PROTEST AGAINST VANDALISM

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 72, 26 March 1914, Page 8

PROTEST AGAINST VANDALISM

A gentle, pleasant protest against vandals who desecrate green valleys with garbage and rubbish , is made by a correspondent, who has complained thus to The Post :—"I: — "I am an elderberry tree and live beneath the pretty little suspension bridge at the head of Hob-son-street, and, although I belong to a totally different kingdom from that of man, I am not his enemy. My life history will prove the contrary. I am his friend and ally. I help him in many ways. I hide the repulsiveness of the mineral kingdom below, and do thus add a touch of sweetness to his surloundings. I give the essence of my life to him in beverages, and I absorb carbonic acid gas and send up the purest of oxygen to him who stands on the bridge above. But man is an unappreciative animal, and the only return we have received to-date' for all our past services to him was'an avalanche of old spouting and broken pipes a few nights ago, smashing our limbs and skin in all directions, and causing great suffering amongst my family generally. A naturalist who halted on the bridge during the early morning became hor vified upon seeing us all weighed down with grief and old iron, and as a consolation offered up a long scarlet dissertation on the tragedy of the night before. He said that he would like to "bark" the culprit, whatever that may mean, and that you would come and see us because you are the great defender of the trees."

There are at present seven cases of appendicitis under treatment at the Mastertou Hospital. Four cases have b,eeu'admittedjvithia the.kst fek days. •■*.