POSTSCRIPTS

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 134, 3 December 1935, Page 10

POSTSCRIPTS

Chronicle and Comment

BY PERCY FLAG*

Times have changed. Today it is hoped to bring about peace by not pouring oil on troubled waters. * • « That ex-soldier who awakened after four.years of sleep has nothing on. some of the world's political Ri;, Van Winkles. * «: . • A German League centre-forward—' he may be in the team visiting England —is paid according U> the number of tim°s he scires. Net profits. * • • Our astronomical correspondent points out that notwithstanding the events of last Wednesday night the sun rose as usual on Thursday morning. •» * * 'Amos-'n'-Andy": J sincerely trust that we shall not have to wait as long for the restoration of the full "cut" as the Albertans for their monthly bonus. ■ »' » « .'. SOLUTION. ? Dear Sir,—Puzzle story by "H.A." in Friday's issue has whiskers as long as "WhisEers" Blake. Rode in those races 40 years ago in the old Mounted Rifle*. All are triers, believe me . . . simply rode each other's horses. I WONDER. Otaki. * * c ABYSSINIAN BEESWAX. It is reported from London that Brt tish beekeepers are directing a watchful eye on the Abyssinian situation. (We are not trying to be funny.) This is not due to the beekeepers being either keen politicians or militaryminded. But wild Abyssinian bees supply Britain with a big proportion of its beeswax. Any disturbance or drying up of that supply might begia a boom period for Britain's apiarists. * * ■■».... PUZZLE STORY. " ' ' H.A. sends another "easy one," culled from the "Readers' Digest." One day Mr. Jones was going dowa the street when he met an old school friend whom he had not seen or heard of for over twenty years, accompanied by a little girl, aged about eight years. After the usual greetings had been exchanged, Mr. Jones said, "And who is this little girl?" His friend replied, "This is my little daughter." "Daughter? Why, I didn't know you were even married," said Jones, and turning to the child he asked, "What is your name, girlie?" The child answered, "My name is the same as my mother's." Jones, smiled and said, "So your name is Minneola, too! A very pretty name." How did Jones know that the child's name was Minneola? INQUIRY DEPARTMENT. ■ "8.A." writes in to correct our explanation—it was derived ' from an apparently authoritative source—of the origin of "nickname." The real derivation is,' says "8.A.," from the old English phrase "an eac nama," meaning "an additional name," where the "n" of the article has ■ become attached to the following word. "Jacques R."—Talking of Biblical errors (and you have been)—have you seen this? (It does not refer to a Biblical misprint.) It is an example of the diction used in the original King. James version: . •> ■■ ', "He sayde vnto them, Give place, for the mayd is not dead but slepeth, and they laughed him to scorne. But when the people were put foorth, he went in, and tooke her by the hand." , The spelling in the original King James text is not always uniform; one may find, for example, "Shalbee," "shall be" and "shall bee" in a single chapter. * •■ . » INTERVIEW. 'Lo Joe! How's the showGood? What ho! You and Co.— Fifty-three all in a row: • What a blow s To a not-so sanguine foe! But although You may crow . With some warrant, you must know You, Joe, Have no easy row to hoe. /Oh, Joe! Pondering each con and pro,. Say where will you get the dough To bestow . Blessings on the high and low? Will it-flow From your patent cornucopia, Joe? And the seed you are to sow— Will it grow In the glow Of the. warmth your passions throw To and fro, And make heaven, on earth belowT Says Joe: "Ask Lefeaux; He has many quic- —pro quo." Apropos : ■ Many; warriors wrapt in woe, Tell us, if we're not de trop, \ Where, dear Joe, Democrats of all kinds go When caught in the undertow Politico? "Not to Parliament, I trow," ■..-'... Says Joe. , * » * SIDELINES OF WAR. This grim burlesque comes to us from "P.H.C.," who took it from an American booklet: — Let us imagine a war like the last one, as brought up to date by radio, television, and motion pictures, and sponsored by an enterprising group of advertisers. First thing in the morning, as an appetiser for breakfast, American civilians would be invited to hear the thunder of guns over the trenches where their boys were waiting for the order to go over the top. Later in the day, by kindness of some manufacturer of baking powder, the radio audience would listen to the groans of the wounded and dying, the rattle of rain on the tin roof of a water-soaked dugout, the shattering explosion o£ a shell blowing a battalion of young soldiers to veternity. Expert spellbinders, perhaps, would take charge of the evening programme. "Wotta war, folks, wotta war! There goes a squad of Pennsylvania boys into action, and they won't be back. A young officer from Illinois was just shot through the lungs. Just a minute folks, and we'll get you his name. One of the enemy's shells just dropped on a battery and wiped out ten fine lads from Indiana. They're bringing the wounded, this way on stretchers. Maybe one of the boys will say a word into the microphone for the. folks back home. Well, he said it, but we had to cut him off. We've got to keep this war clean for our friends who use Sapp's Soap for Sensitive Skins. Is Mrs. Mabel Mullins, of Gra^d Rapids, lowa, listening in? Her son George was just shot down in flames, flying over the enemy lines. In a few mo ments folks, we'll turn you over to the front-line trenches, where there*! a lot of hand-to-hand fighting going on. Maybe your own boy's out there, so stand by. Wotta war, folks; wotta war!"