FRIENDS ON ALL SIDES

NZ Truth, Issue 1189, 13 September 1928, Page 18

FRIENDS ON ALL SIDES

But (Drily Three Saw Him Leave On Big Adventure

Tom Heeney thought about coming home some months ago, but he must have been some sort of a psychologist— he didn't come.

INSTEAD, he stayed behind m the 1 Land wherfe they Appreciate a Man, . and Tom,, being a full-sized man; got the chance that was due to him. For his edification, and mastication, was. served up one Gene Tunney. j . . It had ' been : aJ long time since Tom Had seen and tasted an Auckland rock, or a Bluff k oyster and he was prepared to attempt tlie swallowing of the newbrand—the Shakesperian variety. What happened on Tom's attempt to digest the new species is now history. Like the Mbrdfish of the far north or the stln'g&ree of the Marlborough Sounds, it— 6* rather he, Tunney — turned on Him. . , Tunney lanced him, and also stung him — not once, but on several occasions: And then Heeney decided to come h(ome. But, .before he came home, he made a good; resolve.' "Why come home empty-handed?" said he to hiihself. Failing to find a good answer to his own question— he didn't have a wife then— he partook and took unto himself another fighter. . ' He hiked off to a parson and promised to "love, honor and obey." And he carried out this, high and honorable objective by bringing Mrs. Tom Heeney, to 'Maoril&hd. Mr. and MiPs.; Tom Heeney, may; jbave left the other, hemisphere amid clieers and the plaudits^ of the orowd, but that reverence only came from/ "Something attempted, something done." They camejback to the same brand of demonstration.

But with all the scree'ehirig, the yelling and the "ballyhoo," Tom himself must have, felt that, however true be the sentiment, there was something missing. And he had reason to feel that such was the case. . ■ :■ i Go back' to the. days that Tom Heeney — Tom Heeney the unknown; Tom Heeney, out onithe great adventure—left New Zealand. He; was very small fry indeed. No crowds to see him off then! Tom boarded a boat bound for .Home and Beauty with a ' small audience. It was a case of Nobody going, to Nowhere, ' if not- Oblivion-. . ;; ', • There was Tprft 1 and "his' .faithful henchman; Fred.,' Dominie, arid . Mrs. Dominie. 1 "- * . . Seeing Hhem off was a noble band of three — Earl Stewart, Ben McGrath and George Dennett. .. ' Talk about Dumas and his Three Musketeers! They were . there— D'Artagnan, Athos and Porthos— and not an enemy m sight. , . Under cover was the enemy, muttering m its beard; but the detractors of yesterday are the acclaimers of to-day. Much must have passed through the mind of Tom Heeney when he arrived baok m New Zealand last Sunday. • t ■ Sent off without a jeer, welcomed home . with a cheer, Tom must have thought he had outdone "the Prodigal Son. \ "By your deeds y© shall be known," and Heeney has an easy conscience.