RANDOM SHOTS

Auckland Star, Volume LI, Issue 73, 27 March 1920, Page 18

RANDOM SHOTS

BY ZAMIEL

Some write—vain thousrut -Tor ueedful cash, Some write to plwiso thu country clash And mine a div; in«. nil aim I never fasli, I write for fun.

"lie was intoxicated, but you could not call him drunk," said a Duncdin constable when giving evidence in a recent case. This recalls the famous description in the "Irish R.M." —"not drunk, but he had drink taken." *r-i"i~£"M"H"ir One of the cabled reasons for the Kapp failure in Germany is that the banks would not advance to the revolutionaries the funds with which to. carry on. This is pathetic as well as ludicrous. Had the revolution had any real "kick" in it, the usurpers would not have paid the bank managers the compliment of asking for an overdraft. They would have, simply helped themselves. Fancy Lenin or Trotsky being held up by a little thing like that! ♦**+****** "Honour to whom honour is due." A correspondent in a. Southern paper expresses a word of thanks to the much criticised "dappers" for their habitual politeness in giving up seats in tramcars in order that elderly people may not have to stand. The same thing has come under my notice. More than once seats have been vacated by young ladies (wearing the distinctive badge of some high school) in favour of their seniors. The gratification of the tired ones upon being gracefully accorded a seat is only excelled hy the feelings of regard for the teachers who impart this lesson in politeness, and admiration for scholars who so readily net upon the instruction. Nothing is more indicative of the tone of a school, primary or secondary, than the readiness of its pupils—boys or girls—to give up their seats to their elders. I have heard if said that all Auckland institutions are not equal in this respect. •i-H-T *+*+++ I noticed the other day an advertisement by a young lady wanting a situation in an "ultra-refined" home. "Ultrarefined" i% easily understood when used in an advertisement of 6oap or motor oil, but what precisely does it mean applied to a household? Must the people say "good-bay" for "good-bye," or does the lady mean that none of the members must work with their hands? Or does she only mean that they mustn't take off their boots in the drawing room or drink tea out of their saucers? "Refined" and "polite" and such words mean different things to different people. Do you remember that picture in "Punch" of two factory girls gossiping? "I met such a refined gentleman the other day," said one. '"E took mc to tea, and instead of blow in' on the tea to cool it, 'c fanned it wiv 'is 'at." The Major in the "Irish R.M."—excuse my quoting iropi the book- twice in one column—says somewhere that to have cgregiously the beet of a situation "is not always an advantage. America's position to-day reminds mc of the remark. She is 60 plainly at a disadvantage that many people will hesitate to use their opportunity to the full. Her politicians have let her down so. very badly in the eyes of the world that we can pity her. I fear this sentiment may not appeal to some of my reader.-. l" have a letter from one in which he says that the United 'States is the home of "safety first," asks what right the inhabitants Slave to call themselves Americans, seeing that Canada and South America are also in the Americas, and wants to know why the Senate should interfere in the affairs of another State by expressing an opinion on the Irish question. I sympathise with my correspondent. America is an irritating country these days. But we British can also be irritating at times. I think tho thing to do now is to sec America steadilyand whole, and to reflect that possibly there is no country where, politicians do less justice to what is best in the nation. The people have yet to have their say about all this treaty business, and it may be said with emphasis. There is a considerable outcry in the Old World against the daring" cut of women's, evening dresses, and "Punch" recently satirised the modes of the smart set in a picture of a woman who dreamt that she went to a dance in her night attire and found herself the object of all eyes as overdressed. Judging .by a dress I noticed in an Auckland shop window recently these extremes of style have got as far as this country. I had never seen anything approaching the cut of this dre3s at the back. The model's body was visible to the waist; the lace covering provided for part of the back above the dress was poor camouflage. I suppose somebody win wear it. It is curious that men do not improve on these modes and appear at dances in loin-clotlis. How delightfully seriously these moving picture stars take themselves! And how the papers do play up to their vanity! Mary Pickford got a divorce the other day. Not only did the American newspapers on or near the spot turn almost their entire staffs loose on the event, as if it had been a new war, but Mary's manager issued the following statement, for all the world like an announcement about Royalty:—"Miss Pickford secured an uncontested divorce, because she was | unable to continue incompatible relations with her former husband. She feels exceedingly hurt at the unkind suggestion that she got a divorce to place - her in a position to marry Douglas 'Fairbanks. She has no intention of marrying Fairbanks or anyone else. Miss Pickford will conscientiously devote the remainder of her life to moving picture art, and that alone. She will not marry anybody." I would not be rash if I were you, Mary. You are still young and beautiful, and is it safe to announce so early that you will not marry anybody? However, you have the satisfaction of knowing that on the day your manager said' this, for every one man or woman who was interested in the fate of the Peace Treaty, a hundred were talking about you—a hundred people who will believe that the art to which you are going to devote yourself is spelt with a capital.