LISTENINGS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 6, Issue 143, 20 March 1942, Page 13

LISTENINGS

Perpetrated and illustrated by

KEN

ALEXANDER

ITH the war coming closer we shall naturally have to do with ‘ fewer of the table trimmings to which we have been accustomed. If we were besieged we would have plenty of the primary lashings that make a meal. But one of the nastiest knocks we could suffer would be the total loss of the cup that cheers, and cheers, and cheers. How the heck the British won Waterloo without tea I don’t know. They had beer, which isn’t a bad substitute in an emergency, but it’s not the stuff that tea is made of. Tea is the great upholder, the hope-bringer, and the brew that makes the dogs of war ook for a leg to bite. If war snatched it from us we certainly would fight the fiercer in order to finish the business so that we could wrap our lips over the edge of a tea-cup once more. When the news is dark the cry goes up: "Put on the kettle!" If/when we receive good tidings we celebrate by cuddling the caddy. Instead of ringing the welkin we wring the tannin. In times of doubt and peril we cry "Whatterbout a cupper?" Tea, and T.N.T. are twin defensives. Perhaps cups will have to be weaker; maybe they will be less frequent; but it is difficult to conceive a condition when the clarion cry "Shove

on the makin’s!" will be answered by the hollow moan of an empty caddy. Hitler probably tried to cut off Britain’s supply of the "doin’s". Probably Ribbentrop advised Hitler, "Der tea leaves we cut away and der oak it dies." The Japs know more about tea than that but we can trust the navy to keep the tea-lanes open So: Go, sink your beers! The cup that cheers Is vital you'll agree, We'll take the strain And come again Cheered by our cupper-tea!