POSTSCRIPTS

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 94, 22 April 1933, Page 10

POSTSCRIPTS

Chronicle and Comment

BY PERCY FLAGE

If the latest comment is any critef" ion; President Boosevelt must be as puzzled, as everybody else as tp why; he pulled America off the gold standard. »# . * Possibly, one reason why nowadays the great majority -of citizens stay, away from municipal election meetings, is that they have heard most of th9^ speeches before- ■ * '* * "My word," said the monoeled cynio as, he watched a first night of a sex drama in which a bed played the principal part—"My word; this play seems to go from bed to worse." ■ * » « .ALL-A'MATTER.OP TASTE, Mrs. Mayfair (as they lunch): Dt you like that gorgonzola? Mrs. Malaprop (asuming a literary air): Not too well. I could never stomach those French novels. * « * ■ IT IS TIME TO LAUGH. British patriots of the old school and shocked colonial citizens of the good old John Bull strain, who worried over that resolution, of the Oxford Union not to fight for jfcing and country, may now take heart of grace. An Oxford don has revealed to an interested community that tho Union passed a precisely similar resolution in 19131 • • • FLEET STREET, 1228. Flage,—Your note concerning Fleet • Street was interesting, but in a sense, incomplete. Famous today as the street of newspapers, Fleet Street from the very , outset, was "in the news.'" Its long story opens with a murder. A London official chronicle tolls how, on October 11, 1228, one Henry de Buke, slew one Le Ireis de Tyulour in the street of Fletebrigge with a knife, and fled for sanctuary to St. Mary's Church in Southwark—today the Cathedral. That is the first mention of Fleet Street in history—the slaughter of an Irish' man by a stranger in London. . ■ . , PENWIPER. ■ # ♦ ♦ MATSUOKA OUT OF LUCK:. Wo informed you of a Japanese plaa' (which failed,) to interest France ia China's Eastern Baihyay.. Hero is another example of Nippon's somewhat obvious diplomacy misfiring. Mntsuoka, who left Geneva in a " paddy, '* visited the States, had a cold time there, and looked in on Home. His aim was to wangle Mussolini Nippon's way. He visited tho tomb of II Duce 'a mother and laid a wieath on ifc Benito was not noticeably pleased. Then Mat* suoka paid a formal visit to Mussolini. When he had emerged from the presence, Italian newspapermen asked howhe liked Mussolini. "Ah," replied the westernised Matsuoka, "he is next to God. He is like God." That interesting statement was printed in English (which Matsuoka used) and ia Italian. Eecalling Mussolini's old feud with the' Vatican, Italy chuckled. But there was i no trace of a smile- on the grim countenance of II Duce. •#..#■ * SCHOOL'S IN. Do' you know that — (1) All barbers .in Russia are-re* quired by law. to save all sweeping o£ hair,- to bo later transformed into felt bOOtS? ; .-,...-. .-outi :;;.■)- ;-:r--rr.i (2) A,-mavriago. i rliccnce.,is denied ta Turkish '''applicants until they' present a certificate showing that they know, their new alphabet? . . (3) There are 6,600,000 women oa Spain's electors' lists and only 6,200,000 men? Feminism never had such aa opportunity. ' (4) Listed among the Soviet's mil> tary assets are' nearly one million car* rier pigeons—all bred and trained • bjj ( amateurs under/supervision? (5) Forty-four New York newspapers have provided the money to build a tank at White House for the President to take his much-needed exercist in? ' ' ' ' • (6) The caisson being built for the new Southampton docks will bo the largest in the world, weighing 20,000 tons? ■ (7). A salmon 7ft long and weighing 5601b is reported to have been caught; in an Anatolian river f ' Twenty-s&vea turtles were found in the salmon's stomach. ; . ■ - . (8) A long-lived Essex member of ai sect, the Peculiar People, whose members never call in a doctor, died last month aged 94? (9) African Negrillos are the short" est people on. earth, averaging only, 4Jft in height and 77 pounds in weight?! (10) The-U.S. Senate has two blind. members, one of whom had his sight ■ destroyed by the explosion of a cigar^' ette lighter? ' # «. * TKAVELOGUE. In fine liners and plain ferries, steaiai. yachtSj sampans, and just coasterk We have journeyed to far countries^ hired there by seductive posters. Wo have breakfasted at mid-night o* the famous Cul de sac, And have beaten round the Horn, sir* swimming side-stroke on our back* Wo have wandered with our camera iri ' ' Yosemito the fair, Where the nasal toitrist traffic was mos€ difficult to bear. .It was much worse, we discovered, tha> , next winter in Bermuda, j Where our good old Cockney aooent made a fellow an intruder. ■ Never mind. 'Wo still remember those' dear days on Flour de lys, ; With the old Mbulmein pagoda blinkin* 1 lazy at the sea. . (Vide John Mascfield or Kipling, OP maybe 'twas old Geo. Sims, Who wrote poems for recitation sand« wiched in.between some hymns). Howsoe'or, as we were . saying—w«i have eaten Yorkshire batter On its native heath, and seen the grind* ing, death-green ice floes scatter When th' Aurora Borealis, pyrotechnic cally, speaking, ■ : : Roared bjkl thundered to such purjfost we could hear the North Pole creak ing. We have'gazed upon the Bed Sea when! 'twas not so red, alack, And the White Sea and the Black Sea, ' which were neither white lior black. These wore minor disappointments ia a round trip full of action Which to put it mildly, gave us aa eclectic satisfaction. Still, it's jolly to be'home again, not* withstanding thero's a slump, To watch the moon go1 silvernly across' Ivaiwarra dump. « * ♦ MIDNIGHT. In making the point that when criticising others we are ourselves apt to be open to criticism (remarks an Americanjournal), a minister related the following:— In one, of the .large buildings of a. southern city an elevator boy, because of his remarkable blackness and likeability, was dubbed "Midnight" by; his patrons. One day another elevator boy greeted_ him with the sobriquet bestowed oa him by the elevator passengers. "Midnight," scornfully queried! "Whah yo get dat 'Midnight' stuff? Yo' 'bout quahtah pas* twelvt' yo'self!"