November 4, 1997



Dear Fellow Sherlockians:

Those of us who traveled East for the October 25th conclave drove home through blinding snow on God forsaken highways at a speed Harry Garrison on all fours could have maintained. And the conclave was worth all these privations and more. We found new territory for the meeting. Our Terra Nova was the Omaha Country Club; vaulted ceiling, wood paneled windows, elegant place settings and the Victorian atmosphere made for as appropriate a situs as we have had. Hors d'oeurves were varied and could double a cholesterol count before the main event. Our hosts and provenders, Messers Renner, Natase, Prazan, Stadtwald, Polikov and Batt selected wisely for the 150th anniversary of the birth of Mycroft Holmes.

The Commandant led the canonical toasts and the floor was opened to the improvisatory skills of the group which drained every glass in its thoroughness. Three people in South America and two in Asia were not toasted but everyone else was in there someplace. The meal, a true delight, commenced with a light soup and croutons. A salad disappeared quickly and the main course, a pastry encrusted filet was enthusiastically critiqued. A light sorbet permitted everyone to think they had exercised some restraint in their gormandizing. Spontaneous applause showered the wait staff since the exhausted cook had left the premises early to recover from his heroic exertion.

The Master of the Revels role fell to Bill Stadtwald who kept the program lively and in constant forward progress. The learned papers were of publishable quality and showed a return to the best of the Maiwand tradition. Praed Street Investiture Don Wright began by sharing a letter to the editor he had sent Newsday Syndicate. A story had mistakenly placed Holmes' death at Rheinbeck Falls and Don set the record straight in acid tongued comprehensiveness. The mistaken site and the Reichenbach Falls were compared, contrasted, concaved and convexed till the magnitude of the editorial error was laid bare and bloody before us. We expect Wright's name to be added to the editorial board of the slipshod publication soon, although at this time he has yet to receive an acknowledgment let alone an apology from the alleged magazine.

In untypical brevity, David Landis took the scales from the eyes of previous Sherlockian scholars who doubted Holmes' ability to play a violin laid "carelessly across his knee". Thorough research convinced even the skeptical that Holmes was delving into the style of cajun folk fiddlers as his maternal French ancestry would have encouraged.

The Persian slipper has been lost to antiquity so the Black Shag appeared in an Indian moccasin. Pocohantas must have lost it at the Prince's ball and it made a fine substitute. Cigarros' provided cigars discounted in price but not quality and excellent ventilation kept the conclave from being enshrouded in blue smoke to the approbation of the respiratorially challenged among us.

A feast of scholarship greeted those who returned from a break entitled "Experiments in Hydraulics" in the program. Jim Kula's maiden paper was a model of crisp language, solid research and Masterly reasoning. With Mycroftian nimbleness Kula proved Holmes' violin to be the Davidoff Stradivarius discovered in 1920 in a Paris antique store selling for a pittance. Expect to see this paper anthologized.

Robert Nash whose paper on Sebastian Moran was published on two continents recounted "Holmes vs. the Wild Kingdom". He offered a taxonomy on the roles animals play in the canon. Watson did not record Holmes' knowledge of biology in his famous list in A Study in Scarlet. Nash proved his knowledge to be extensive but not comprehensive. To Irene Adler and three unnamed men who bested Holmes by his own account, Nash reminds us that a jellyfish did the trick as well. (The Lion's Mane)

Carl Wirth bedeviled all with a quiz on matters Victorian and then rewarded the group with magnifying glasses and soybean seeds from a school curriculum using a Sherlockian character as cartoon instructor.

Dean Tom Gouttierre, head of the UNO Afghan Studies program blithely moved from Sherlockian matters to a précis of the current political situation in Afghanistan. He promised Lesh relief for his erection if he can maintain his composure for five more years. Something waited for that long had better be spectacular.

The evening concluded with warm regards, orders taken for the Jezail Bulletin and a look at the web page now beaming Jezail successes into cyberspace. Jerry Prazan deserves hearty congratulations from all, please click on us at:

http://members.home.net/jprazan/JEZAILS/MJezails.html

The Commandant's closing thought was to keep the Jezails as they are: a group of scholarly, clubbable gentlemen who eat sumptuously, drink moderately and enjoy the tradition of the canon.

Canonically,


David Landis
Political Attache M.J.B.S.I.