POSTSCRIPTS

Evening Post, Volume CXXIX, Issue 137, 11 June 1940, Page 6

POSTSCRIPTS

Chronicle and Comment

BY PERCY FLAGE

New version: When in Rome, do as the Romans don't. * » *' Norway's surrender' was a nice ges-. ture. Britain can at last get on with her own business. *•■ # ♦ Have . only now discovered, writes Miranda, that a scandal is something that has to be bad to be good. / Old Bill: William the Conquerer couldn't write, and thus he is gratefully remembered as one of the few" generals who didn't publish his war memoirs. * * * "WHEN ONE SUPS WITH THE DEVIL." Benito, you will learn when toolata That Adolf has sold you a pup, And to use "a long spoon" with your plate . When you sit with the Devil to sup, At your feast of greed, envy, and hate, You'll find only dregs in your cup. M. SIRRON. * « • ANGRY FORTIES? By what name will the 1940's go down in history? Will they be known, as the "Fighting Forties" or the "AngryForties"? The 1840's which witnessed revolutionary upheavals in Europe and Chartist and Corn Law troubles in England are known to us as the "Hungry Forties." . The 1640's saw the beginning of the English Civil War, the execution of the king, and the birth of the first English republic under Cromwell. * -■»■■■ # ■ MUST NOT BE KNOWN. One of the latest stories out of Ge*» many concerns a fellow who got into a political argument while trying to drown his sorrows, and' was rash enough, to call the ineffable Goebbels a mean-minded, yellow-livered pigdog. He was arrested and charged with three offencesBeing drunk and disorderly; Using insulting language about ft person in authority; and Revealing an official State secret. * # * • SCHAEF'S SENSATION. Tell M: The passing of A. W. Schaef in Wellington calls up memories of a stunt photographer who specialised in keeping on the trail of Premier Seddon, who was always News. A.W.S. was as energetic and enterprising with his camera as that other mighty atom, the one and only Tomlinson. The report of the passing of A.W.S. associated D. P. Fisher with him in his aviation experiments. D.P., like his famous brother, George Fisher (ex-M.H.R. and Cabinet Minister and ex-Mayor of Wellington), was a compositor by trade, secretary of the Wellington Typo. Society, and prominent in] the city's Trades and Labour Council 40-50 years ago. He was one of the small and ardent group of unionists who framed and lobbyed the first Factory Act through the Lower House. PAPER "BULLETS." Those leaflets showered from the skies in the early days of the present conflict.did not give, the, Nazi leaders a" headache. It was ineffective propaganda, largely because it came too soon. In the World War leaflets dropped on the enemy trenches in 1918 by means of ,paper balloons soon resulted in a big increase of prisoners (the German armies were then beginning to fade). Many of the, leaflets distributed at that time were in the form of menus; they showed a typical meal served by She Allies to prisoners of war. Nearly every captured -German had one in his possession, although he would have been severely punished had his officers found it on him, and he lost no time in asking for the beef, white bread, beans, and butter that had been promised him. These luxuries—in German eyeswere promptly doled out. Other leaflets were circulated in Germany's naval bases. They gave the names of U-boa^s sunk by the British Fleet, and lists of the officers and mln on board: details rigorously suppressed by the German authorities because they had the effect of weakening morale. * ♦ ■-.»■' TO JEANNE D'ARC. Jeanne D'Arc, France has remembered thee— She asks thy aid; her liberty Again is ..menaced; tyranny Has rent her peaceful landscapes; sht Invokes thee, Maid of Domremy! To Notre Dame they came and prayed. And homage to thy greatness paid And begged of thee, O Wondrous Maid, Thy help; Oh! bless each shining blade That was in supplication laid! The greatest of the great were there— A sight •unique—they knelt in prayer, The Warriors of France; Oh! share With them this red campaign, and tear The world" from out this .godless snare. RIORDAN HASTINGS. The author adds: The French generals really did go to Notre Dame recently to invoke the aid of Jeanne D'Arc. Marshal Foch, of the French Allied armies in the World War, repaired, (it is said) the altar in times of stress, and there prayed. A genius in military tactics, he believed in swift, quickwithdrawing flanking attacks on th« enemy, but always found time to disappear from headquarters and commune with God. * * #■'■•■■■ THE IRREPRESSIBLES. Dear Flage,—Happily there is one section of our community immune from the depression apt to manifest itself upon the receipt of grave "war news" —the irrepressibles ranging from five years old to ? Seven of these recently attended a Saturday afternoon matinee at the pictures. Seven dwarfs! Two in short dresses; five in knickerbockers. Were they light-hearted? Being "early birds," and untrammeled with adult control, they stormed a section of the front row seats next to the orchestra pit in proper All Black "forward" style. Then a gay, lighthearted mix-up occurred until almost curtain-time. Number three seat, left from the centre aisle, was the coveted one for all seven. Who was to be king, or queen, of this castle? The battle raged. Each occupant in turn, whether king, or queen, was promptly yanked out. One mite in knickerbockers was held, head down over the rail of the orchestra pit. Even this treatment failed to achieve surrender of a prior claim. Youthful laughter rang out. A lady attendant came their way. All were as still as night She passed on. Number three seat was instantly violently vacated again. Then the title "The, Adventures of Donald Duck" was flashed on the screen. A united peal of anticipatory laughter greeted this announcement. Of what importance was number three seal now? The show was on! Quiet reigned, [except for joyous laughter. Is ther* a finer tonic for the heart? or a mor* beneficent antidote for "down-in-tht-dumps"? GJ.