THE SMILE CASTLE

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 12 November 1927, Page 18

THE SMILE CASTLE

THE CASTLE PLEDGE. I promise to smile every time I can, and to chase all the frowns into the dark cave, where the Smile Giant will kill them with iis Magic Sword Happiness. My Dear Smiles, — This morning when I was drinking my tea my mind travelled away back to the first tea eups made and t e country they were made in—China. This is a wonderful country, so big and so populated, and the people really so charming when one knows them very well. A great dea of tea is grown there, and if you visit the people you wi have it served you in small cups with no handles and the tea will have no milk and no sugar. Great quantities o rice are grown here, too, for rice is the chief food ox the Chinese —but, Smiles, no knives and forks to eat it xvith. These Orientals eat everything with chop-sticks, and it, is most interesting as well as most amusing to watch them eat so cleverly and quickly with two little sticks, lhe houses in China are mostly of one storey, and it is amazing to see how many of them are made of bamboo. This cane is most useful and almost every other article one sees is made of it—baskets, hats, sandals, pipes, bridges, mats, coats jugs, water-cans, chop-sticks, fishing nets, ciadles, and very often flutes. Besides this the Chinese like the fruit seeds and young shoots as food. Do you remember the story about the silkworm’s eggs'? China is the home of the silkworm and they existed in no other part of the world until someone hid a few eggs in his hollow bamboo walking stick and took them to the south of France. The children in these Eastern schools are very rowdy—they all seem to shout their lessons at once; but thej are happy little people. Out of school hours I think their favourite pastime is flying kites. They are not the only children who like to fly kites, are they, Smiles? Now, fly off to bed and perhaps next week I shall tell you a little about the little brown neighbours to China the Japanese. Would any of.my Smiles like to know specially about any particular country? If they tell me perhaps we could have a little letter about it. Your most loving SMILE QUEEN.