Up Coming Events
September Meeting: September 20 at the Pub
Eat @ 12 Meeting to start around 1 pm
Story: The Lion's Mane; Quizmaster Gael Stahl

October Meeting: TBA during
Southern Book Festival October 10-13, 2003.
See what authors will be here!!
SFB website:
http://www.tn-humanities.org/sfbmain.htm

November Meeting: November 15
(plot 2004 meeting schedule in November)

From Gillette to Brett:
SH on Stage, Screen, and Radio.
Indianapolis, Nov 7-9, 2003
web site details

December 13: Holiday Party at the Fellers

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Rasher's Table: 7 a.m. Fridays


The Rasher's meet every Friday at 7 a.m. at assorted Nashville eateries. Everyone is invited to come join us. For details, contact Davice.

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Excerpt from 3Pipe Problem Newsletter
August 11, 1979

"I keep a bull pup…and object to rows because my nerves are shaken… I have another set of vices when I'm well, but those are the principle ones at the present." Thus was the confession of John H. Watson, M.D. upon his first encounter with Sherlock Holmes in Study. Watson's use of the word "bull pup" has long been an object of debate among Sherlockians. Was the bull pup flesh and blood or had its spirit derived
from the doctor's enlisted life which he had recently be forced to relinquish?
Having recently arrived from India in 1881, wounded and his "health irretrievably ruined," Dr. John Watson took lodgings "at a private hotel in the Strand: on a modest pension of eleven shillings and sixpence a day ($2.87). Some Sherlock Holmes enthusiasts have determined that shortly after his arrival in London, he decided to keep a bull pup. Why a wandering ex-army physician who bleakly describes his life as a "comfortless and meaningless existence: would desire to assume the responsibilities of a pet has been a puzzle to many. L.S. Holstein (Bull Pups and Literary Agents) expressed his doubt in Watson's motivation to seek canine companionship in his query, "the real mystery is why Watson should have a bull pup in the first place, no matter how great a dog lover he may have. He was a man without a home, up to the time of taking residence at 221B and without a means to feed an extra mouth even though that be only a dog's mouth. And can you imagine that the 'private hotel in the Strand' allowed him to keep a dog?"

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reprint continued...

Let us entertain the idea, however, that Watson's pup was real. The reader must first acknowledge that fact that the animal was never mentioned again. Did Mrs. Hudson object the small animal due to rivalry with her own ancient terrier? Was the dog dashed to its death by Watson who stumbled while carrying his pet upstairs (all 17 steps) to its new home (although Watson has described himself as "reckoned fleet of foot" and, therefore, could not be considered clumsy). Other possibilities cited by BG were that the pup was a victim of Holmes' chemical experiments or that the animal was "unable to stand the Baker Street ménage and deserted." One cannot deny that the pet seemed to disappear without a trace of printer's ink.
Watson's bull pup was, indeed, real; it dwelled within the doctor's personality. Jack Tracy define the expression, "I keep a bull pup" as an Anglo-Indian slang meaning "to show fits of quick temper." Let us reexamine the conversation between Holmes and Watson. Holmes remarks, "Let me see - what are my other shortcomings. I get in the dumps at times, and don't open my mouth for day on end… What have you to confess now?" Watson responded, "I keep a bull pup and I object to rows because my nerves are shaken, and I get up at all sorts of hours and I am extremely lazy. I have another set of vices when I'm well, but those are the principle ones at the present." The very fact that the expression "I keep a bull pup" was mentioned in the same breath with numerous "vices" is a clear indication that he was not referring to a pet. (What decent dog over would call his dog Vice?).
Why didn't Watson simply say, "I have a quick temper?" The reader will observe that the use of slang is not uncommon to Watson. For example, the doctor remarked earlier the "I always use "Ships" myself." BG brings attention Fraser and Gibbon's reference to "Ships" as "naval tobacco" (Schipper Tabak Special for "Ships" was popular among sailors and known from its strong tobacco blend.) It is likely the doctor recently acquired both the habit and expression of "Ships" enroute to England on the troopship Orontes. It is, therefore, logical that other slang, assumed during enlistment in India, would appear in his vocabulary.
Whether Watson's bull pup was a living entity or an English-Indian expression of the good doctor's temperament will always be an enigma; the "spirit" of the bull pup will remain, however, in either form.
By V. Durando

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Scholars Meet to Discuss CREE at the Pub
By Scriber Kay Blocker

Nashville Scholars met August 19th for their usual monthly gathering. In attendance were: Anita and Tom Feller, Gael Stahl, Dean Richardson, Billy Fields, Davice Sharpe, Bill Baker, Jerome Boynton, Debbie Hussey, and Kay Blocker. The meeting was brought to order with blowing of the Canonical whistle by Convener Davice and followed by The Ritual. Chief Investigator Billy Fields led the meeting by asking for Show and Tell. Davice announced that missing Scholar Mary Margarette Jordan was in the hospital with a broken knee and passed around a get well card for Scholars to sign. We wish Mary Margarette a speedy recovery and hope to see her back soon.
Davice showed us a copy of Curious Incidents: A Collection of the Further Adventures of SH. This is the 2nd volume of original short stories compiled by JR Campbell and Charles Prepolec. Our Australian friend Phil Cornell illustrates it. Davice mentioned that Scholar Joan Greenwood had recently been to England and had visited Stoneyhurst where ACD had attended school in what would serve as the original town of the Hound.