POSTSCRIPTS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 33, 7 August 1943, Page 6

POSTSCRIPTS

Chronicle and Comment

BY PERCY FLAGE

Quite a few Arabs, in their robe, Still suffer much from Anglophobe. * * * ' The Germans always win by attack, 1 says the High Command. But they seem to be losing well, these days. * * * i The mighty Fuhrer, who has been ;all thumbs of late, might try putting ! them in busted dams. j * * * ' Fun in the ads.: Busy bachelor requires someone to undertake occasional mending and keep him repaired. * ■■■■: ■.■'■:* .■ : : ■* Etna is never quiescent. On December 28, 1908, there was a terrible eruption, as a result of which half of Messina's population some 7J.U00 people, died beneath the rums of their houses. FEAR. "Warning the Swiss people that neutrality was in grave danger, State Councillor Dr. Steiger said, in a speech in Zurich, that the next six months would be the most critical period which Switzerland has ever, faced A cable yesterday indicates that Germany is already beginning to threaten that noble country. ON THE HOOK. The duty officer at a coast obseryation post watched a lonely British bomber flying up and down a stretch of clear sky. . "Get into communication with that fool," he roared, "and tell him it's dangerous to fly like that." In due time the reply of the solitary airman was reported to him. It "It's all right. I'm only the bait. There are twenty Spitfires keeping above the clouds and watching." » # * LITTLE LADY. A little girl wrote a letter to God asking for £5 for her parents. The letter went to the Dead Letter Office, where a" sorter, a Mason, saw it, and took it to his lodge. As a result £3 was collected and sent to the child. Some months later she wrote a similar letter and added a postscript: "Don't send it through the Masons this time. Last time they kept back £2." •::- * « INFORMATION. Dear Percy Flage,—With regards to Column 8, could you please settle an argument. Who brought down the first Zeppelin in the last war (World War 1)? Was it Robinson or de Bathe Brandon? Kind regards, FRANK. The first man to bring down a Zeppelin was Warnford. That was in. France in the daytime. A. de B. Brandon got the first of the night raiders. It fell in the sea off the Kentish Knock. Robinson got the second, but was the first to bring one down on English soil. * * « VOLCANIC IDEA. Some "get-rich-quick" types of mind have decided that it would be great-, ly to the Allies' advantage to induce' an eruption of Mt. Etna. Why not, they insisted, drop a "block-buster" into the crater and set off the volcano's fireworks. Dr. G. F. Loughlin, chief geologist of the United States Federal Geological Survey, did not join in their enthusiasm. "There's been a good deal of loose talk on the subject," he said, He added: "The truth is that volcanic force starts some miles down in the earth, and works its way up slowly through fissures and faults." The earth forces were so enormous, he explained, that what man could bring to beau' would be wholly inconsequential. * » * KILLERS. News of Picasso, the famous artist, has come out of occupied France. One of the most famous of his canvases] was "Guernica," painted during the: Spanish Civil War to commemorate a' brutal bombing raid. The Gestapo visited his studio and started to crossexamine him about his picture of that scene of desolation. "You made it, didn't you?" shouted one of the Gestapo men in an attempt to break his nerve. "No," replied Picasso, with a significant smile. "You made it." * «- «■ MISSING TOAST. Actor Leslie Howard told an excellent story of G. Bernard Shaw—he was talking about the filming of Shaw's "Pygmalion." "Shaw only came to the studio twice, but I think it was because he wasn't well at the time," said Howard. "Once was at the Press lunch before we started to shoot the film at all. Everybody even remotely connected with it was there—exhibitors, , renters, the complete cast, the producer, Gabriel Pascal, and Shaw himself. After the lunch the exhibitors toasted renters, the renters toasted the exhibitors, the cast toasted the producer, the producer toasted the cast, Finally, after all the toasts had been given and drunk, Shaw stbod up. 'I rise, ladies and gentlemen,1 he said, 'to correct an omission. I give you the toast of Mr. George Bernard Shaw. 1 Then he at once sat down." *■■ # « INTIMATION. "Tellus": It was Emil Ludwig, German biographer, who predicted that Hitler will "be done away with very soon." "Tomorrow" (Napier): George Forbes was in the- House- of Representatives for 35 years. H.T.: Your limerick is not quite in rhyme. Anonymous: Sorry we have not tima to figure out your unusual question. "Just Sixteen" ("Pride o' London"): For one so young you do well, but the verse is below our mark. E.J.F.: Considering your lively lines. Jack Doe: You show bright idea 3 concerning politics in the House, but some are rather over the edge. ■ "Ombre": We are unable to discover what you are driving at. M.Y.G.: Will find room for challenge one of these days. "Past and Future" (Foxton): Thanks for your small volume. Where aid you find it? « # * TREES AT EVENING. Your tall tops thieve the evening sky And raise the barricade you build As high as if your arms had willed To reach to heaven and rub the sly. Sweet evening star that trembles there — A jewel in the night's young hair. You raise your counterpane of leaves With upcast arms against the sun Till leaves to ebony have run; Just where the careless sunset cleavel You dabble with your finger tips And drink the scarlet through your lips. You are so lovely—yet so kind, , , So kind, the birds have made their . nests i Against the warm green of your j breasts. . . Is this your grace that fills my niina And stirs my lips to shape and piw Better for having come your way. ; FRANCIS HOWARD HARRIS- j * * . ■■ ■ * INTERNATIONAL WEDDINGS. Every day, in all parts of Britain. girls are marrying the sons of France, Belgium. Holland, Norway, Czechoslovakia, and Poland. (Even as Ne* j Zealand lasses are marrying Amen* j cans.) Nearly two thousand Pole* | have found wives since they reaches $ Britain. The Norwegians have alrew § found many a bride north of tn® | border. "The Scots and ourselves have , so much in common," was the rea- Ji son given by one fair-haired young Viking. Frenchmen have always bee« | famous for their fascination—and "*• | de Gaullists carry on the tradition, J? § the case of the Czechs, the format *jj ties are particularly strict. Tn™ | Government insists on the products g of the couple's birth certificates, an* | in addition, both must supply cerw p ficates to show they are in good heal* | Already nearly three hundred yow-i | Czechs have been married to Bnt? a | girls. The girls of Wales and the M* i lands are. the ones the Dutch a*11" Eg jseein. to fall for most, |

FRANK.