278 The Diary of a Drug Fiend
Lou must have caught my thought. She quoted
sarcastically :—
“OQ woodman, spare that tree,
Touch not a single bough,
In youth it sheltered me
And I’ll protect it n-yow!”’
Since the war, women are taking a very peculiar
attitude. I didn’t like the tone of the conversation. I
instinctively looked to Maisie Jacobs for support.
The Jewish tradition, which is, after all, the founda-
tion of the so-called Christian point of view, could surely
‘be trusted. But Maisie merely retorted with some
verses from Heine which showed that she was entirely
on the enemy’s side.
“Lamus noticed my annoyance, and hastily changed
the conversation.
“I’m afraid the only thing you can do,” he said to
me, ‘‘is to chain yourself to Buckingham Palace and
then go on hunger-strike, until they give you permission
to vote more early and often than ever, after which
you won't care to go to the polls at all. That’s another
example of the same old story. However little we want
a thing, we howl if we discover that we can’t get it;
and the moment we've got it the whole business drops
out of sight.
“You'll find it’s the same with your drugs. You've
‘practically hypnotised yourself into thinking you can’t
do without them. It’s not a real need, as you know.
It’s a false and perverse appetite ; and as soon as you
get out of the way of thinking that it’s vitally impor-
tant, you'll begin to forget how much you depend on
it.”
Well,
of course, I could see the sense of that ; and I
was glad to see how gay and light-hearted Lou had
become under the influence of the idea.
Maisie called Lamus away to the piano to sing another
song.