CASUAL COMMENTS

Evening Star, Issue 20196, 8 June 1929, Page 2

CASUAL COMMENTS

ROLLS AND ROLLERS [By LfO Fakklng.] Boil on, thou ball, roll on! Through realms of space, 801 l on! What though I’m in a sorry case? What- though I cannot meet my bills? What though I suffer toothache’s ills? What though I swallow countless pills ? Never you mind, 801 l on! 801 l on, thou ball, rollon! Through seas of inky air 801 l on! Its true I’ve got no shirts to wear; It’s true my butcher’s bill is due; It’s true my prospects all look blue— But don’t let' that unsettle >ou! Never you mind! 801 l on! [lt rolls - on.] —W. S. Gilbert’s address ‘To the Terrestrial Globe.’

Some years ago, before science pretended to be more than science, I saw the webbed foot of a living frog under a big microscope. The movements or the globules of blood made a wonderful spectacle which flashes up as I write—rapid rolls of - round bright jewels—and it makes mo think ot myself as a parcel of rolls. "What a whining business the body carries on; Within each rolling corpuscle ot bipod there is a rolling swirl of countless atoms, and within each atom myriads of ions (so science says) roll at terrific speeds. *•* - • It is better to ponder on other rolls, such as the sausage roll and the roll of bank notes. Many rolls come and go, but the sausage roll holds its own. Jt has changed its shape since mv boyhood, but its character is much the same. fn a world; ever rolling from one thing to another, it is comforting *to have at least one fixture such as the faithful sausage roll.

What is the most exciting roll in the world? To many an elderly, rotund suburban gGntlernaUj llio most thiili in jt roil is given by Ibe biased ball on a smooth sward. To a "ambler, the roll of a loulette ball surpasses all other interests, others ‘ have their best zest in the rolling, of billiard balls, borne rejoice exceedingly (or curse) at the rolling of a golf ball on the putting green. The rolling of motor wheels seems to please plenty of folk.

In a book about the South Sea Islands 1 saw a brief comment on several members of a. native sect knomi as “ Holy Hollers,” but the writer did not state how or why they rolled. I like to think of these enthusiasts rolling in sheer joy of living, as city horses do when turned into a held lor a week-end spell. But perhaps they roll in horror at the world’s wickedness, as less, demonstrative icformeis roll’their eyes at the faults or sins of the average citizen. 1 wondered, too. whether the Holy. Rollers had set a place for their rolling, or whether they would roll anywhere whenever the spirit moved them, except when they were too close to motor cars or policemen.

* * * » In a previous article I mentioned that the modem race meeting lacked the excitement of other days, _when al sorts of side-showmen, three-card tricksters, doodluni-buckers, cocoanut shvsters, and others livened the grounds. My main interest was hi the jovial person who sat on a box and invited the. public to “roll, bowl, or pitch” big wooden balls at pins. Many folk must have grieved when that rolling was banned, so that the roll of the totalisator could be increased. * * * * Now and then one may still hear that old proverb “A rolling stone gathers no moss a copy-book line which never charmed me. It may be nice to be mossy, but who envies the mossy man? I am writing this column comfortably in New Zealand because a few rolling stones of humanity bowled themselves this way long ago. Most of the history worth reading has been made by rolling stones.

Not long ago I was wondering whether the rolling of hoops or marbles amused young folk anywhere, and found that the hoop interest was not wholly dead. When I was near the

ridge of a hilly path an old motor tyre bounced into my bosom, to the. il'l-disguiscd joy of the small boy who owned the toy. • * ♦ When a boy is, on the roll of a school ho yearns to be on the pay-roll of an office or cake shop, but when ho has been a few years on a pay-roll he would like to put the clock back to the school roll.

Long ago men fought and died for the right to he on an electoral roll, and to-day some of their descendants might like to fight against the present compulsory enrolment.

It is hard to imagine a better 'subject for a flight of fancy than the big rolls of paper in the store of a newspaper office. There they arc, waiting for their turn .to go on the roaring machines and take the impress of the world’s gladness, sadness, and madness from the rapidly rolling cylinders.

.Of'course, when I was a small hoy I had the usual eagerness to be the driver of a locomotive some day—the magician in charge of those fleet rolling wheels- —but now I rather envy the driver of the heavy steam roller. He is the one man motorists must respect—and he knows it. T. have often enjoved the expression of power and happiness in the face of the steamroller man when his vehicle is holding up the motor traffic.

Many a politician would dearly like to he a steam-roller in the political field, with force and weight enough to flatten out all obstacles and oppositions, hut in white countries to-day there is only one political steam roller, and that is Mussolini. He has one attitude, one argument, for persons who stand in his way. He turns on the steam and roils over them if they have not been quick enough to fly for their lives. * * * * Plenty of the world’s politicians are more like the roller bird than the steam roller. The feathered roller is described as “a shy, noisy, restless bird.” The “shy” may not apply to the political bird, except when it comes to the fulfilment of awkward promises.

A few years ago men ordered one another frequently to “take a roll.” A person mho disliked the opinions or advice of friends or enemies invited them to “take a roll.” This mas really good advice, for me all need to roll half a league or more onward. “Roll, brothers, roll, for time flics fast” is a sensible exhortation to mankind in general. When you feel you are sticking in a rut of stodge, roll out and roll on, and keep rolling. Everything comes to him mho rolls in the right direction.

Rolling towards the foot of the column, I find that I have forgotten to mention ocean rollers and roller’ skates. A fern months ago_ I happened to be in Tirnaru one evening. Above the murmur of the sea and the hoots and toots of motors my ear picked up a merry rumbling, which hired me to a hall where lads and lassies mere skating, as I had done in the dim long ago. I mas just about to order a pair of rollers for old time’s sake, when a portly gentleman, trying to do a figure of eight, lifted his feet upward, landed on the curve of his vest, bounced and did several rolls on the floor. So I decided that the days of roller-skating mere over for me.