POSTSCRIPTS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 47, 24 February 1945, Page 6

POSTSCRIPTS

Chronicle and Comment

BY PERCY FLAGE

The Boss prays: Leave and let live.

A gentleman is a man who never uses the word.—Justice Avory. » *' ♦■"..'• In England everything keeps to the left, except the Labour Party.—Belgian aphorism. * i .*'.'-' •■- A Tommy was reading the newspaper headlines to Mother members of his platoon. "Dortmund-Ems Canal Dried Up," he announced. "So they're dehydrating canals now," commented one of the listeners. * » * Here's another "direction" story of the journalist who told the National Service officer (England) that he was a "write-up" man. So the Ministry of Labour sent him to work as a .steeplejack. ; HOT NEWS. The boys were advancing in Burma and the heat was terrific. Tommy wrote home to his mum and said in his/ letter: "The heat is sizzling, Mum; it's 108 in the shade." Some months later he. got a letter back from his Mum, who wrote: "Very worried about you, son. For goodness sake keep out of the shade." . ■* ■■ ■* *■■'. SHUSH! , A policeman whose record showed that he had. made nearly every arrest without noise or rumpus was asked how he did it. The policeman chuckled. "I often use the same scheme I do with my wife;" he said. "Sometimes she gets mad and talks loud. It's no use to try to drown her out by talking still louder. I hit on a way to make her pipe down. Instead of shouting back at her I whisper. Using the same idea, I whisper to a noisy drunk. He doesn't know what's up, but he soon begins to whisper to me. It never fails." * '.'»..'• INFORMATION. Why do we call melancholy "tht blues"? asks "Just Like That." It comes from the trade of the dyers. Long ago it was noticed to observers in connection with this trade that men who worked with scarlet dyes were apt to be hot-tempered and violent; that, I suppose, is why we "see red." Those who worked with indigo dyes were low-spirited and subfect to fits of melancholy—so says Hence the blues. * *• * AS SLAVES. Swedish seamen returning from" Hamburg arid Bremen report that Russian prisoners of war are treated worse than animals. . They are so hungry that they look for food in refuse bins. They are extremely emaciated and many commit -suicide. The majority are dressed in rags, without shoes. A large proportion of the Russians can hardly be considered prisoners of war, as most of them are far too young or too old for military service. They are civilians, captured by the Nazis, and taken to Germany as slaves. * * * GROVE IN .WINTER. The birch-grove wanders thro' th« wood With leaves like-drops of wine, Gold on the dark Of moon-traced bark — . A silver-point design. Willows drawn down in deep repose A curtain's green recess That breathes . . .and falls In limpid walls Of loaded leafiness? To mountains steeped in vinous bloom Rise spiral silhouettes In quivering sheaves Of poplar leaves, Like twinkling castanets. Pine branches fling their windowi wide,, ' .- -v Then latch with stippled sticks. Against the breeze The young fir trees Lift elfin candlesticks. The flawless emerald of spring Not given to be lost Is glimpsed and filled With light distilled ' A lovely lingering ghost. ; For beauty here is 'stfainge and deep To contemplate for long. Hidden, remote, The tui's note Enshrines it in a song. ELSA-MARY BOSWORTH Auckland. * # * AMERICAN BELIEF. We hold these truths to be selfevident: — That all men are created equal; That they are endowed by their Creator with inherent and inalienable rights. That among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; That to secure these rights, govern- , ments are instituted among men, de- : riving their just powers from the con- ■ sent of the governed; ; That whenever any form of govern- ■ ment becomes destructive of these ends • it is the right of the people to alter • or to abolish it, and to Institute new i government, laying its foundation on • such principles, and organising its • powers in such form, as to them shall ■ seem most likely to effect their safety ■ and happiness. —From the American Declaration of Independence.