RANDOM NOTES

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 104, 26 January 1933, Page 8

RANDOM NOTES

Sidelights on Current Events LOCAL AND GENERAL

(By

Kickshaws.)

Stained glass windows in a Berlin police station depict tinted figures in characteristic poses of police activity. It is suggested that a smash-and-grab window would complete the scheme. It is declared that a gardener is one who knows how to dig for happiness. When there is a pain in the back of the gardener there is a smile on the face of his slugs. » ♦ ♦ According to a man who has been married 75 years, the first essential to a happy marriage is to have too little time to exaggerate trifles. Better still, perhaps, is have too little time to eat them. • ♦ * It is said that there were ironical ’ smiles at the Lower Hutt Council meeting when Mr. Forbes promised to give the council’s request concerning the exchange "full consideration.” Perhaps spades should be called spades and the council should have been told not to bu a nuisance. But the language of diplomacy is always soft. Words and phrases from the mouth of a Prime Minister have a conventional inner meaning quite different from what they say. For example, when a Government "does not understand” one of its envoys it is politely suggesting that the individual has made a fool of himself. When a Government starts talking about “grave consequences” it means that it is getting ready to fight Whereas, when it speaks of another Government’s "unfriendly act,” it means war.

Usually the greater the protestation of friendship in the love letters that are exchanged between one country and another, the greater the tension. The British Foreign Office is supposed to be bluff, brusque and hearty toward its friends, but courteous to its foes. It is the same with other countries. For example, when America wanted an Austro-Hungarian ambassador recalled because of a troublesome hobby of blowing up munition factories, she did not bluntly complain of his waywardness. The note read, “Mr. Dumba is no longer acceptable to the Government of the United States of America.” His recall was requested with “deep regret” with an assurance of a desire to continue “the cordial relations” between the two countries. Only those who understand the language of diplomacy can grasp the snub that can be conveyed by the omission of a few traditional words or the insertion of a few platitudinous hopes about “amity” and "peaceful relations.”

While on the subject of nicety of diplomatic expression it cannot be denied that we, the individuals who make the State, are prone to stretch the Kings English to tensions unknown to the diplomat. Nevertheless, we had to thauii Mr. Asquith for the ”itis” habit which, ushered in on the crest of the appendicitis craze, wqs added to every known word in the language. Not only did we have "holiday-itis,” but “Monday morning-itis,” “week-end-itis,” "fiscaiitis” and suffragitis.” At last the Oxford Dictionary had to admit “itis ’ within ts fold with the remark that it was an “irregular use of the suffix applied to a state of mind fancifully regarded as a- disease.” - At the moment the rising generation are busy coining new phrases until in fact “it is nobody s business” to stop them.

The suggestion on the part of a -noin agenarian who has been married <5 years that one should choose a life partner exactly as one chooses a business partner had already been adopted by several people. Possibly the most outstanding instance was the marriage of the late Edgar Wallace to his secretary, who became a secretary, joint managing director, and wife in her husband's business. Another famous partnership on business lines was made by the well-known C. N. and A. N. Williamson,/who wrote joint novels for several years before they were married. In fact, Mrs. Williamson met her business partner when as a young girl from America she bearded her husband in ins editorial sanctum in search of work. It was not long before they had begun a regular short-story partnership that • proved a bigger success than expected.

The -world of the theatre can gire numerous examples of many most successful business partnerships that ended in a business-like marriage. Oue well-known example is Marion Lome and Walter Hackett, who, assisted by his wife, produces and manages plays. After helping him in his plays and helping him in his business, Miss Lome ended by. helping him as his wife. Gracie Fields and Archie Pitt also began as business pais before they married one another. After meeting in a touring company, they both decided to strike out in a line of their own. The wife of Mr. Richard D’Oyly Carte, of Gilbert and Sullivan fame, started as his secretary. She worked with him for several years, first as his secretary, then as his assistant manager and stenographer, and then as wife ami everything else. The venture was a huge' success. When he died, Miss Helen Leonore, now Lady D’Oyly Carte, was his sole executor.

Referring to your interesting paragraph about the sense of smell, the following thoughts from a book entitled "Girth Control” by H. P. Finck may interest you, writes "8.T.,” Wellington: “This new psychology of eating, if generally known, would create a new epoch in health and longevity. It ! s a discovery of the healthful olfactory flavours, how they differ from fragrance and gustatorv flavours, and proves psychologically that we can have infinitely more pleasure if we will eat with our noses as well as our mouths. A blunder so amazing, so incomprehensible that it seems almost incredible, is the universal belief among men of science as well as the laity, that the pleasures of the table come to us through the sense of taste. With the exception of sweet, sour, salt, bitter, all our countless gastronomic de- ‘ lights come to us through the sense of smell. Flavour is the odour of a substance as perceived in breathing out through the nose while we are eating, and usually accompanied by a sjveet, salt, sour or bitter taste. This distinguishes flavour from fragrance, which we perceive in breathing in through the nose —as in the fragrance of a rose or a violet—and this is not accompanied by a taste. The pleasures of eating may be prolonged indefinitely by breathing out through the nose with concentrated attention while the food is chewed very, very slowly.” From the above, “8.T.” concludes, one can see clearly why being compelled to breathe other people's tobacco smoke in public eating places may fill one with thoughts of murder.

Weep no more, nor sigh, nor groan. Sorrow calls no time that’s gone; Violets plucked, the sweetest rain Makes not fresh nor grow again. —John Fletcher.