THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1931.
MY ELECTION NIGHT
ENGLAND'S GREAT SPORTING EVENT.
In Club, Cafe and Cinema.
By J. B. PRIESTLY.
LATEST POPULAR' CARD GAME.
Fifty-Nine Different Calls.
MINUS BRIDGE.
THE
CHINA MAIL.
LAEY
PLAGUE IN N.W. CHINA.
Takes Terrible Toll
of Life.
SPREADING.
PRIEST'S BODY WELL PRESERVED.
Phenomenon in Bangalore.
NO DECOMPOSITION. ''
The 17th century is usually! Bubonic plague is still ravaging A great stir was caused at: regarded as the chief period of the province of Shensi, in north Bangalore on' a certain Sunday re- elaboration of card games. Since, west China,
cently when the body of the however, card games
are for The pestilence broke out carly Rev. Fr. Paillot was exhumed. Rev. idleness, and idleness begets ela-jin the Autumn In the neighbouring Fr. Paillot who had worked in boration, it is probable that province of Honan, and, carried by Pondicherry for about 4 years whenever they are widely played a huge army of rats which marched went to Bangalore a year and a The spirit of the place was one they must inevitably sprout over hill and valley leaving a trail half Ayo for treatment at St. of immense good humour. If there scets and embroideries. Can of death in their wake, quickly Martha's Hospital. He died of ls ever a revolution in this country any days have been more rest-spread to Shansi and Shenki. heart failure on September 16, 1930. it will not begin in the neighbour-lessly inventive than ours? Re- scenes of conflict and en-
Several weeks ago medical, ex- The following, account of the ex- hood of Piccadilly Circus. Even gard the variations of Poker, sports and health administratore humation tuken from the after all those solemn warnings numerous na its players; the were dispatched to the stricken Hindu-When the earth was dug it and all those grave leading articles manifold forms of Rummy, which areas, but they have, failed to check was found that the top, partiu of ahout democracy at the cross-ronds, still rules Central Europe and the epidemic, which is leaping on the wooden coffin had been eaten these people, one felt, still regard-conquered the Anglo-Saxon world from district to district, causing away by the earth and underneath ed a General Election 118 a big in two short quite separate in-hundreds of deaths daily.
If were a real journalist would produce a "wonder election night" for you. I would stun you with thusiasm. Journalists-like for
tune-tellers, with their legends of money. Journeys and dark women -have a trick of making life seem
always more exciting than it really
is.
me.
was visible the face of the deceased
ago.
But I am not a real journalist sporting event, something between carnations Coon-can, just be- Fatalitics in the three provinces as they saw it, 14 months only a writer of fiction, and we the Oaks and the Derby.
fore the war, and Mah-Jong, named have now run into scorea They then carefully removed the writers of fiction, have a prosale I do not admire this attitude of just after it (though the cards of thousands and the plague is earth on the sides, and found that habit of observing life quite realia- mind, but I understand it. To be in this last were a trifle, thicker within a few miles of Slanfu, the the body was intact. Even the tically. You will get na "Caval- Zandid. I never quite grasp the con-und smaller than usual, its prin-Sheng capital, where the utmost vestment worn by the deceased was! tade" of air election night from acetion between electioneering and ciples were pure Rummy); and, alarm prevails. Should it reach not.soiled in spite of its long coniuet governing the country. All those finally regard the prolific Bridge this densely-crowded city, the with the earth. Further examina- The night began for me in my little stunts-the homely talks to family.
death-roll would be even more ap-tions disclosed the fact, that while club, when dined. I wish I could old ladies, the admiring of voters'
Since this family was founded | palling.
the three sides of the coffin, which show you the club dining-room, | babies, all the placard and rosette no fewer than four generations
had no contact with the body had crammed with anxinus frees, but work--seem to me rather far re have been recognised as its suc-made counts 27, no trick at all been reduced to powder, the lower unfortunately there were only novell · from Westminster. The cussive household heads: Bridge.jon minus hand corresponds to a plank of the coffin which was in close only time this country is genuinely | Auction Bridge. Royal Auction,{grand slum. the honours at a touch with the body was entirely democratic is at General Elections, and now Contract. Each genera-minus hand reckon to the op- afresh. and that is the very time. I regret tion has had its own solo and ponents. For purposes of bid-
Body Removed.. to say, when my own faith in the two handed monsters, harking dings, a mimus call ranks exact- According to responsible ec- democratic system begins to atavistically back to the older,ly above the plus call of the same clesiastics, the Health Officer how grown dingier branches of numerical value. Thus "minus of the. station who happen-
about half a dozen of us there and mobody looked prxious, except one very old member who did not like the look of his sole. But just after hine the steward, with the air of a man about in perform a pretty gond conjuring trick, produced blackboard on an easel. Then be began chalking up results-Elec- tion night had started.
Round the Blackhaard, Very soon we
11
formed a dense
group of seven round the black.
barch. I do not remember what
the results were, exeupt that they
thinking men. Elections are ** ranged with some reference
|
weaken.
The scrren began to hint to us the free the Whists and two spares" beats not only plus ed to be present leated the that the Opposition in this new Naps. Each generation has had ar minus two hearts, it also beats bones and found them soft, as would House of Commons, if led at all adventurous cadets, travelled to "plus two spades." The logic of be the case if a person were alive. would have to be led from outside distant climes to mate with cou-this rule derives from the fact There was absolutely no decomposi- the House. After Mr. Henderson, sins near and 'far, the Skats that a minus, call is harder to tion in the skin or frame of the Mr. Greenwood vaalshed, and then and Vints. And each has left make than a plus call, though deceased, nor was there any foul Mr. Alexander followed them into its secret by-blows. hidden away whether its play really is more smell. The body was then removed im We did not greet these re-in attics tiny fanatic groups, intricate or merely seems so by to the surface. To their surprise. sults with very fierce yells of never emerging to the social light reason of unfamiliarly is not cer-again they found that it attracted! were very satisfactory to all right. triumph., We were rather amused. und life of Clubland wherein tain. The originators of the neither flies nor any insects, as in
Some peuple, of the truest blue, their more public brothers bask.game do not employ majority the case of corpses, normally, could even say that they felt rather Such a left-handed scion is the bidding, but obviously the prin- By now hundreds of people had sorry. This, of course, was because cxtremely complex and interest-ciples of minus would require no rathered in the vicinity. Consider- they regarded an election ns ing so-called Vint, invented by alteration with its use.
ing this a great miracle, they want- sporting event.
Wranglers in Trinity, and such The play of a minus hand willed to take back with them. the Meanwhile, the walters brought another, also engendered by a be familiar to those who know very earth, where Rev. Fr. Puillot
is Minus auction Piquet or Nulloes. tall glasses of Cambridge clique, more
The lay interred, as also the pieces of Just after ten I left the club and
unpractised, to whom it will the powdered coffin. Only a gunny wandered about the streets for anlager; the little foreign gentleman Bridge.
"Plus Sense."
prove almost excessively difficult bag had been kept ready to remove hour. And very unpleasant streets at the next table, who had such a
large helping of pheasant and peas If the purpose of a variant be at first, will find it a question of the bones but soon a new coffin was they were, too, ao raw, so foggy before him, got gloomier and to offer a maximum of variety the sacrifice of leads. It is the got ready and the body was placed strations, for, strictly speaking, Blonmier; the two men who worked with the narrowest possible al-object of each partnership, once in it, nailed and sealed, so that it more teration of the rules of an ori-its own master cards are exhaust might not be tampered with in the there was no open air. You felt the lanterns looked still that the stuff you were breathing triumphant, as if they had done it final, this purpose is markedly ed, to thrust the lead into the op-enthusiastu of the huge crowd
For position's control, thus forcing waiting. had been used for several years in all; and the ladies' orchestra gird-fulfilled by Minus Bridge.
dramatic constraction, so that the earliest results are always dull, and you have to wait for the ex- citing ones.
It was no night for open-air demon-
St. Pancras and Euston Stations.
There were, of course, a great many more people about than usual, and now and then you saw
It was a night for pulling down the Carlton Club and declaring the victory of the proletariat above Its ruins...
Nevertheless, the police were ap parently nut taking any chances, I found Trafalgar Square-long my
favourite resort on election nights
told by earnest constables that they would not learn any results there. But all the people stayed on and stared on, for ever looking hopeful-
of cinemas and cough cures.
And that was all. No rich
human interest stuff to be had' in Trafalgar Square. There was,
more
and
must have been seasick,
on
A Symbol.
them-his voice rose to a trium
The
"LOST" CITY DISCOVERED.
A "lost" city of ancient days,
however, a curious glimpse of love. / upon us, like, a trim and well-tailor-takes above four, counts every ing even, the diversity and Inter-old Greek and Roman coins, includi
ed their lains for another request any bridge player its principles the opponents to take all the re- The coffin was taken to the Can- of "Land of Hope and Glory." can be summarised in a single maining tricks. Aces, that can tonment station in the night in And I left for the Plaza Cinema. sentence; Every bid that may be got rid of at the beginning of procession from where it WOR At the Plaza we were given some be made at bridge (that is, the a hand so soon as the lead is se despatched to Pondicherry, under a few rosettes and heard a distant of those delightful animated car-latest pre-Contract form, Royal cured, or high cards long-suited, the escort of an Indian priest.
Rev. Fr. Paillot was known dur- shout. But things were very quiet. tons on the screen, selections of Auction Bridge) is considered as where the low cards can be used
popular songs by the orchestra being made in a plus sense, and for discard till the opponent runs ing his life time as a priest of a
can lead the suit no saintly character. and tunes by an organist who had the corresponding bid may be dry and to do so much rising and falling made in a minus sense also. The more, are not dangerous. with his whole keyboard that he minus hand is no new feature of most perilous hand is one that bridge games. Though its uses holds an even suit distribution in this particular instance were and an abundance of cards be- In between those items a very directly suggested to its inven-tween the eight and knave. Such nice, clean, rosy-looking gentleman tors by Auction Piquet, it was a hand is worse than a Yar which has been searched for in vain once common at whist-drives as borough at ordinary bridge. Aby archaeologists, is believed to have filled with people who were being in full evening dress would appentWorkhouse," and is employed] Yarborough can, sit quiet, and, been revealed by peasants plough-
the stage, like a symbol of
a field, in the village of national prosperity, and read out actually in Auction Bridge in In-besides, will not ruin such riches ng in
dia to this day as the "Nullo." In as its partner may possess. But Suvodola, near Bitolj, (Monastri), to as the new results.
There was no absurd pretence of such a hand the object of the a hand such as we have describ-in Yugoslav Macedonia.
First the plungh turned up buried ly at the glittering advertisements neutrality about this gentleman. play is simply reversed, the num-ed, knowing that it cannot pos-
Every time there was a Conserva-ber of tricks announced by the sibly lose a trick in minus play. Further digging disclosed an an- remains of an ancient city wall, tive gain-and there were many of declarers must be not won but and hearing minus called, is fore-
lost. A partnership declaring ed to overcall in plus.
cient Greek church 80 feet by 40, Sounder Game.
with several monuments and rem- plant shout, and he began to beam "minus three" or "three Nulloes"
is penalised for every trick it The chiefest variety, surpass nants of statues and' a number of More leaders of the Opposition trick by which it under-reaches est of the actual play, the charming some of the time of Hadrian and vanished, to our delight. The or four an overtrick, and so forth. that, for an adept, so potently Constantine the Great,
Rulle or minus is always played parts and properties of ordinary must be the site of the ancient But in the variants quoted the outweighs the more monotoned! Experts believe that Suvodola in no-trumps. In Minus Bridge bridge, besides in the whole apsity of Keramija, which was
minus call may be made either proach to the game, as mirrored puted to be some 12 miles. from no-tramps or with any suit as in the calling. From the moment Bitelj but for which archeologists
the player lifts his cards he has have searched in vain, Scoring and Play.
Traces of walls can be found en to regard them not as a stable trumps exactly as a plus call.
The scoring is quite unaltered; pool of forces operating in only closing a space of over three square It was here I saw the man who minus three spades declared and one direction, but dialectically, as miles. Very valuable finds are ex- was really enjoying to the full this; election night-the man, indeed,
(Continued in next Column.)
ja dynamic equilibrium of post-pected from this site and the local tive and negative qualities, mani- authorities have now strictly for for whom the night might have
festing quite various sums of bidden the peasants to continue been planned. He was a tall, Tom was Atill there. He
energy when oriented in differing their digging until experts can be robust-looking man with a blue)probably there yet. suit, a bowler hat and a large nose.
senses. Since, as Marx has brought from Belgrade" to conduct Only The Fog.
the work. always have a much smaller and walked towards Pall Mall, I found world, Minus Bridge may be re-
He had with him—as such men
When I got outside the Plaza and taught us, this is a more accur
ite manner of estimating the infinitely shyer companion, the set that there wasn't an Election Night garded as philosophically the of whose very shoulders told you any longer. The fog was there; sounder game. Its vocabulary of that he was wondering if old Tom the cold was there, a few belated 59 calls, almost doubly as rich wasn" going too far. But old Tom workers were hurrying' home, and as the 31 of ordinary bridge, was having the time of his life. the passing taxis seemed to be well lends itself with double flexibility. He knew, all, the words of all the loaded.
to a beautiful complex of mutual
liness, for in that odd half-light made of fog and illuminations, the Square had a beautiful quality of flected dimly in the pool were like serene distant constellations.
There was nothing serene about the Cafe Royal. I contrived, after some dimeulty, to find a seat and a little table in the balcony, from which I had a good view of the crowded cafe below, the screen on which the results were thrown, and the ladies' orchestra that insisted upon playing Land of Hope and Glory. (Let me admit, here and
black and silver, and the lumps re
now, that this somewhat bumptious
refrain does not excite in me any patriotic fervour.)
The Flest Cheer. Resulta were now coming through at such a rate that one completely forgot such things as wine, whisky,
chicken, kidneys and bacon.
Royal.)
ed Santa Claus.
chestra played "If You Were the Only Girl in the World" and the organist thundered out "The Lily of Laguna" and "Two Lovely Black Eye," all of them, in my opinion, excellent and most moving patriotic
ditties..
is
The patrons of the cafe below old songs, and he sang them) But all the people had melted encouragement and warning in seemed to be either true blues or lustily, sometimes with appropriate away, driven home comparatively the foreplay conversation known disappointed reds. (This' is as it gestures.
carly, perhaps, by the extreme, dis- should bc. You con hardly The minute the announcer came comfort of the night. And then, of a bidding. What if this very imagine, a Liberal in the Cafe on to the stage, old Tom would course, hundreds of thousands of richness has led, among its four staunchest exponents," to the! greet him with "Up the Blues" them had never been out at all. growth of four equally well- And the results might have been They had stayed at home, listening reasoned and mutualy contra- specially designed to please hima. to the wireless..
dictory systems of bidding (Perhaps they were).
It was the most important elec- convention? What if an English What a night he had! He had tion night I have known here in vocabulary of double increase be egen England saved, had helped to London. And it seemed
correspondinglyý required for save it, had sung all the grand silly me easily the quietest Beneath mutual recrimination in postplay old sentimental songs, and had the blanket of fog the inquest?
Let the dull, bridge.
It was here that I learned of the temporary extinction of Mr. Hen- derdon. This produced the first big choor of the evening. I avonect many of the Labour people prasent, Joined in, not, because they had suddenly changed sides, but simply
to have a cheer. After all, man is the cheering and applauding animal.
...to
been able to, shout "Up the Blues!" pound was caved so quietly that it player research into ita da yet im- to his heart's content. It was very was like a conjuring trick.—Even perfectly plumbered passions for late when I left the Plaza, but old ing Standard,
himself.
COMING SOON.
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She welcomed life
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