POSTSCRIPTS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIV, Issue 144, 15 December 1942, Page 4

POSTSCRIPTS

Chronicle and Comment

S¥ PERCY FLAGE

General Wavell: "Both Japan^ fleet. and her air force are^ beginning to melt. Her dreams of prospajy^at the expense of the rest of Asia are vanishing." ■'. Did you know- of .the ■.owner ctf'a large new carrot patch who received a fat priC9.fo^-fti«;v*aetab^.Jrom^o-and-So, who immediately ploughed. them in again? ■ * . * ' .' *-• "Trial," according to the. Oxford Dictionary, is "a thing"that^triee ones endurance or patience or faitfc. • •.• The E.P.S. must have remembered the definition in the weekend. »*•.#••"■*•■ , FIREWATCH. We\ really are'annoyed to know Fire* watching is suspended— Our E.P.S. enjoyed it so And WILLINGLY attended. Now members, unemployed, bestow Their censure, mud* tended! e „^ This ruling has destroyed the ''SHOW* And eveningsare devoid .of dough Since Poker Watch is ended! 4 H. GALLAGHERIsland Bay. \ ■'••'■ * * * SOCK TESTER. "■' * .Ever heard of it? A Mfnd^of ours knows about it. It is called "Tommy, the sock tester—a machine, invented by a British Army clothing inspector; it ''marches'* 60 miles a day m Army socks. "Tommy" .is in the R-A.O.C. depot from which all clothing worn by British soldiers is issued. He has two mechanical feet, and reproduces the perspiration and strain to which a soldier's socks will be subjected m a long . trek. " ' * * * SHIPS OF FRANCE, Not in the storm of battle Fierce striking—blow for blow, . But in the calm-of your own fair harbour • __■ . Must they fall to a ruthless foe. How bitter the deed that saved them, How bravely that deed was done. Ah! we honour all France for ■* ~ anguish .. .:.,-" !M-M7«»->«lfVgg£gfc. - Wanganui. * #."■♦-..■- ---WINSTANLEY, "A Link in the Percy Mage Cham": A friend, Mr. T, Hoare, has offered w lend you, for a fortnight, hw copy ©f the poem "Winstanley." It will be left at this office. ,_-■_.■_» Will the Postscnpter who telephoned from 49-.800 a fortnight ago ring again, now that the position of the poem J» clearing. . W.A.T. tells us that "Winstanley" is a beautiful ballad of 288 lines (the poet is Jean Ingelow). It" relates to the building of the first lighthouse on Eddystdne Rock, near Plymouth, England. Numerous vessels having been lost there, Winstanley. determined to place a light upon the Rock, and m the face of most appalling difficulties he finally succeeded after about thre* years of most discouraging werk (1696-1700). This first lighthouse stood, till 1703, when a great storm in November "of that year swept it away,.and Winstanley, perished in It- ?* was replaced by another by Smeatpn (1757. 59), which, in turn, had to foe replaced by another by Sir James pouglasM (1879-82). It is a great epiq in British seafaring and lighthouse history.