting the Christchurch "Press's" characterisation of the Progressive Party of the nineties as "The Seven Devils of Socialism," he proceeds : "I would ask Jacques through the 'Digger' to enlighten the Diggers and myself how to solve this problem.' " I must confess myself at a loss to discover wherein lies the problem — what it is that Mr Brighton .wants enlightenment on. If he desires an exposition on devils, my answer must be that I have had no experience of them — at least, since I signed the pledge. True, I might give some interesting reminiscences. But no, I prefer to let my diabolical companions of old times rest. There are, however, several of my Invercargill acquaintances who frequently have a varied and interesting collection of them, of assorted shapes, sizes and colours. If Mr Brighton' s thirst for information is still keen, I might effect an introduction for him to one of these at the psychological moment, when he would probably receive a minute and detailed, though somewhat excited, description of them, their appearances, activities, peculiarities, etc. . He would find the experience a thing to be remem bered. But possibly it is not devils that Mr Brighton is interested in, but something else. If so, and he will say, slowly and distinctly, and with less excitement than he usually shows, what that something is, I may be a,ble, out of the profundity of my ignorance, to enlighten, or still further befog, him. I will do either with equal gladness. Another friend, either with unwarrantable faith in my condition, or from a malicious desire to inveigle me into a display of my ignorance, also sets me a problem. He says that his little son, parsing a sentence a few days ago, ga,ve the gender of "horse" as "common." This the teacher declared incorrect, siating that it was "masculine." The youngster insisted that he was right, and fell i'nto disgrace thereby. My friend asks me to decide between them. Well, it seems to me that the little fellow was on firmer footing than his teacher. As a generic term "horse" cetainly includes the masculine "stallion" and the feminine "mare," and is therefore "common," Only when used in a, special, distinctive sense — as, for instance, when we say "One was mounted on a mare, while the other rode a. horse" — can the noun be regarded as of masculine gender. (In ihe case under review it was not). "When we say that "the horse is a friend of man," surely we do not exclude the female of the speeies. It is a small matter, perhaps, but it is as well that our children should receive exact instruction, even in these little things. Anyway, I do not claim to be a grammarian, and would prefer to pass the question on to Mr Rae, or some other authority. It has long been known that there is an love between Japan and -^jthe United States. The mutterings of the press in both aountries have given sufficient indication of the extent and intensity of"their niutual hatred and fear ; while more than one utterance in their legislatures, and on their publie platforms have plainly foreshadowed the possibility of ultimate confiict- between the two Powers. Still — the wish, no doubt, being father to the thought- — -we have always regarded the prospect of such catastrophe as more remote than immediate. At present, however,- the situation wears a very ominous complexion, and it looks as though the possibility of yesterday may easily become the actuality of to-morrow. At any moment the bolt may fall, and the two nations be plunged into a life and death struggle. For it must be war to the death, once entered into it will never be abandoned until the question of ascendancy in the Paeifie is absolutely settled. The possibility is one to excite our anixous interest, for we, oursselves, must necessarily be involved, if not in the conflict itself, at least in its cqnsequences. The direction in wbich victory goes will affect the destinies of Australasia, as well as the rest of the Pa.cific, to an extent that none can, at present, appreciate.

I At the meeting of the Presbyterian General Assembly a report wTas adopted recommending maximum insurance on all church properties owing to the greatlyincreased cost of replacement. Will the editor, or some other digger brother, kindly accompany me on the harmonium, while I sing my latest little song entitled : TRUST IN GOD— AND KEEP YOUR POWDER DRY. When the world was lately shaken by the thunder of the guns, We prayed the Lord to lend a hand to spiflicate the Huns; And when we had 'em walloped, we declared we'd always known That He'd never fail to hearken to thepleadings of his own. When drought has set its withering hand on every hill and plain, And our bank accounts look dicky, when we wildly pray for rain, If it eomes — our prayers are answered, but be it understood," If it doesn't — well, of course we feel its somehow for .our good. When an epidemic strikes us we appeal to Providence, With carefully selected words, and poliished eloquence ; We supplicate ior succour when in peril on the seas; And a thunderstorm or earthquake sends us quickly to our knees. We pray the Lord to prosper Prohibition at the polls ; And ask His easy judgment on our miserable souls ; We pray that He will bless our land, our Parliament and King; We pray . for — oh, in short we pray for every bally thing. But, stay ! There's one exception (I had nearly quite forgot) Ye ken a fire's a dreadful thing, and churches cost a lot ; And faith, like fiesh, is somewhat weak, and though we all admit His power to save our churches yet He mightn't think of it. So friends, if we'd be certain we" must make ourselves secure; Though faith is very beauttiful, 'tis wiser to insure. But piety and prudence may be joined, as you can see, In prayer, supplemented by a thumping policy. What is the matter with England ? Blink it as we may, we cannot dispose of the faet that she stands virtually friendless among the nations to-day. That those we lately fought against should hate us is natural, but it is not these I mean. The trouble is that those who were our friends and fought shoulder to shoulder with us in the great struggle are one by one tuxning their backs on us. American sentiment is (if reports are trustworthy) openly hostile to us, and the French press is beginning to revive its old taunt of 'Perfide Albion," Russia has more than once, of late, declared her hatred of England and the overthrow of Venizelos (our greatest friend in Greece during the war) would suggest that the Greeks don't like us, either. A considerable, if not the major, portion of the Italian nation is Anglophobe, and, though Spain doesn't count for much in the world's affairs, she is by no means friendly to us. Ireland, India and Egypt all loathe us, and are trying to shake off our rule at any cost. In short, we do not seem to have a single friend among the Powers and peoples to-day with, perhaps, the solitary exceptiton of Japan. And the bonds that bind us to her are very frail, and any moment she may change from seeming friends to enemy. What is the matter with us? Bill had the paper in his hand when he came over last Sunday morning. "Jax," he queried, "why the 'ell should you and me be so poor?" I murmured something about the blessedness of being content with that station

in life to which the Lord has appointed us. "Rats," ejaculated my friend, "it's every man's dooty to get as rich as the good Lord'll let 'im, especially when it's so easy. I'va just struck a plan, Jax, that'll make me as rich as Rockefeller in no time, an' it's just like fallin' off a log. All yeh gotter do is foller the advertisin' columns in the papers. Then go around an' snap up all the bargains— an' they are nearly all bargains — an' sell 'em at what they're' really worth — which is always an' 'elluvalot more'n their present price. (The sellers an' their agente will tell you so, thernselves). Look at this, forinstance. "A beautiful little bungalow, with every convenience . an' electric light an' everything, throvn away at £1500, an' easily worth £2000 of any man's money." There you are, a clear chuck-in of £500, an' no trouble. Then 'ere's a bisness, showing a clear profit- of £1000 a year, an' offered, lock, stock an' barrel at the ridiculous price of two hundred quid. The man who misses such a thing should try to get into Seacliff; it's the proper place for 'im. Then look at the splendid snips in sec-on'-'and motor cars "reeently over-'auled an' fitted with every improvement; an' eveiry one cheap at double the price asked." An' so on right down the list; generous benefactors everywrhere wantin' to pour moiiey into your pocket, if you will only 'old it open. What's the good of bein' poor? L'm fed up with it, an' am going to start out on the get-rich-quick track to-morrow. I'll just buy everything offexin' an' sell it at its proper price. I know it looks like takin' advantage of the simple land agent an' motor dealers, but I can't 'elp that. I gotter get rich." . And he walked off with a "The werld's mine oyster" look on his face. With the smashing of Wrangel it would seem that Bolshevism has firmly and finally established itself in Russia, so that, if what the dailies have beei^ telling us is true, it were about time that we commenced shivering. For my own part, however, I refuse to believe that there is any cause for alarm. We have based our judgment of the movement on its methods, forgetting that the means of achieving reform are always determined by the nature and extent of the opposition encountered. No one who has read anything of Russian history will'dare say that the revolution was not justified ; no one who was not present during the chaotic period of transititon from the old order to the new can form any opinion as to whether the Bolshevists have shown unnecessary cruelty or not. The system' may not appeal to us, but that it is suitable to Russian conditions . and the temperament of the Russian people is proven by its success. Hitherto, vce have only looked on the ugly surface of it, but deep .below that there may be a wealth of good that will yet operate to Russia's salvation. Anyway, the "Reds" are now in a position to set their house in order, and in a little while we may be able to Judge of it more fairly by its fruits. If it is evil, small fear but -that the rest of the world will reject it, if it is good, we may yet profit by some of the lessons that it may teach.