POSTSCRIPTS

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 70, 19 September 1936, Page 8

POSTSCRIPTS

Chronicle and Comment' . Bt Perce Flags. Add light literature: "The Soldiers' Plate," by Lydia Mestin: • • » Two popular ways of committing suicide are by turning on the gas and by stepping on it. » » # America's refusal to join up with a collective security pact is due to the fact that the war debts are still not collective. # »...'■.• 0 Nearly 70 per cent, of the 1934 Mintmade threepenny pieces went to Scotland. Stands Scotland where she did? She does! » » • If the worst hour for street accidents is between 5 and 6 Mr. I Somple should appeal to pedestrians :to try to avoid having their street ' casualties during rush hours, i * * * 1 LISTEN, MR. MACKLEY. How's this for an example of ineptij tude? The Railway Department builds< ' 136-ton locomotives, and then buys 40ton cranes with which to rerail them 1 when necessary. Speaking about railways, here's another suggestion: If the guard's van were placed next to the , engine, as is done in America, and also i in New Zealand on the Bay of Plenty I express east of Paeroa, the contents of :the van would get the worst of it in » smash, and not the poor unfortunates ' in the first carriage. . KINGI. J Nelson. . • ■■■■#.. : ■ ' ' #' THEN WHO IS? Among Sir William Rothenstein'B famous sitters was Professor Einstein, whose portrait he did in Berlin. "During one of the sittings," sayi Rothenstein, "a solemn stranger, looking, I thought, like an old tortoise, sat listening to Einstein, who, so far as, I could understand, was putting forward tentative theories, his expressive faca radiant, as he expounded his ideas. "From time to time the stranger shook his heavy head, whereupon' Einstein paused,, reflected, arid then started another strain of thought. When I was leaving, the presence? of a third party was explained. " 'He is my mathematician,' said Einstein, -'who examines problems which I put before him, arid checks their validity. You see I am not myself a good mathematician!". .•..-..■# . »• ' « BRAIN-TEASER. We warn you in .advance that you will have to be mighty careful with this one. You can be terribly serious about it, or perhaps not so serious. However — A man is crossing a desert on foot. He has*fiad no food or drink for 24 ho.urs and is nearly at thte end of-his endurance. ,He is> 50 miles from-any-where. A passing aeroplane, ob-. serving his-plight, but unable to land owing to a damaged undercarriage, drops' at his feet a large tin ,of tomatoes. The man has no implement with which, in normal circumstances, a can of tomatoes could be opened, and there are no stones, rocks, skeletons, artificial legs,' or anything of the sort available—only sand. The only-metal objects in his possession are. .a wrist watch, a p'in, and a brass, collar stud with a hollow shank. He wore rubber shoes. What did he do? # ' ». » SCHOOL'S IN.. , v ' Do you know that—1. Gracie Fields has two big ambl» "" T tions, one of which is to adopt two young children for her very own when she retires? 2. In Pennsylvania legislative benevolence demands that every restaurant be equipped with stretcher and wheelchair, and also provides a law "for the protection of skunks and polecats"? ' 3. Leningrad scientists claim to have produced a new brand of paper so strong that it will last 1000 years? 4. Pulis, the aristocrats of the riog world, can trace back to Hungary from before the time-that the founder of the monarchy established Christianity there in 996? 5. San Diego boasts a phenomenon, "Case-a-day Casey," who.; regularly quaffs 42 flagons of beer daily with a raw egg in each? 6. An Ohio psychologist has discovered (?) that for great poets .the years of maximum productivity are those from 26 to 33? f ' # 7. Melbourne's Children's Church,,(he only one of its' kind in the world, -is sixty years old/and has an average congregation of 130, the ages of which range from six to fourteen years? ••8. Leslie Wilson, twelve years old, of Murrurundi, New South Wales, with traps of his own devising, recently caught 160 eagles (lamb-slayers) in six weeks? 9 This year Sowet Russia expects to lead the world with an output of • £120,000,000 worth of gold, which would set a new record? 10. A modern master gold-beater can make gold-leaf l-290,000th of an inch thick (or thin)? * ■ ; ■» ■■■ ■ » \ NOD. , This request number, an old favourite of "Grandad" (Seatoun), is one of Walter de la Mare's best-remembered poems. Softly along the road of evening, In a twilight, dim with rose, Wrinkled with age, and drenched with dew, Old Nod, the shepherd, goes. ■ His drowsy flock streams on befora him, Their fleeces charged with gold, To where the sun's last beams lean low On Nod the shepherd's fold. ' * The hedge is quick and green with briar. From their sand the conies creep; And all the birds that fly in Heaven Flock singing home to sleep. - His lambs outnumber a noon's roses, Yet, when night's shadow falls, His blind old sheep-dog, Slumber-soon, Misses not one at all. His are the quiet steeps of dreamland, The waters of no-more-pain, His ram's bell rings 'neath an arch of stars. ' "Rest, rest, and rest again." * *.. ■*, FAIRY TALE. This storv originally came from America. While Firestone, Edi.«on, ' Ford, and Burroughs were touring, a light and a tyre on the car failed. Mr. Ford went into a store and said to the merchant: "What kind of lights do you have?" ■ "Edison," replied the merchant. "And tyres?" "Firestone."' "You may be interested to know I that Mr. Edison and Mr. Firestone are I out in my car, and that I am Henry' Ford." As the merchant was putting on I the tyre, Mr. burroughs, who was ! well "adorned with white whiskers, I leaned out of the car, and the mer- , chant, looking at him with a grin, said: "If you tell me you're Santa Claus, I'll crown you with .this wrench!"