SCANDAL AND ANONYMOUS LETTERS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 6, Issue 5, 16 September 1942, Page 4

SCANDAL AND ANONYMOUS LETTERS

Sir, —Mr Norries evidently worries over anonymous letters, etc. Why worry. Whakatane is only one tiny spot. Wherever one goes, will be found gossip, scandal and petty jealousy. Those who indulge in same, are like the white ant, they work in the dark and under cover. Afraid to do their dirty work in the light or square from the shoulder .t As a student of humans and one who has travelled far and wide, I have myself, so become covered with barnacles, that my hide has become an impregnable fortress, with the result that my ship of life, goes along exactly as I direct it, and all petty gossip, jealousy etc. have no effect on me whatsoever, Oke Leo Tobst'oys "Ivan the Fool," I interfere with no mail', mind my own business, pursue my own course, and when in conversation, I sift out the sheep from the goats, quietly and unnoticed. Of course, you are aware, there are more goats than the inhabitants of Whale Island. You cannot stop their tongues from wagging. I suppose they are privileged to do so, and all you can do is to give them plenty of rope. While thejr cackle about you, someone else is getting a spell. No use losing any sleep over ignorance, and if they do more than talk, your job is to catch them. I once suspected a youth was the culprit, - who threw stones on my roof, so 5 stopped him, one daj r , and told hint I was out to catch the culprits, as I ha:l done them no harm, and could run well and hit hard. No further stones came niy way. Even if you lock yourself up as a hermit, 4 someone will talk about you, if you save money, you are tight, and if you squander it. you are a mug. Whatever you do, someone will talk - about you, so wli3 r worry. Develop a skin like mine and it will have no effect, whatsoever. As one who devotes his whole time to his own family "welfare," which "really comes first and foremost, working seven days per week to do so, I was very much tickled recently, when a Whakatane woman told me, someone had informed her, I was a sheik and that I had been out bathing in the moonlight, with a crowd of girls .> aged 18 years. As a matter of fact, it was impossible to convince her otherwise. My wife and neighbours roared with laughter when I told them. My neighbours went crook, because I had not given f,hem tin invite to these moonlight ceremonies. My wife said it was a job to get me . in a hot. bath, these cold moonlight nights, so the cold salt water, plus a few stray sharks, would certainly not suit my palate, and I am quiteconvinced the barnacles that have made my skin so tough, were not caught with this alleged moonlight . bathing. However, that is how the story goes, and all the gossip., scan' d.al, etc. is only humorous to me, because I work all day, and when the sun goes down, I am to be always found like the fowls, in the roost. Therefore, Mr Norries, let your enemies box along, till you catch them, then put in youi full weight, like the Russians are doing.

Yours etc., MOONSHINE WHAKATANE. S