BIG BROTHER BILL AND THE BAIRNS

Evening Star, Issue 19758, 7 January 1928, Page 17

BIG BROTHER BILL AND THE BAIRNS

A WEEKLY TALK Hello, everybody. Last week’s crpss-word puzzle seems to have successfully puzzled everybody —almost. Cheer up, all the family, I’ll try not to make them so hard in future. L. Jones, 90a Highgate, Roslyn, was successful. Hearty congratulations. May you win many nlore prizes during the new year. I am flot printing the full list of correct words, because they will take so much valuable space, but I shall be delighted to send them to any who write for them. Now, what about the holidays? Some of the family are by the sea, and some in the country. By the letters received they must bo having a perfectly stunning time._ Listen to this as a menu for Christmas dinner:— “Turkey, goose, lamb, ham, new potac toes, and green peas. Christmas pudding, fruit salad, jelly, and fruit.” And the young scamp who sent me that list says he went right' through the menu. I wonder whether he was sorry afterward. Another member of the family is camping on the coast. He has a pony to ride, a boat to row, plenty of fishing, and goes shooting rabbits in his spare time. And another member of the family is in an orchard in Central Otago. One wonders how much of the orchard is in the member of the family. What a wonderful country New Zealand is for lucky children. I hope you all have the happiest and most exciting holidays, and I most sincerely hope they will bo free from accidents.

I am going to offer a special holiday prize. Write me an essay not longer than will fill two pages of a writing pad. The subject is ‘How I Spent My Holiday.’ Yon don’t need to write the essay until the end of January, which will give you plenty of time. Post it to me so that I shall receive it on February 1; not later, or it will not be considered. The prize will be 2s 6d.

Y'ours affectionately always, BIG BROTHER BILL. LITTLE JOHN BOTTLEJOHN Little John Bottlejohn lived on a hill, : And a blithe little man was he; And he won the heart of a little mermaid Who lived in the deep blue sea. And every evening she used to sit And sing on a rock by the sea: “ 0 little John Bottlejohn, pretty John Bottlejohn, Won’t you come out with me?” Little John Bottlejohn heal’d her call, And ho opened his little door, And he hopped and he skipped, and he skipped and he hopped, Until he came down to the shore. And there on a rock sat the little mermaid, And still she was singing so free: “0 little John Bottlejohn, pretty John Bottlejohn, "Won’t you come out with me?” Little John Bottlejohn made a bow, And the mermaid made one, too, And she said: “I never saw anything half So perfectly sweet as you. In my father’s caves ’neath the ocean waves, How happy wo both shall be. 0 little John Bottlejohn, pretty John Bottlejohn, Won’t you come down with me?”

Little John Bottlejohn said: “ Oh, yes, I’ll willingly come with you, And I never will quail at tho sight of your tail, And, perhaps I shall grow one, too.” So hand in hand they 16ft the strand And plunged in tho foaming main, And little John Bottlejohn, pretty John Bottlejohn, Never was seen'again.

WORDS THAT TELL STORIES Everybody knows what troublesome things words are when they simply will not be spelled right at school. They can be just as stupid as sums; and goodness knows they are stupid things. But do you know that in almost every word you use there is a little story cunningly tucked away ? A little story that explains who was the father and mother of the word, and where it was born. Some of these stories are most interesting. Take the word “bunkum.” We use it when anyone tolls a yarn that isn’t true, or makes a silly excuse. This word comes from tho name of an American town, Buncombe, in North Carolina. And it came into use because the member for Buncombe in the House of Representatives insisted on making a speech just when everybody was busy about something else. It was a silly speech, anyway; but ho said that he must make some sort of speech “for Buncombe,” so that tho people there would understand ho was doing something with his mouth. And anybody who makes a silly speech since There is another word beginning —talks “bunkum.”

with the letter B that is used when a number of children all talk together. Either teacher, or somebody else, calls the noise “a perfect bedlam.” Well, the word “bed]am” comes from, or all places, the little town of Bethlehem, in Palestine. In the Middle Ages there was a hospital in London kept by monks of the Order of St. Mary of Bethlehem. In time this hospital came to be known as “Bedlam Hospital,” and after a while was the place where mad people were taken to live. And from that came the word which is used very often when children get together. Sometimes we get out of bed on the wrong side, and mother says we are “ bad tempered.” Which is a very curious word to use, because it is steel that has “ temper,” not boys and girls. Hero is the story that explains: In the Middle Ages wise men believed that everybody contained four liquids, just as though we are all bottles. These four liquids were blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile. And we are “ good tempered ” when these four liquids are mixed in nice and proper proportions. Without knowing we are thinking of this old-fashioned notion when wo ask people to “ keep their temper,” Which isn’t bad advice, even though the story behind may sound, a little silly in these modern days. For our last word we _ will look at one that will be familiar in these holidav times. The word “sandwich.”

’ Did you know that behind this word is a story of a nobleman, the fourth Earl of (Sandwich, who lived in the eighteenth century? He was so fond of playing cards that he couldn’t leave the table for a meal; and so he invented the delicious thing that has ever since been called by his name. For which invention we are very thankful on picnic days.