POSTSCRIPS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 48, 25 August 1943, Page 4

POSTSCRIPS

Chronicle and Comment _______ i ■ BY PERCY FLAGE Most men are cast pretty much irt the same mould, but some are mouldier than others. I ■ * > -. .' * '.:;■' ■ ! Joe: When the, Germans announced ! their victories with fanfares of trum-; gets the broadcasts were all blare. Now. ley are all blah!I#■ « * " Do you know that P. TV Barnum, at the age of 15, had to borrow a pair of boots so that he could attend his father's funeral services? * * * AND NOW KHARKOV. "Boersenzeitung," Berlin: Bitter pills have to be swallowed, and no victory, can be achieved without sacrifice. The German dead in Russia have paved the path of final victory, and it is everyone's duty today to emulate their supreme sacrifice. * . * # INTIMATION. We have to thank a number of Postscripters for supplying M.S., of Levin, each with a copy of the poem "Berries, ■. the author of which is J. Buxton, Qfiag VII C/H, Germany. Those who saved us a considerable amount of work are: "Crowbar," G. Evelyn Preston (Karori), M.A. (Lower Hutt), an Kathleen M. Fuller. * * . .* CHURCHILL, PILOT. - Winston Churchill, who has been; given his wings by the R.A.F., flew in the early days of flying, when . it had scarcely progressed beyond the stage of a very dangerous sport. He had a succession of narrow escapes, and the day after he took his first lesson as pilot his instructor was killed flying the same machine. In 1919 th« Prime. Minister had perhaps his narrowest escape of all, when the mach* me he was piloting crashed at Croydon. Two hours later he was speaking at a House of Commons dinner. ■X- w * YEARS AGO! A Warwickshire man travelling home to Coventry picked up a newspaper on the seat in the corner. His eye caught the advertisements. His heart jumped when he read: "Jamaica cigars, 16s per 100; tobacco, 6s per lb." Later, he came upon a very large ad. of a wine and spirit store. It took his breath when.1 he read that the finest ports,,sherries, and clarets were being retailed at prices as low as 15s per dozen bottles! Other prices quoted were: Gin, 2s per bottle; whisky, 2s 3d; brandy, 2s 3d;, and cognac, 3s. Thrilled, the traveller' (not intoxicated) turned over the paper, again: the newspaper was a Coventry "Herald" of the year 1879! * « * ONE SOLDIER. He is not dead but liveth Who knows that he must die When hare leap in the pasture And larks sing in the sky. From hands that knew and tended Him divided and apart, From words weary with longing Engraved upon his heart. His youth for youth is given, His blood most truly flows, That desert o.f war's anguish May blossom with the rose. —ELSA MARY BOSWORTH. * * , * TINY HAMLET.

Dear Mr. Flage,—Some time ago I wrote you about a small Scottish village which derived its name from the Latin word deleur (Dollar)* Well, here's another. Between Aberfeldy and Kenmore lies the tiny clachan of Styx. A small stream runs close by, •but what connection this can have with. Charon's river of an6ient mythology is difficult to understand; the fact that the furthest north camp of the invading Romans lies only a mile away may shed, some light on the matter. However, it's interesting. This tiny hamlet also possesses very near by the most perfect Druid circle extant. Many, people believed the Druids were confined to Wales and the south, but cvi* dently they were wider scattered than is commonly thought.

Yours,

J.H.D.