CHILDREN'S CORNER.

Evening Star, Issue 14314, 12 March 1910, Page 10

CHILDREN'S CORNER.

IN A BOOK STORE. ! Tho yonng man who said he'd never eaten any to somebody who asked him if he liked Trollope was outdone the other day in a New York book store. A girl of seventeen came in and asked the clerk for Prometheus, " by a_ man named Kelley or Sheets, or something like that." " Oh!" said the clerk, " Shelley's ' Prometheus Unbound'?" "-Yes," replied the girl, "that's it; but, if you please, I'd rather have it bound. It's so easy to* lose tho pages, you know, if it isn't."—'New York Sun.' IDENTIFYING TWINS. Tho Bovcrly twins, Fred and Frank, wero such exact counterparts of each other that none of tho neighbors could tell them apart, and oven their mother sorqetinies had her doubts. The resemblance is accentuated by the fact that they aro dressed exactly alike. "How in tho world can you yourself tell which is which, Mrs Beverly?" asked a caller one day. "To tell the truth," sho answered, " I can't always; but if T hear a noise in tho pantry, an<l call out 'Fred, is that you?' and ho says 'Yes, mamma,' I know it's Frank, and that ho's in some kind of mischief."— 'Youth's Companion.' TO "FARTHER CRISMAS." A touching letter reached Brighton (Eng.) Post Office during a record Christmas delivery. It was addressed "Farther Crismas, Post Office, Brighton." Tho letter, on a sheet of paper from an cxerciso book, was as follows : " Dear Farther Crismas, —You haven't been to see us for a very long time. Perhaps you do not know our new address. I have put it on the top of the letter. We have not had any nice things for four or five years. Little-Elsie loves a 'Teddy Bore."' There aro nine of us altogether." The address indicated one of the poorest streets of Brighton. At the bottom of the letter was a .list of tho children's names, with their ages. Among them appeared " Gordon, aged eight, that's me." Some employees at the post office visited the address given, and Elsie got her Teddy bear and Gordon and the rest.of them had their stockings filled as well. SENT BY THE PRINCESS. Of the numerous acts of kindness of the Princess <-f Wales towards the poor, the sick, and the infirm, this incident may be taken as typical : Her Royal Highness, who has for years taken a deep interest in the Princess "Mary Village Homes, Addlestone, Surrey, this Christmas sent a large j box of toys for distribution among the | children of the homes, and a special gift j for her own protegee, 'l.'ho adoption system in vogue at the homes enables ladies ' to watch the progress of a particular child, and the Princess's favorite is a bright and attractive child named Rose I Bloxam. This fortunate little girl received j a parcel on Christmas morning, addressed ! to her in the Princess's own handwriting, j from Marlborough House, a« follows: j"To Rogo Bloxam, from tho Princess of j Wales." Inside the parcel was a handsome doll, attired in Welsh national costume." SCHOOLBOY HOWLERS. Amu<ing answers wero given by some of the boys .-1 Elm House School, Surbiton, to questions set at the annual Christmas examination. To the question " Should women have I votes?" one boy replied: "No; because if I they did ihey would want to get. into Pari liament, and then they would pass a lot of } silly laws, such as that a man was not to ; emoko before his wife, or that the wives wero to have Wednesdays and Thursdays 1 off, and then the men would have to stay at homo and mind the children." A logical answer to the question "Why i does a. kettle sing?" was furnished by a ' boy, who wrote: "Because if it did not I you could not tell when the kettle was boiling." Asked to explain the initials "C.0.D.," lone bright toy wrote "Collector of debt 6 , :' j and another "Cod liver.,oil drink." Ani other enterprising youth described a sleeping partner as "A man who goes to sleep when playing bridge." ON THE RIGHT TRACK. The following is the concluding passage of a report prepared by Dr Abbott, John Maiden, LL.D., C. J. Prescott, M.A., and Dr Quaifc, who acted as a sub-committee of the British Science Guild of New South Wales:—''This Subcommittee, believing that tho tendency of Australian youth towards narrowness of the chest is a serious evil in national life, and that it is capable of being greatly relieved, if not removed, by the encouragement of open-air pastimes, by which the children will be induced to exercise spontaneously their intelligence as well as their bodily powers, desire to formulate for the use "of the Guild the following proposition: Seeing that tho chest, development (both in cubical capacity and in girth) among tho New South Wales boys and girls is much lower than it ought to be, and than rertains in other civilised communities ; and seeing that chest measurement is one of those normalities that aro a prominent factor in intellectual strength and mental calibre, it is highly desirable that there should be set apart playing fields for children in every suburb" of Sydney. These, fields should not bo less than "three acres in extent, and should bo laid down with a level sward of grass, without dees save round tho boundaries. On these fields children, free from all adult interference, should be encouraged to play all sorts of games, in which i mining is a necessary part. Around every field there should bo laid down a Tunning track, where boys might regularly train and indidge in running exercise's free from all interference. These children's parte should be established in every part of Sydney and suburbs, if possible, by the municipal authorities, and should be under municipal control. ENGLISH v. COLONIAL BOYS. Mr H. Kingston, of Eltham, England, relates an incident of a recent visit to New Zealand, apropos a controversy now proj ceeding in one of the London papers on i the respective merits and capabilities of English and colonial boys. "I was sitting," he says, "ou a bench i in that delightful tangle "of hill and glen I and natural bush that does duty for a park, I and is called, 1 think, the Botanical Oar- ■ dens, of Wellington, New Zealand, when | a boy about fourteen came running down ' the path and sat beside me. After some ■ talk of his people and his home, I said : j' Well, you ought to be very glad you have 'such a nice country as this to lire in, with I such a pleasant climate' He was in no sort of way remarkable either for height, physique, or general bearing, but ho cheerily replied: ' Yes; I suppose you don't often see boys so healthy-looking as mo in England!' If I didn't astonish him, 1 at any rate considerably enlarged his j limited knowledge of things British during the next ten minutes, while I talked of English boys in general, and even Londoners in particular. He woidd certainly not have been picked out of a bunch by anyone choosing an office, boy." JUVENILE WIT. Master (severely): " Don't you know where little boys who play truant from Sunday school "will go to?" Tommy: " Yez.zur ; down to canal zide a fishin'." Small Boy: " Did you over catch any whales?" "Sailor: "No." _ Small Boy: "Ever shipwrecked?" Sailor: "No." Small Boy : " Ever cast on a desert island?" Sailor: "No." Small Boy: "Ever caught by cannibals?" Sailor: "No." Small Boy (disgusted): " Why, yon might as well have slaved on land!" Clara, aged six, did not know the meaning of an encore, and was very much disgusted with the audience at the children's Christmas concert in which she took part. " I just know we didn't make a single mistake," she exclaimed, "yet the people in front got cross arid made such a fuss that we had to do>it all over again."