POSTSCRIPTS

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 86, 8 October 1935, Page 8

POSTSCRIPTS

Chronicle and Comment

BY PERCY FLACE

For the moment, at any rate, we mvo decided to call it the bleaguered League of Nations. 6 News of the shortage of fats in Germany lndlC ate S that the Fatherlanders aie m for a lean time. ':' • • < Haile Selassie may not have +h P fathers ] liS UmP, tCenth graS hS nose °n> bUt he.certauUy ha, redS^S^^a^tax flavoured with Burgundy SS red is chanT^ e and *? Pal« «faf*£ 5 Drink to me only with thy lips. . . . ; : :,.*.■ *'.■»■■■ ■ • BOES IL DUCE KNOW? You can't keep Abyssinia out of the news Here is a story told at a Bristol uncheon held,to celebrate th?W S^/.^ G^at Western Railway c%irLn RObert VHOme' the--pS , "About the middle of last century-' or the sidings in Bristol station. harder to get out of it.'" muctt * . ■■*. .# ' ,■: LAVAL'S PREDICAMENT _ In reply to "Student" (Marton)- M. stand. Last January there was a momentous conference in Rome bn the S IOn T h aU SSUe between *W'iEd olwi n Tht -French Premier then ind£ cated that h ls country would have no objection to. Italian domination in Abyssinia, since France hmnb ftrfhS political or territorial ambitions there « was also verbally agreed that £ Mussolini was to keep his miuterv strength unimpaired in Italy, andS ticulariy at the Brenner Pass. 2 tlmS, he was assured he could of attack from the north. What M Laval evidently had in mind on that occasion was not a sanguinary war but either" peaceful penetratioT^ b7' ihe "f™' ra aslow. cautious, and almost friendly occupation .along the lines of vie French acquisition of Morocco. To- £ y- Fr?°? e dreads havin 8 to make a choice^ between Italy and Britain, or even, between the League and It«dy. ••'■■* • » » EUROPE'S NOISIEST CITY. H-the Anti-Noise brigade at Homt wish to test themselves out they should go to Sofia, which, for three-quarters of the year, may claim the doubtful distinction of being the noisiest capital in Europe. A leading Bulgarian newspaper asserts that the noise in Sofia Is far worse than in London, being pitched an a higher key. Tram conductors and chaffeurs sound their bells or horns almost continuously and generally: quite unnecessarily. Worst of all, however, is the noise made by the carts. Sofia streets are paved with granite-blocks; and the carts used by the municipality, contractors, and peasants from nearby villages, which stream in and out and around about Sofia: from early morning till late at night, have iron-shod wheels and are generally very loosely constructed. The result is a constant and highpitched and deafening rattling and clattering, which is re-echoed down the narrow streets between the high blocks of-flats which have sprung up everywhere. This bedlam ceases only in the winter, when deep snow ' covers the streets and sleighs take the place of carts., ...•••.' \ ' ' , '■ » ' * •-•*■■■ FRESH JOYS. One in this column well has said, "Not all our joys are lost; New pleasures may be found today, ' At wondrous little cost." "" (Of course, he did not use those words, French leave and Hobson's choice, And Buckley's chance—such liberties The poet's soul rejoice.) Today 'tis joy—a restful bliss— ; Though some at this may scoffWhen, after listening long in pain, We turn the radio off. Then,1 too, where street-collectors wait, As spiders wait for •flies, What joy to sidle safely past, With gaze fixed on the skies! Next, to decline a friend's request To.see a picture-show— "Much thanks, my dear; but I tonight A-visiting must go." A joy there is, we chronicle - As sailors keep their logs— To find a tearoom sweet and clean, No smoking, and no dogs! Yet you, I fear, have noted well, If by your wits you live, That all, these fresh and modern joys, Save one, are negative. '■■■■■ ■ ■ ■• ■ . A. « -::- a ABYSSINIAN WEDDING FEAST. Here is a picture of an Abyssinian wedding feast as .described by a famous woman traveller: At Dabasso a wedding feast was in progress. The bridegroom was a Christian merchant from Hirna, so we were invited to drink tedj and eat fetfet, little round pieces of meat steep--ed in the hottest of sauces.-The guests, seated on the floor,'with a spoon and a knife each, used sheets of the native bread as table and napkin combined. The bridegroom, smelling strongly of scent and oil, was fed by the four groomsmen, who sat around him and cut titbits of raw meat from the sheep hanging by its legs from a pole held by two slaves, and pushed them into his mouth. Behind the shelter of a few-yards of muslin,'held up like a tent, some girls performed the same office for the bride. Once; when the bridegroom choked, two -or three friends precipitated themselves to hide his face under their chammas. At 'intervals the women who feasted in an adjoining yard could be heard singing, and occasionally, without warning, some man leaped to his feet, - emptied a cow-horn, at a dr-ught, and holding it upside down, sprinkled the guests with the few remaining drops. Afterwards the bride was led into the hut and seated on a couch while her father read;a list of all her posiessions, beginning with two oxen and ending with a felt hat. Four times oil was sprinkled over her from a slender flagon and she sipped a horn of tedj from which everyone else drank in turn. Then the muslin screen was folded round her while she embraced or talked to her mother. The number four is considered riot only lucky but almost sacramental. Consequently, the bride came out from her muslin screen with four branches of olive held over her, and the same number of amulets hung round her neck.