POSTSCRIPTS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 126, 30 May 1941, Page 6

POSTSCRIPTS

Chronicle and Comment

BY PERCY FLAGE

So Schmeling has taken the long count at last. # * * [g Sicily is off the toe of Italy, but y _ Mussolini will always be the heel. te * * * l*r To ensure greater economy in the !(7 use of petrol by the Home Guards two ] of their leading lights are contemplatl~ ing giving up using their lighters. * * * ;s Fun in the news: At church ser:e vices on Sunday morning; the Rev. jl Mr. Chapman chose as his subject: j. "Who Are the Sinners Among Us?" j The combined choir sang "It's Me, O ,1 Lord!" i- * * * BELLS OF ST. CLEMENTS. ■s Blair, writing apropos our recent c, note concerning the world's bells, re3, ports that the Bells of St. Clements, so sv famous in legend and nursery rhyme, it are now safely buried beyond reach of I the Nazis, not to be resurrected till the r bells of London unite in ringing Hitler , r "out to his own place." ;- * * » d , SOUL. Q "Sometimes I wonder whether I am ,_ more American at heart than Japana ese," said Matsuoka,. who was educated at an American university, "but I have found by studying my reflexes while under the influence of alcohol that I d am Japanese at heart. I can't think >f clearly in-any language but Japanese r at those times."' y,*# ■ * ' ;- SOUVENIRS. % » y A sergeant in the S.A. Mechanical Transport, "somewhere in Africa," wrote to his wife in Cape Town: "... I enclose two Italian badges, which you may like to give to the " kids. The badges are of interest because they were taken'from the, first European prisoner we captured in this 3 particular sphere of operations. ' "Don't forget that if anybody asks - you how I got them, here's the story: is "I was riding along alone on my t camel reconnoitring an • enemy position when, suddenly, three Italians r jumped out on me from a thicket. "I parked my camel, pulled out my 3 'housewife,' extracted the '■ biggest needle, fixed it to a pencil, and . charged. a " 'Come on, you sew-and-sews!' I shouted. t "I lunged to the left and I lunged to the right . .• . "And that's how I got these badges." * * * "A COUNTERBLASTE TO TOBACCO." This is, in part, what King James I thought of smokers before the days of three-for-a-penny cigars and cigarettes that sometimes have the aroma of cheap soap. Read on: "And as for the vanities committed in this filthy custom (of smoking), isit not both groat vanity and uncleans liness, that at table, a place of respect, . of cleanliness, of modesty, men should f not be ashamed to sit tossing of to- ;' bacco pipes, and puffing of the smoke 1 one to another, making the filthy t smoke and stink thereof, to inhale I athwart the dishes and infect the air, 1 when very often men that abhor it - are at their repast? Surely smoke be- - comes a kitchen far better than a t dining chamber, and yet it makes a ■■ kitchen also oftentimes in the inwards - parts of men, soiling and infecting them - with an unctuous and oily kind of soot, as hath been found in some great £ tobacco takers, that after their death 1 were opened." « * * 5 INQUIRY BUREAU. Dear Percy Flage.—l wonder if you 1 could tell me the author of, and the name of, the poem from which came I the lines which Mr. Perry quoted in w his appeal broadcast last Anzac Night. „ The first two lines are, as far as I can remember: " j What have I to give, good sailor of > the seas, » That you should give jrour life for ; me. They were exceedingly appropriate, I thought, for the appeal, and I should > like to have them for reference. I ' hope you will be able to do this for me. ■ Thank you. Yours sincerely, [ L.H. Mr. W. Perry writes: —I don't know ■ which of the two sets of verses your correspondent was referring to. I enclose both sets. The first two verses of "What Have I Given?" were written • by the French poet, Bourdillon, some years ago; the last stanza was perpetrated by me. The other verses are by the late Sir Owen Seaman, for years the editor of "Punch." What have I given, Bold sailor of the sea, In earth or heaven. That thou shouldst die for me? What can I give, O soldier leal and brave, Long as I live. To pay the life you gave? How can I know. Swift airman of the sky, The debt I owe, If thou shouldst die? You that have faith to look with fearless eye Beyond the tragedy of a world at strife; And to trust that out of night and death shall rise The dawn and the life. ! Rejoice, whatever anguish rends your heart, That God has given you for a priceless dower; To live in these great times and have your part. In Freedom's crowning hour. That you may tell your sons who see j the light. High in the heavens their heritage to take; I saw Ihe powers of darkness put to flight, I saw the morning break. # # * DEATH-DAY HALTED. On March 16, 1772, the ancient city of Macao, Nicaragua, was in utter j peril. The Managua volcano had burst I open, clouds of cinders rained on the i town, and a vast river of molten lava ! streamed down towards the city. The I priests of the monastery came forth '< bearing the silver effigy of the Virgin I and prayed that the fiery flood might Ibe turned aside. Quite suddenly it swung towards the west, and Macao was saved. Ever since the people have kept March 16 a day of thanksgiving. Malta (under pressure these days) is another place which has a similar festival —this on June 6 (let us hope the enemy raiders will be absent that day). Centuries ago, when Malta was ruled by the Knights of St. John, the Turkish prisoners plotted to destroy their masters by poisoning the water in the reservoir with corrosive sublimate. A Jew who kept a coffeehouse in the Strada Reale discovered the plot, and informed the Grand Master. Wholesale arrests were made, and , the danger averted.