BIG BROTHER BILL and the BAIRNS

Evening Star, Issue 22382, 4 July 1936, Page 8

BIG BROTHER BILL and the BAIRNS

NOT FDR OURSELVES ALONE

Competition winners will bo announced in next week’s columns.

A CORNER FOR BIRD LOVERS The Club Badge.—Applications still come for the Bird Club badge. One shilling and a stamped addressed envelope to Big Brother Bill will bring you both a badge and bird book. But you must sign the pledge and enclose it in the letter. Here is the pledge. _ “ I promise to care for wild birds, especially New Zealand native birds, to feed them in winter and to protect them at' all times. I promise also to protect our native trees and bush, and at no time to assist in their damage and destruction, since they are the natural home of our native birds. Name Full Postal Address I THE POSTIE’B BAG 78 Stafford street, Dunedin, C.2. Dear Big Brother Bill,—l hope you are quite well, because the mumps and whooping cough are going about. I have no pets, but we once had a pet rabbit, whose name was Snowy because he was white. He ate carrots from hands, and we brushed his hair once a week. One day mother went out on to the lawn to find Snowy surrounded by five cats, which ran away at the sight of mother. Snowy was very fond of burrowing, ,and one day when we went to feed him he .was missing. We rushed to mother with the news. When we reached the back door a little boy was staffing there with Snowy in his arms. He. told us that his rabbit was lost, and he had found Snowy in the street. He then asked the neighbours whose it was, and they said it was ours, so he brought it in. That'was enough for Snowy. He never burrowed again. I am entering for this week’s competition for under tens. —Yours truly, Ilona Rawnsley. [I thank you for your letter, Rona Rawnsley. Your name is in the honuor square as a reward for your interesting letter.' Snowy was an' adventurous sort of rabbit, and it is a good thing that he was cured of wandering. Did you ever read) the story of Raggy-Lug the rabbit? It is the sort of story that teaches the danger of rabbits wandering at their own sweet will. Brother Bill hopes that Snowy will not forget his lesson. Write again soon.]

Ravensbourne. Dear Brother Bill,—l would like to join your Bird Lovers’ Club, and I am sending you 12 stamps for a badge. My grandpa has a big bush, and the sparrows fly up from it to feed out of my box. I am in Standard I. at school. — With love from Robert Thomson. [Thank you for your letter, Robert Thomson. You will have received your badge by this time, and Brother Bill would be glad to know that it has arrived safely. He hopes that you will have a happy timo feeding the birds this winter. Write again soon and say how you get along. Your name is in the honour square for neat writing.] 49 Kaikorai Valley road. Dunedin, N.W.2. Dear Big Brother Bill,—l am entering for this week’s competition, and I hope to be successful, as I have not entered before. I look forward to your page every Saturday night. I am in Standard 111. at Kaikorai School. We have just finished our examinations for the term. I have a sister, Betty, and a brother, George. Betty was six on March 11, and George will be five on July 10. He is looking forward to going to school. I will be 10 on August 26.—1 .remain, yours sincerely; Peggy Booth. [Thank you for your letter, Peggy Booth. Brother Bill is glad to know about the sisters and brother. They should have their birthdays called over the radio. Lots of bairns have that done these clays, and it makes the birthday much more exciting. Brother Bill is glad to know that you enjoy the columns. You must write a longer letter next time. Write again soon.] 11 Prestwick street, Maori Hill, Dunedin, N.W.I. June 7, 1936. Dear Brother Bill, —I would like to become a member of the Bird Club. Although we have no trees high enough just yet—we have just built on an empty section—l think I could rig up a feeding place for the birds on a scrub fence, which is about 15ft high. As there is a cat next door, I shall have to make it “ catproof.” I have plenty of wheat, pollard, and bran, as we have half a dozen hens. We went to Palmerston Tor the- last week of the holidays, and visited the MacKonzie Cairn at the top of Mount Puketapu, which is about 1.030 ft high. My auntie is staying with ns just now. I am a Coco Cub and I go to Maori Hill School, where I am in Form lI.—I remain your loving bairn, Peter Secular. P.S.—I am enclosing Is. [Thank you for your letter. Peter Sconlar. You will have received your Bird Club Badge by this time. Did you like it? Brother Bill wonders whether you have received the bird books as well. You could pui, up an ;

imitation tree, by using the big branch of a tree fixed firmly in the ground. Tattle tubes made of glass filled with honey, and red decoys made of rubber cut in the shape of flowers, would bring the native birds about your place. It is a good idea to make the tree “ catproof ” by letting the first branch lie high above- the ground. Write again soon.] 327 Highgate, Dunedin, N.W.I. Dear Brother Bill, —This is the first time I have written to you. I am seven years old and I am in P. 4 at Maori Hill School. We have two cats called Heeney and Tunney. I would like to join your happy family and the Bird Lovers’ Club. This is all just now. With love .to yourself, I am Joyce Henderson. [Thank you for your letter, Joyce Henderson. Brother Bill is glad to welcome you to the family and to the Bird Club. You may have a badge by signing the bird lover’s pledge which appears in these columns, and then sending it with a shilling, and stamped addressed envelope to Big Brother Bill. The badge and bird book will then be sent to you. Write again soon.] 12 Maori road, Dunedin, C.2. June 4, 1936. Df r Big Brother Bill, —We are filling our honey pots regularly now, and have been for some weeks past. Just after Easter, when the storm came, we had two tuis, but we have not had the mother again. Still, we often saw the father, which is a very good whistler. Quite often bellbirds come as well as some fantails. The fantails are coloured. May I please have a badge and a book? lam sending in the pledge.—l remain, yours sincerely, —Gwenda Cowie. [Thank you for your letter, Gwenda Cowie. Your badge and book will have reached you by this time. Brother Bill hopes that you will like them both. There will be some other books coming to you as well; perhaps you have already them. Write again soon.]

THE COMPETITIONS The under-tens have to find answers all of which arc things contained in the body; the over-tens have to find answers all of which are words used in the game of tennis. Send your answers to Big Brother Bill, c/o ‘ Evening Star' Newspaper, Stuart street, Dunedin. FOUND IN YOUR BODY. (Under ten years: prize one shilling.). The answers to all these questions will he found in your body. (1) A timid animal? Hair (hare). (2) A thing necessary to a carpenter ? (3) A sort of box? (4) Always marked on a rule? (5) A measure of corn? (0) Part of a hill? (7) Impudence? (8) A part of a tree? (9) What is necessary to travel? (10) A certain kind of flower? "(11) What dogs get? (12) Eve’s first dress? (13) An animal with four legs? (14) A fish? (15) A kind of chair? (16) The name of a tree? (17) Good for soup? (18) A shell fish? (19) A dainty clish P (20) What a woman is made of?

TENNIS WEDDING. (Over ten years: prize one shilling and sixpence.) The answers to all these questions will be found in the game of tennis. (1) A necessity for the wedding. Love. (2) What did the minister give the bride? (3) What did the mother-in-law find ? (4) What did the spiteful friends say the bride had laid for the groom? (5) What did the guests make? (6) What was the best way to go? (7) How were the horses harnessed? (8) How many presents were there? (9) What was 'one of the courses at the breakfast? (10) What must a fainting bride do? (11) What did the groom do to get the bride? (12) What was the state of the bride’s aunt? (13) How many teeth did the groom have ? (14) What did the married sister’s baby do? (15) What did they do after the honeymoon ?

THE CONJUROR’S ART BEHIND THE SCENES How often wo have been gaping spectators while a conjuror was performing his many tricks. Let us peep behind the scenes and find out some of the magician’s secrets. THE DIVIDED LADY. One of the favourite turns of the illusionist develops in the following manner, as you may know. The audience is shown a longish packingcase lying on a table. A young woman then lies down in the box with her head, hands, and feet protruding through holes at either end of the box. After the box has been covered with a lid, oh horrors, the magician calmly proceeds to saw the box through the

middle with an outsize' saw. The two halves are drawn apart, hut to spare the audience the grisly sight of a sundered body the illusionist slips a wootjen cover in front of each opening in the box. The audience is then invited to ascertain by personal inspection that the head and limbs sticking out of the two sections of the box are alive. A few moments later the illusionist pushes the boxes together again, murmurs some mysterious words, opens the box—and out jumps the apparently mutilated lady perfectly alive and well. How is it done? Look at the illustration above. The diagram explains the whole trick. No. 1 is a section of the box and the “ solid”, table, which proves to have a double top in which m woman is concealed. _ At one end of the box the construction of the bottom permits the lady in the table-top to get into the box if the other person doubles herself up in the manner shown in 11. This changing of positions is effected while the table is wheeled round the stage to convince the audience that the box is not open behind. When the lady is to be “put together again,” one of the girls again disappears into the hollow table-top while the reassembled box is wheeled round once more. The other assistant can then lie down and again put her legs through the holes, and now the wizard can open the box and show his audience that the lady has not suffered at all from the “ dangerous ” experiment. “THE FLOATING LADY.” One of the magician’s assistants lies down on a table, a big sheet is spread over her, and the conjuror then utters some queer incantations, waving his wand meanwhile. To' the amazement of the audience the sheet-enwrapped figure rises from the table, which is then removed. The figure is seen to rise higher and higher, _ while the illusionist shows that it is not suspended by wires, or the like', by passing a big hoop to and fro around it, Suddenly taking hold of a corner of the sheet, he jerks it off; the lady has disappeared into thin air. As a matter of fact the trick is perfectly simple. You can understand

that it is not the lady wo see floating in the air; that would conflict with all the physical laws! Oh, no, the lady quietly disappears in the hollow tabletop on being covered by the sheet, which retains its shape by means of a wire frame (see illustration). This method, of suspension permits of the hoop being passed to and fro, while a dark background is always used for this trick to render the wire arrangement invishible. THE TRUNK MYSTERY. Most illusionists have this trick on their repertoire. A big trunk is shown from all sides, whereupon it is opened and seen to bo empty. The lid is then closed with much ostentation,’ but on being reopened the trunk proves to be occupied by a woman! The trunk is then closed once more and immediately reopened, but the woman has vanished. The drawing will solve the mystery.

assistant is inside the trunk when it is brought on to the stage, but wh.u the lid is to be opened she turns the anglepiece on which she is lying. In this manner she will be lying on a kind of shelf behind the trunk, where she is concealed both by the trunk and by the open lid. When she is to be charmed back to the trunk the lid is closed, and she turns her “ shelf ” so as to be in the trunk again. If it is desirable to let her vanish completely at last, ; the illusionist sees that the trunk is placed for a second with its back against the back-curtain. It is then an easy matter for the girl to turn down her shelf and crawl through an opening in the curtain, closing the flap in the trunk after her. That is all there is to it. THE INVISIBLE MAN. This illusion which appears so baffling to most people, is worked according to the diagram. The person, to be made to vanish gradually, is fastened to a chair brilliantly illuminated by a powerful lamp. He is provided with a pair of dark goggles “in order to protect his eyes against the strong ultra-violet rays ” as the illusionist says. As a matter of fact, he would see through the secret at once during his “ disappearance ” if he had no goggles on, and he is jreally tied to the chair to help him resist the temptation to remove the goggles. •, If you examine the illustration more

closely you will notice a compartment with a screened lamp illuminating • a chair in a horizontal position. This may appear very strange at first, but

perhaps a light will dawn upon you when you hoar that this chair has been accurately placed so as to be reflected in an upright position in a large pane of plate-glass placed obliquely in front of the person attached to his chair. Here is the explanation. On being placed on the chair the person is illuminated by the upper lamp and the ..over one is out. He is thus seen through the large, pane of glass, which is quite invisible to the audience owing to its oblique position. In “ vanishing ” the person the light from the upper lamp is dimmed little hv little while t'-e lower one “h- .mating the empty chair is turned on just

as gradually. Considering that th* vacant chair has been placed so - hs to be reflected on the pane of glass exactly where the person is seen, it does noli require unusual cleverness to understand that a reflected image of tha empty chair will finally be clearly seen, on the pane of glass, whereas tha person tied to his chair has vanished because he is sitting in an absolutely dark compartment. Only when tha lower lamp' is turned out and the upper one turned on will he reappear, when he will bo released from tha chair, conducted down from the stage, and then—only then—relieved 'of his goggles. So this thoroughly incredible trick,like the others we have dealt with here, has a perfectly natural explanation. Now do not be disappointed, but remember that the conjuring profession has chosen as its common motto; “There’s no sorcery in it, simply dexterity!”