Here are the quotations for the coming week (June 24th to 30th):
1. ‘I was going on fowls and boiled corn, but my Tommies wanted their pound of fresh meat, and their half ounce of this, and their two ounces of t’other thing, and they used to come to me and badger me for plug-tobacco when we were four days in jungle. I said: "I can get you Burma tobacco, but I don’t keep a canteen up my sleeve." They couldn’t see it. They wanted all the luxuries of the season, confound ‘em.'
2. 'A sais or groom met me on the Simla Mall with this extraordinary note:
’Please give bearer a box of cheroots - Supers, No.1 for preference. They are freshest at the Club. I’ll repay when I reappear; but at present I’m out of society !’
3. ‘It
breaks my heart to give them the tobaccos they ask for. On the other hand, not one man in five thousand has a tobacco-palate. Preference, yes. Palate, no. Here’s your pipe, again. It deserves better treatment than it’s had. There’s a procedure, a ritual, in all things.’
The sources of this week's extracts (June 17th to 23rd) are as follows:
1. ('…What's the use o' them advantages to you ? Man the Oppressor comes along, an' sees you're likely an' good-lookin', an' grinds you to the face o' the earth...') This is from "A Walking Delegate" in The Day's Work.
2. (…he behaved himself very politely, and ate bread dipped in salt, and was petted all round the table...) This is from "The Maltese Cat", in The Day's Work.
3. (...'Work's the essence of life; but to expend precious
un-returning vitality and real labour against imaginary danger, that is heart-breakingly absurd...') This is from "The Mother Hive" in Actions and Reactions.
Good midsummer wishes to all
John R