Don’t cry!
“Ill betide a nation when
She sees the tears of bearded men.”
And you will have a beard yourself some time, if you don’t lead the penultimate of five. (See page 21.) Without exciting the slightest sympathy on the part of an unfeeling public, crying deranges the other secretions; the Laureate says tears are idle, and professes ignorance of their meaning; if he played whist he would know that they injure the cards and make them sticky.
Don’t play out of your turn, nor draw your card before that turn comes.
Don’t ride a hobby to death! In ordinary whist three prevailing hobbies are so cruelly over-ridden that I am surprised the active and energetic Mr. Colam has never interfered: these are—
(1) The penultimate of a long suit.
(2) The signal for trumps.
(3) Not forcing your partner unless you are strong in trumps—under any circumstances.