POSTSCRIPTS

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 60, 8 September 1937, Page 10

POSTSCRIPTS

Chronicle and Comment

BY PERCY FLAGB

Unlike bombs, diplomatic bombshells are just another form of gas attack. * # * Personally we should like to sample the South African brand of posterity for a change. • » • Square rigger races are an exciting national sport as old as bottle stores and workingmen's clubs. « ♦ . ■ ■» "Gemini" (Belmont). —Judging by the number of ads. for budgerigars in the "Lost" column every week it's time those birds were crossed with • homing pigeons. • ■ * "Harihaha." —Mr. Savage says the Government is perfectly ready to rectify its mistakes. It might, for instance, rub out the guaranteed, price scheme —and how j would- the dairy farmers like it! » » # MONDAY MALADY. "Hay Mum." . "Yes, 'Tilda." "Ain't dad got the joe blakes thi* ' mornin'?" Mum (bitterly): "I'll say 'c as wot I calls 'is 40-hour weakness!" BINDY. ■ * * • GENEROUS OP HIM. Dear Fiage,—Your correspondent 1 R.O.F. has'evidently misconstrued that ■ cable about Sir Harry Lauder withdrawing his offer of £5000 for the first successful Atlantic swimmef. After 1 Zimmy's successful swim, we believe ; that the condition is that the Atlantic [ must be swum under-water, but so far, ; Sir Harry has not imposed any condition about handcuffs. ! SCOTS WHA HAE. [ . Lower Hutt. >' * * * : HOLLYWOOD SHOULD KNOW. J Flage, Old Boy,—l wonder if you, could set my mind at rest on the following question:— ', If evidence should be forthcoming which will prove that the works now attributed to Shakespeare were actually written by Bacon, will a Shakespearian player, in future, be known as •. ham actor? . On second thought, it may be best if I apply to some Hollywood film producer for information on this subject. CLARRIE B. » « * ; . SHORT, SHORT STORY. t This one comes from "Gran" (Ka- ■ rori) ,■ another Postscripter in the throes ■of convalescence. It is a passage to '> be found in the metrical anecdotes of > a Persian poet. '■ A young Moslem student appealed 1 to an old Dervish and said, "My father, ' I am a student and my friends insist; 'on coming to talk to me. I have to en- ■ tertain them and that is a waste of " time. Can you suggest any method by '• which without being rude or inhospit- ■ able I can get rid of the influx of Lmy friends?" The Dervish replied: | "Amongst your friends are some who : would like to borrow a Ifttle money. ! Lend each of them a small sum and i they will never come again. Others are rich and could afford to lend a little money." Ask each of them for a loan and they will never come again." This is surely the advice of a t sage with a keen Sense of humour and , a great knowledge of human nature. [ THE "AUSTRA LAIS.'E." 1 Dear Flage,—Supplying a want bjr your correspondent "Peter Mayhew," \ here is a copy of Australia's "National ' T Anthem," by C. J. Dennis;! ; ORMANDE. • Fellers of Australier, . : Blokes an' coves an* coots, Shift yer carcasses, Move yer boots. : Gird yer loins up, Get yer gun, Set the —- enemy And watch the ' run. Chorus,— • , / Get a move on, Have some sense, Learn the art of t Self de fence. W'en the trouble i Hits yer native land Take a rifle In yer hand, [ Keep yer —— upper lip Stiff as stiff can be An' speed a bullet lor : Posterity. ' W'en the bugle . ; Sounds "Ad vance" ' Don't be like a flock uv sheep ' In a—— trance. ' Biff the foeman , Where it don't agree; \ Spiffler- • -cate him '• To Eternity. Fellers of Australier, ' Cobbers, chaps, and mates, Hear the enemy, Kickin' at the gates! Blow the • bugle, Beat the -— drum, Upper-cut an' out the cow To kingdom come. -Chorus as before. •Our thanks to "Ormande" for thi* copy of a veritable classic. # * * GOD SAVE THE KING. In reply to V. Pearson, Khandallah: The tune of the National Anthem ii ' generally ascribed to one' Dr. John Bull: (1563-1628), but a similar air is to be found in Ravenscroft's Scottish carol, "Remember thou the man," as well as in a passage of harp music by Purcell. •To Henry Carey (1692-1743) is attributed the introduction of the words 1 and the music as his own composition, in 1740. Other researchists aver that the tune is an importation from Ger- • many: while as recently as 1001 claims to" authorship were put forward on 1 behalf of a London Scot, James Oswald, a worker under Simpson, the publisher of the early copies, who sub--1 sequently became a composer to ; George 111. Carey and Bull, however, divide the general opinion of musical historians, while various forms of the words existed from the 16th century. The anthem in its present form is said to have been first printed in the "Harmonica Anglicana" in 1742—even thia is doubted, as no copy exists—and thaS it remained in obscurity until th» Jacobite rebellion in Scotland in 1743. when it was sung for the first time at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, on Saturday, September 28, of that year; it being repeatedly encored. The words and music were printed in "The Gentlemen's Magazine" of the following October. Seventeen hundred and forty-five is thus the earliest date tf "God Save the King" as we now know it, but there is little doubt that it evolved out of earlier forms and an exact authorship cannot be attributed. More than one other country's national song has evolved from the British, "Heil dir im Siegeskranz," an adaptation w;th the same tune, became the Prussian national hymn in 1793; while a German translation set to the original music was adopted by Denmark in 1790 but is now no longer used. The United States "My Country 'tis ot Thee" also has the same setting.