SMOKO.

Putaruru Press, Volume IV, Issue 116, 14 January 1926, Page 3

SMOKO.

A ROADSIDE COMEDY.

j Men who have been “up against J it,” through shipwreck and other forms of adversity, have found' the cutting off of their beloved smokes almost as hard to bear as the deprivations due to lack of food and water. Nicotine is a tenacious drug, and they say that it takes from five to seven years to get it out of the system of a heavy smoker; for all that time he will have to fight the craving for his pipe if he wants to knock off smoking. And so most of us who are honest enough with ourselves to admit that smoking is simply a superfluous habit, j a mild vice, have come to the conclusion of the famous writer, Barry j Pain, who, when asked by an old lady why he did not knock off that “ beastly dirty habit of smoking,” and so prolong his life by ten years, replied: “ My dear madam, why should I knock olf smoking in order to have another ten years of misery?” 1 Seemingly, a certain foreman in charge of a gang cf workmen on a water pipe laying job, being carried on in the same hemisphere as Matamata is located in, has not read J. M. Barrie’s “ My Lady Nicotine,” or he would understand the philosophy of the weed better than to try and get along well with a gang of men who are not supposed to have a smoko. The following little comedy was recited to a newspaper man, just by way , of adding to the holiday gaiety of 'the community:— Workman, on hard excavation work,

in broiling hot sun: Where’s George? Worman 2: Says ’e ’as some business down yonder. Workman 1: Business, ’as ’e? ’K’s gone, you know where, to get a spot. 1 guess we can ’ave a smoko. George, yer know, is a man like tins,; I never knowad ’im arsk a man to ’ave a smoko. His mates seemed to agree most heartily with the scathing criticism plainly to be inferred from the little biographical note in regard to . George's unpardonable omission, for there was a rattle of pipes (not water I>ipes) and a crackle of matches, and a blue haze spread over the scene, while the peculiarities of Georg-e were further dissected. By and by there was a stir, for the ['“pilot” reported that George was 1 coming back. The whole gang livened up and expended quite a lot of energy in running forward to make sure whether the individual in the distance was George or not. It was George right enough, and werk commenced again. And George wanted to know why the work had not advanced further duringhis absence. To be sure, it was an education any political candidate : might have envied to hear the various reasons why greater progress had not been made. George was sceptical, but could not do anything. It is suggested that the better way would be to let the men have ten minutes morning and afternoon for smoko; let them sit down on the roadside and enjoy their puff openly; they will do..just as much, and probably more, work for the day; will require less supervision, and have no excuse for re-orting to a practice that is not calculated to increase their self-re- ‘ spec!.—Matamata Record.