POSTSCRIPTS

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 56, 4 September 1939, Page 8

POSTSCRIPTS

Chronicle and Comment

BY PERCY FLAGE

Having assured his people that he can trust them,.. Hitler proceeds to confiscate their radios! '_', - * » ~' * It's i safe wager that the Fuhrer is hoping that history does not repeat itself this time. ■ ■.•■■• # ♦ * Hi Hum: What a lot of wet weekends we've had since the 40-hour week was wished ,on us. ** . * Arabic proverb: The heart of a fool is in his mouth, and the of thewise'man is in his heart. ■i». ■■ • ♦ CONTRAST. ■Pontifex: (Fascism's strength lies itt the fact that "its politicians are allowed to talk only one sort of nonsense. Democracy's weakness lies in the fact that its politicians are allowed to talk any sort of nonsense. " v, * ♦ # VIRTUE AND SIN. . In men whom men condemn as iIL, I find so much of goodness still; In men whom men pronounce divin% I find so much of sin and blot, I do not dare to draw a line Between the two,, where God has not. —Joaquiri Miller. * *..*■# SUCCESS FORMULA. Professor Albert Einstein1 gave recently what he considered the best formula for success •in life. "If A it success in life, I should say the for* mula is A .equals X plus V 'plus Z— X being work and V being play." "And what is Z?" inquired the inter* viewer.. "That,," he answered, "is keeping your mouth shut." * * * QUAINT PLACE NAMES. The .old, romantic, once-familiar names by which fields and hollows and hills were known to dwellers in their district might soon die out were it not for the school children. The English, Place-name Society has found their help invaluable ,in compiling a survey of old place-names. Cut-Throat Dell, The Devil's Bottom, Adder Copse, none may remember, the first origin, but.no self-respect-ing schoolboy or girl would ever refer to them by any other name. In Wiltshire . alone ninety schools enthusiastically Jielped $he' survey and on sixinch' maps sent in tracings of fields or other features, giving their local names and the reasons for the nicknames if they were known. Starve-acre, Happy Valley, Stone-crop Field, Top-hat Hill, explain themselves. , . . « ■$ • * - • ' , ' MISQUOTED. : Dear Flage,—J.M.M., in his letter in Col. 8 on Wednesday evening, was scarcely entitled to condemn Collie Knox for the omission of inverted commas from his sentence "In fact, not a bus, but a" tram," for while this is perhaps plagiarism, it is. not, a , quotation. J.M.M. and Strachey between them commit the even greater offence of mutilating a clever epigram and then attributing it^to thte wrong person.. The Verse concerned appeared during the Freewill v.. Predestination battle years ago. Ronald Knox,,whose word may be accepted, denied authorship; and it was finally generally accepted to-be the work of- that most prolific of writers. Anonymous. \ "' The. correct lines are'.r^ There was a" ybung^ man jwho said "Damn! '"- ' ' ■ ' : It appears to me that I am Just a being that moves In predestinate grooves— Not a bus, not a bus, but a tram." If J.M.M. will compare his yersiow with this he will see that the word "predestinate" is the, key, without which the verse is meaningless. > G.W. * * * THE OUTLAWS. A Rudyard Kipling wrote this in I^l4. It is just as applicable today. Through learned and laborious years They set themselves to find • Fresh terfrors and undreamed-of fears To heap upon mankind. All that they drew.from Heaven abovt. Or digged from earth beneath;, \ * They laid into their treasure-trove, And arsenals of death. While, N for well-weighed advantage sake, Ruler and ruled alike Built up the faith they meant to break When the fit hour should strike. They traded with the careless earth. And good'return it gave; They_ plotted by their neighbour's hearth The means to make him slave. When all was ready to their hand They loosed their hidden sword, , And utterly laid waste a land • Their oath was pledged to guard. Coldly they went about to raise 1 To life and make more dread Abominations of old days, That men believed were dead. They paid the price to reach their goal Across a world in flame; But their own hate slew their own soul Before that victory came. * • . • INTIMATION. Palindrome. —We slipped that on« only last week. , Banana.—Kindly keep off that^line for the present. p.—\ye found nothing in that budget of yours that appealed to us. Thanks all the same. . . . Timorous Tiny.—One stanza (the se ond) — Adolf is no soldier To set out to lead his army He tries to make our blood run colder But I reckon he's barmy. To Various Inquirers.—Hope vto be able to get some of the questions off this week. C.B. —Quite up to your usual standard, but the introduction of the "Leftwing Socialist Gangster*' spoilt it for publication. Eb. ("The Reward of All Sin").—We can't see that it has any application to this country. Uncle Cecil. —It has been officially suggested that the idea be put on one side for the. time being. It will keep. Attaboy.—"Plenty of ginger," as you say, but ginger of the wrong kind, unfortunately for you. P.S. (Wanganui).—You are first in with war verses—and what a hymn of hate! Persona < Grata.—You wouldn't be with the Prime Minister if you told him that. Play the game, you }aas. Amberley.—Sorry, but due to.* Bro. Hitler's vagaries, it will not be possible for us to comply. A.B.C. (Newtown) .—Suggest that you make inquiry at the Assembly Library, where all the answers can usually be found. We haven't the time to make the investigation. J.A.E. ("My Ancestors").—You should ; see our family tree! ■ M- —Tne Anglicised pronunciation of "bon vivant" is "bawn ve-vahn" and of "aplomb," "ahplawn."