A New Cut-out Competition

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 234, 2 October 1937, Page 3 (Supplement)

A New Cut-out Competition

Twenty-four Prizes to he V/on "rJ 'tt >uu,d J •«*•> - o, PETER PAN. "STAR" OFFICE, SHORTLAND STREET. AUCKLAND. CI. d,v Oc7rL rea q erS S i OUld 1X551 thel , r entries to reach t!lis office by Saturi\ n l c , ountry by Monday. October 11. The roults will be published on Wednesday, October 13.

The competition is open to all readers under the age of eighteen years. All entries must be the original work of competitors. Six of the prizes must be won by competitors under twelve years. Each reader may choose his or her prize from the following list:— Special Light Rubber Skipping Ropes, Small Leather Purses with four compartments. Platignum Self-filling Fountain Pens, Boxes of Six Wonderful Hand-spinning Tops. Four Set. (12 sheets) of Transfer Pictures, Gift Boxes of Flower-perfumed Soap. Boxes of Coloured P.cture Block. Star Special R.O.G. Monoplane Kitset, Doubledecker Pencil Ca«e«, Boomerang Mouth Organs, Stationery Set., Propelling Pencil.. Penknives, "Adventure, of Mickey Mouse" (in colour, for little ones) Painting Books. Story Books (for the little ones), Box of 100 Marbles in Ten A..orted Colours, Compact Pocket Toothbrush.

A .CLUMSY BURGLAR. Lights were few at Seacliff. The black-tn'-w of the night was broken only where tin- great red-curtained windows of the dill' house glowed. Marjorie Moore preyed her face to one of the panes and peered into the darkness over the sea. "TliereV sorm4auitg wrong at the lightInline, father," she said, as the door ipeiied and her father, with her cousin, » a 1 ki*d in. "Yes, [ noticed on the way up," he replied gravely. "I'm afraid I shall have to lake the (Jrey (Will over. It'll mean inning you here alone to-night." Marjorie hid her fear and nodded • Illicitly. "Of course! It may mean a rent deal." Ho helped them lock the ■ ' ix. and Marjorie herself closed and i-t ■ iil'd the last one behind him as he

• lean, her cousin, was a nervous, delirule child. She came from the town and found life Strang# in the old house, when Ihe sea roared and dashed against the clilfs below and the wind howled round the creaking walls. "Let's go to bed, Marjorie/' she said wth a shiver. Marjorie went to the window. "Father has been out on worse nights than this," ehe said. "Look! The lighthouse |" The yellow beam was again sweeping I lie »ea. " K wry thing's right now," Jean said. "I » i-di Uncle George would come back, "lie said he'd stay there all night," •M.ujorie said, dropping the curtain, then ti -• Iht glance rested on the mantelpiece. "There's that old shotgun father used mm ago! It's perfectly harmless, lh"ii'_'h we might feel safer with it." She look it and they went slowly up the creaking stairs, to bed, both falling aslj3p in a wry short time. It was some hours afterwards that .lean awoke, conscious that some unusual Miiiiul had awakened her. The wind had dropped and there was a ."tillnesrt broken on'y by the constant miifflcd roar of the sea. Then she heard il. Stealthv footsteps on the stairs. Slowly her iiand stole out towards Marj"i ie u liilp her heart stood still. Instead of feeling her cousin beside her, she felt the cold night air and found that the place was empty. .lean was terribly fright "lied „ but something prompted her l'> i;o to investigate.

site uMs just creeping across the base II mi' when there cm mh* ii loud report from I' -low, tin- tinkle of falling glass, and a mull's vilice raised in surprise. ■ Iran ran along t lie corridor with (i 111• 111111i11(_>■ In-art. Something had hapI•• • 11111 tu Marjnrii'. I'erhaps she needed 1 "i". Sum.'lmw flie managed to climb •I m il I lie stairs, eliii"iiig with trembling ' ids in (In. Ihi tin' tern. There was a lit I >1' 11 eiit Ii the si 11 i rig-room door, and ''ie smell of hurtling. With a sudden 1.11 I| s||,. sent the door flying inwards, iin I v .lean knows what terrible night '.e was prepared for and the glorious "■ ling of re.ief that came over her at hat she did see. There, in his eat'v cliair by the fire, villi a, red-eyed Murjorie upon his knee, i-i I tide George. Tiie shotgun lay on In- ta lile beside the remitins of a meal. "('nine inside and hear all about it, ' an," his cheery voice called. "Or do \ ..ii want to kill me too?" ■ I rii ii sat near the tire and forgot her •mi' in it.n w firmness and the sense of elv I'nele (ieorge's presence gave. # I heard the window being opeud," V ii j,irii> begun, "find then a door bang■s and le avy steps. 1 didn't want to ,:ke \*iin, .lean aiirl I was such a coward 1 ~1 f lav there v ith my head under the i i lies until I heard the ratt e of silver. , .1 I e- iililn't hear the thought, of luer's 111 ill e s being stol.'li right lltldel ii: \ iiii-c, so I took tin* £i'in And slie burst into the room looking i ■ though she had seen a. ghost and nicked that old gun at me. Naturally, i' did what was expected of it and went Mir. Isn't that right, Alarjoric?" Uncle (•uorgo interrupted.

"We thought it was not loaded," Marjorie protested, "and so did you." "Anyway, the window was all that suffered," her father continued, "and it was my own fault for being such a clumsy burglar. It was also my fault for not examining that gun properly. I thought I should have to be away all night, but Myers managed all right aloiie, so I came back—and wJiat a welcome!" Then they laughed at their escapade, but were very glad he had come back, and next time they went to bed to eleep. POLLYS LUCKY DAY. The professor was annoyed. "I refuse to see anyone else who calls to-day, Polly!" he cried, when the front door had closed on Mr. Picklenick. "These people come along and pretend they can help me, and all they do is to talk a lot of twaddle and waste my time, No one is to disturb me for the re.*t of the day."

"B-but your dinner, sir." ventured Polly, the professor's little maid. But the learned gentleman banged the study door behind him.

Polly turned away with a sigh. Professor Qtiiek was the dearest old gentleman you could wish to meet until he began thinking about his inventions, and then the slightest thing annoyed him. "Still," Polly argued with herself, "you couldn't blame the muster for getting cross .about Mr. Picklenick. I'd like to throw a bucket of water over him myself." Nothing worried Polly very long, and back in her kitchen she was soon busying herself with «akes and scones which she hoped would tempt the professor if he decided to emerge for tea. Suddenly there was a_ knock at the door. "Ts Professor Quick at home, please?" asked a timid little old lady. "Yes. but he's terribly busy. I'm afraid he won't see you." replied Polly. Whereupon the stranger's face fell. "If I don't see him before lunch it will be too late, for T am going abroad," she murmured. And then she seemed to lose all her timidity and. entering the hall, she went straight to the study door and opened it. Pollv was too amazed to move at first and when she realised that she lmd allowed someone to enter the professor's study against his orders she was so scared of what he might say to her that she fled to the kitchen. Presently she heard the front door close and supposed the visitor had gone. A minute later the professor fairlv danced into the kitchen, looking ax pleased a.s a schoolboy with a tuckbox. Tn his hand.he held out a small stone, which to Polly looked about as valuable as a piece of coal. * Bless you. Pollv. for letting that dear lady in." lie cried. "She is the sister of an old friend of mine and. hearing of my work: brought along the. only thins T was needing to conclude my experiment." And into the hand of the astonished Polly he slipped a five-pound note!

There is an old man with a very long beard. It reaches the eml of his rocs. Thouph what in the world it expects to do there, I warrant you, nobody knows. —Shadow 'Sayings.

Mij, Flor, Hanid, Yam and Knarf—the shadow-children with the turned-about names—ran round and round the house looking for a way to get in. The trouble was that they couldn't use the door for there was a sign hanging on it reading: One At Home. Don't Bother Knocking."

Knarf wanted to knock, anyway, but the tin-soldier, Miss Doll, Mr. Funch, Roly-Poly and Jack-in-the-box thought it was best to mind the sign. "It's there to be minded isn't it?" Miss Doll pointed out.

That meant thov would have to find another entrance to the house. Oh, yes, I forgot to tell you why they wanted to get in. They were chasing the skink, a curious animal belonging to King FatWat, who ruled over the country on the other-side-of-the-wall. The skink had dashed into this house. The tin soldier was in danger of losin.tr his head (it was only a tin head, of course, but still it was worth a good deal to the tin soldier) if he didn't bring back the skink to King Fat-Wat.

"We've got to get inside the house," he said to the shadows, who ran round and round, searching for a window or a chimney, or a crack in the wall—or anything else—in vain. The house was all walled in. The door was the only entrance.

"Well, I guess we'll have to knock," the tin soldier said. "I hate to do it. but it's got to lie done."

"I think you're being bad-mannered," Miss Doll said. "I, for one, am not "oilier to listen to your knocking." And with that she stuffed up her ears with her fingers, as though she expected to hear an explosion.

"You're quite rig+it," Mr. Punch said to Miss Doll. "I heartily agree with you." Miss Doll, however, couldn't hear a word he said on account of the fingers stuffed in her cars.

"Don't mind them." Mij krul Knarf said to the tin soldier. "If you want to fret inside a house you have to knock on the door no matter what any signs say." The tin soldier was still doubtful. He glanced at-Hanid as thou«h to ask, what do you think of it? She nodded. At that lie rapped on the door three times. The next instant they heard the patter of feet and a voice cried out: "Nobody home to-day!" "There is somebody home," the shadows exclaimed. "Who are you "Nobody." "Then we want to see Nobody." At this the door was suddenly opened and they were treated to a sight which made them open their eyes wide in astonishment. They actually saw Nobody, who turned out to be a gnome without anytiling but head and whiskers and the ends of his feet. He was actually Nobody, because he had no body. SPRING. (Sent in by .Toan StubDs, Elmlmrst, Kaiwaka). The winter is going, A fresh wind is blowing, Daisies are out in the dell. Wild bees a-humming. The hcdgero.se is coining. New leaf for the laurel, Gold kingcup and sorrel Will soon be arriving as well.

The house in a fluster, Of besom and duster. The linen (lies out on the line. Two dancing white pettier, Three jumpers of Betty's, Each blowing and bobbing, Your hankies hob-nobbing And waving "Good morning" to mine! SCHOOL FOR LOBSTERS. In New York baby lobsters are being trained to dive in one of the Government's hatcheries by running them down an inclined board into the water. This is not for the purpose of giving them a slim and elegant figure, but because they are liable to be eaten by bigger lisli during their infancy unless they get quickly to the secluded quarter* of the sea bottom.

Kven parrots can now go to the mud baths of I'istanv in Czechoslovakia, and grow a new crop of feathers when baldness threatens them: and a rheumatic cat can get rid of the symptoms of incipient arthritis.