POSTSCRIPTS

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 22, 27 January 1936, Page 8

POSTSCRIPTS

Chronicle and Comment

BY PERCY FLAGB

Butter slogan: Remember 1925-26, Mr. SaVage. » - «■ Outsider are not as a rule greatly interested in the composition of modern French Cabinets, because decomposition usually, sets in early. » Jk «■- The Italian Turf Club has changed the name St. Leger and Oaks tc Premio de Fascio and Premio Diana respectively. More racial friction. « «■ * Ras Desta must be added to those generalissimos (1914 onward), who can turn defeat into victory by calling it a strategic retirement. « Vi « WRONG SIDE UP. Ambiguity in the headlines— SUSPENDED PUBLIC WORKS. MESSRS. SEMPLE AND WEBB. Surely (writes "Chanticleer") the above is the very reverse of what some folk feared, might happen it Labour carried the day. ■:;- ♦:• * . SPORTING ITEM. Those "in the know" were "wheezed" that Boa Constrictor was pretty "dead" last Thursday. At that, he only.lost by a "short head." However, "there's many a slip twixt the Zoo and the ship!" BINDY. P.S.—His owner is very "snakey." «• * , * INQUIRY DEPARTMENT. "Anon." —The phrase "dog Latin" dates from 1770 or thereabouts. It was used by Lord Hailes in his "Ancient Scottish Poems," published in 1770. "The alternate lines are composed of shreds of the breviary mixed with. what we call 'dog Latin' and the French, Latin de cuisine." "Two Minds" (Karori) wishes to know the origin of the author of thesa oft-quoted lines:— Two minds with but a single thought; Two hearts that beat as one. Norman Long.—(l) No data; (2) on March 31, 1898, the "Westmoreland Gazette" reported a "sharp fall of perfectly black snow" in the Lake district of Northern England. * * #. HAPPY HEADLINES. A contents bill of the "West London Observer": Jubilee Jollity All the Local Festivities Ran About in Flames Two Motor-cyclists Killed Electricity Latest Council's Ultimatum Taxi Overturned: Driver Killed Starving Mother Nothing to Eat for Three Days New Building Mishap Workman Pinned Under Fallen Skip Swallowed a Safety Pin No Work for 4| Years Young Man's Gas Suicide « • • SCIENCE AND WAR. , An overseas publicist, John Stern, who ought to have known better, fiercely denounced "scientists who are spending their time manufacturing instruments of death and destruction." A lot of people are thinking along the same line, especially with reference to gas attacks. But here is the other side of the case, presented by Sir Richard Gregory, the distinguished scientist: "These instruments are due to human greed, and the same spirit of jealousy as that which led Cain to rise up and slay his brother." he said. "They are consequences of the fact that civilised man is little removed from a savage where his primitive instincts are concerned, and if he can acquire the strength of a giant from science he is prepared to use it lor his own ends. -Chlorine was used for. bleaching purposes long before it was introduced as a poison gas in the Great War The mixture themit was used for wefding metals long before it_ was; applied to make incendiary bombs. Saltpetre is a potent fertiliser for agricultural crops, as well as a constituent of gunpowder. These things were not discovered with a view to using them to destroy human life, yet science, a blamed for putting them at the disposal of mankind." ♦ ♦ ♦ AIN'T IT FINE TODAY? These lines are sent us by M.C.C, Eastbourne. They are specially commended to the down-at-heart. Sure the world is full of trouble! I ain't said it ain't. Say, I've had enough, and double Reason for complaint. Rain, and storm, have come to het me, • Skies were often grey. Thorns, and brambles, have beset me On the road,—but say, Ain't it fine today? What's the use of always weepin', Makin' trouble last? _ What's the use of always keepin Thinkin' of the past? Each must have his tribulation, Water with his wine. Life—it ain't no celebration! Trouble! I've had mine. But today, it's fine.. It's today that I am livin; Not a month ago. Havin', losin', takin', givin'. • • As Time wills it so. It may rain again tomorrow. It may rain, but say— ? Ain't it fine today? DOUGLAS MALLOCK. * * * LEAP YEAR. This year is a bissextile year—a year of 366 days. In ordinary years the day of the month which falls on Monday this year will fall on Tuesday next year, and on Wednesday the year after; but the fourth year will leap over Thursday to Friday. This M because a day is added to February, the reason being that the astronomical year (i.e., the time it takes the earth to go round the sun) is approximately 365* days (365.2422), the difference between .25 and. .2422 being righted by the loss of the three days in 400 years. It is an old saying that during leap year the ladies may propose, and, it not accepted, claim a silk gown. Fame has it that the custom was originates by St. Patrick, who was once told oy St. Bridget that a mutiny had broken out in her nunnery, the ladies claiming the right of "popping the question," which (observes Brewer) seems a particularly strange thing *or "u"s to do. However, St. Patrick said he would concede them the right every second year, when St. Bridget threw her arms round his neck ana exclaimed: "Arrah, Pathrick, jewel, I daurn't go back to the girls wid such a proposal. Make it one year in four. St. Patrick replied: "Bridget, acusnla. squeeze me' that way again, and in give ye leap year, the longest of the lot." St. Bridget, upon this, popped the question to St. Patrick himself, who, of course, could not wed; so he patched up the difficulty as best lie could with a luss:andA,siife.SßSS»#V

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