World News in Story and Picture

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 151, 27 June 1936, Page 3 (Supplement)

World News in Story and Picture

G. K. CHESTERTON. The death has just occurred of one of the most prolific and versatile writers of our period—Gilbert Keith Chesterton. He was 02, having been born in London in 1874. In his early years he showed considerable artistic ability and enrolled at 17 in the Slade School of Art. As a result of these studies he illustrated some of his early books. His first journalistic work was art criticism for the "Bookman." After that he contributed to many English and American periodicals and papers. For 25 years he wrote a weekly article to the "Illustrated London News." So versatile was his ability that he tried almost every type of literary work—poetry, drama, fiction, criticism, biography and essays. He worked in collaboration with Hilaire Belloc and his brother, Cecil Chesterton. Among the most famous of his lyric poems is "The Donkey." The poor animal bewails his ugly appearance and hard lot, but glories in the fact that an ass bore Christ on His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, when

the people acclaimed Him with Hosannas and strewed palms in His path. The poem begins: — When fishes flew and forests walked And figs grew upon thorn, Some moments when the moon was blood, Then surely I was born. He bewails his lot for two more stanzas, but the last stanza is triumphant: — Fools! For I also had my hour; One far fierce hour and sweet: There was a shout about my ears, And pnlms before my feet. CURE FOR HAY FEVER. Those who suffer with hay fever will rejoice to know that a new treatment that has been on trial for five years has been successful in 99 per cent of the cases. The patient's nostrils are coated by electricity on the inside with ionised zinc. The treatment will render a patient immune from hay fever for more than a year. Further applications are given at yearly intervals, two being in most cases sufficient to cause a complete cure. A similar type of treatment is already in use in America. The zinc has the effect of hardening the tissues and rendering them less susceptible to irritation. Hay fever is caused mostly by pollen grains that float about in great masses during the flowering periods of some plants, especialy pines and grasses. |

A PERSIAN POET. A Turkish scholar who has been studying the life and works of the poet Oinar Khayyam has discovered a pamphlet which he believes to be the work of that poet. The title is "El Vujut," meaning "Existence," and the text is in both Arabic and Persian. The question is now being raised as to whether Omar Khayyam was a Persian or a Turk. Though not the greatest poet of Persia, Omar Khayyam is more famous throughout the English-speaking world than any other Persian poet. It was Edward Fitzgerald who introduced him to Western readers by his very fine translation into English verse of the "Rubaiyat." The verse of the translation is so fine that it far outclasses the original.

Omar Khayyam lived during the eleventh century and wrote much besides poetry. His writing- on mathematics, in Arabic, and his astronomical observations gave him such fame that in 1079, when it was deemed advisable to reform the Calender and institute what is known as the Seljuk Era, the formidable task was assigned to him.

THE HAUNTS OF THE OKAPI. A famous traveller and explorer, Attilio Gatti, who has been working in the Ituri Forest, Belgian Congo, reports that the okapi is by no means so rare an animal as is generally supposed. There are large numbers in the Belgian Congo, and although under the protection of the Government, about 1000 are killed annually by the Mambuti pigmy tribes. These little people lead strenuous lives, and the okapi provide their chief source of food supply. The explorer says that if central parts of the forest into which the pigmies are afraid to go were declared sanctuaries for the okapis, the animals could be preserved in large numbers. TROOPING THE COLOURS. On June 23 King Edward VIII. rode for the first time at the head of his troops when the annual birthday ceremony of Trooping the Colours took place on the horse guards' parade. As Prince of Wales he several times deputised for his father at this ceremony. On June 10 King Edward presented new colours to battalions of the foot guards at Buckingham Palace.