THE PASSING SHOW.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 98, 27 April 1937, Page 6

THE PASSING SHOW.

(By THE MEW ABOUT TOWN)

Cabled that all copies of two Polish newspapers which printed a story linking the names of Herr Hitler and Pola Xegri, the film star, have been confisNEWS IN BRIEF, cated. No doubt the paper* were able to apologise to their disappointed readers in a notice something like this: "We regret that we cannot deliver your paper to-night. It has been pint-lied by t'he John 'Ops because we published the report that Herr Hitler is infatuated with Pola Xegri."—l.M.

Have you ever watched a seagull dealing , with a shellfish? The gull can't open the shell of an oyster., but it can break it. The method is simply to fly high and CROWS. drop the oyster on to rocks, the process being repeated till the shell breaks. In Wellington it used to he the habit of the gulls in Oriental Bay to utilise the amenities provided by the eit'v in the way of pavements for the purpose of smashing the shells. I did not know till just a few days ago that crows do much the Hiune thing—not. of course, with shellfish, but , with walnuts. Whether the crow discovered this for itself <r whether it has learned from the gull I know not. but it pursues the system very effectively. The hard surface of the roadis a favoured place. The .bird flies high, drops the nut and then pursues it down, arriving a second or so after the nut hae struck the ground. .An alternative method is to get the nut wedged in an angle between the branches of a tree' and peck at it till the shell breaks. The birds appear to be inordinately fond of walnuts, and a flock of them will make short work of the crop on a tree unless the owner is vigilant. This crow, of course, is not the native bird. The kakako. our own Xorth Island crow, like most of the native birds. gives very little cause for complaint to anybody. Tn the lnish it is exceedingly difficult to locate, for the reason that it is something of a ventriloquist. It may be right over your head, but its clear note—quite different to the raucous call of the English crow—seems to come from anywhere but the spot where it is perched. —B.O'X.

Spain is—or was—a paradise for tramps of all flags. Tt matters naught whether you arc English, Koosian, Proosian or I-ta-li-an. So long as your feet can BELOVED carry you ten miles a day, VAGABOND. Spain' offers succour to weary souls. To prevent tramps gravitating to the cities, the "Gobierno Civil," or municipal authority, issues a "carta tie socorro." which entitles knights of the road to stay a day or two at all villages ton miles apart. At these oasee in the Spanish desert of down-and-out life—quite de luxe, as does shelters pro—the trampe receive meals of

"poeina." or national pot pourri mystery stew, snn-dried shark and hread and wine. The system is --onsiderably abused. Tired Time and Weary Willies from many countries are recruits in this oddly-assorted legion of tenmilers. I rememher. in particular, one "Beloved Vagabond," a Xorwegian poet, well educated, whoie travels had embraced l T ew Zealand. His tousled locks and straggling beard would strike fear into the sharpest razor and scissors; liis shirt was lees than an apology; his trousers mere relics. He confided to ino some of the artful dodges of the "aocorro* , brotherhood. By soliciting contributions toward tonsorin] and sartorial renovations, and by smuggling contraband, chiefly tobacco, from province to province, he earned about 20 pesetas (10/) a day. The life, he told me. wooed his artist's, temperament; he would pin his faith to his feet -until funds were sufficiently augmented to realise cherished ambition—a pig farm in Brazil. And so, carefree kings of shreds and patches, along the dusty roads of Spain they trudge.—C.W.lJ. '

"Touchstone"' writes: A younjr friend has asked with much discernment why Boswell, the <rreat biographer of Samuel Johnson, wae so anxious to meet .TohnBOSWELL'S son if (as the youn;r corAPOLOGY. respondent has* been instructed) it «as Boswell who "made" Johnson's reputation. The answer is that Johnson made his own reputation, lint Boswell immortalised it. The correspondent will find a further answer to hie question in a study of the famous biography. This is excellent reading for any youth, especially if he has a desire to study the value of words. But Johnson's style was ponderous, and even his contemporaries made sport of his use of bio; words. One of them wrote an 'Tmatrinary Ode to Mrs. Thrale." after the dentil of Mr. Thrale, at whose house Johnson was frequently entertained. It ran: Cerviaial coctor's viduate dame. Opin>t thou this Kisnn.tick frame Prooumbering- at thy shrine Shall, catenated by thy charms, A captive in thy ambient arms Perennially be thine? Boswell. despite his awareness of the weaknesses of his idol, ridiculed these attempt?. and also a very clever letter. "Proposals for a glossary or vocabulary of the vulgar tniieue. intended as a supplement to a laiirer dictionary."' This letter, which wa« published soon after the appearance of Johnson's far-famed dictionary, imitated Johnson's style as follows: Tt is ensv to foresee that the idle and illiterate will complain that I have increased labours hv endeavouring to diminish them: and that I have exnlained what is more easy by what is more difficult—ignotum per iprnotius. . . . Poor Boswell observed: "Annexed to this letter is a short specimen of the work thrown together in a vacrue and desultory manner, not even adhering to alphabetical concatenation." The "specimen" included: Hi»<rle<ly-i>i^ledv.— Conglomeration and confusion. H-.idjre-podTe.— A culinary mixture of heterogeneous inaredients apulie-l metaphorically to all discordant combinations. Tit for tat.—Adequate retaliation. Shilly-shally.—Hesitation and irresolution. Tee fan film. —Oiigrantie intonations. Ritrmarole.—Discourse incoherent and rhapsodical. Crincum crancuni.—Lines of irregularity and involution. Dinpr <lon;r. —Tintinab'llarv chimes used metaphorically to sijrnifv dwpatch and vehemence.

Estimates of the value of a scarfpin and a nair of r-uff reported to have boon stolen from, or mislaid by. Mr. Franklyn TTutton. Amcriran Tiii!STUDS AND lionairo. run up to ns THINGS, hia-li a< 7."».0()0 dollars. which is -t 15.000 and a bit more. "Tntiniate friends of Mr. Hut ton." rune the cable, "express the I)elief that he has niert-lv mWaid tlie articles, as he has done in the past." \~n\v ihat sounds Irs a real millionaire, a man who cannot onlv afford to wear ouff links and a searfinn worth .fIo.OOO. but can afford to mislay them, and no doubt leave the looking for them to a fewvalets, footmen, najres and other menials. Wonder what liis back stud is like? Possiblv platinum 'studded with diamonds. worth another £10.000 or so. or. ju<t as likely, it is the little composition one that he found in the collar band when ho boujrht the shirt. After all. it is just as efficient., and you can't parade it ;is you can a <=c-arf pin. \ or is it without its value. When it is tlie last mm in thp stud box. and it slips from numb finjrers and disappears just as the c-10--k. striking the lialf-hotir. jrives warninjr that the bus will he passing the door within a couple of minutes—then does that little composition back etud that is given away buckshee with a new shirt become an object of price immeasurable. Usually the price is paid "in kind ,, —-a bruise here and a bump there as its owner jrrovele abjectly on the floor and it to return to hire.—l.M. ~