Kiwi’s Nest SCHOOL SPOUTS.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIII, Issue 105, 15 April 1933, Page 11

Kiwi’s Nest

SCHOOL SPOUTS.

THE EASTER EGG THAT WENT ASTRAY

Easter is over and chocolate eggs Have gone the way of all sweets; There are no more chiekics and marzipan dickies, And no jolly holiday treats. But hark! What is that! A knoek on the door, And Bobby sits straight up in bed. •‘A present for you, tied with ribbons of blue, A present for young sleepy head!” The last Easter egg! It was lost in the post, On its way to a good little lad. Baid Bobby, “Dear me, three days on the spree! I do hope it hasn’t gone bad!” Ho opened it gently—it fell apart —■ two pieces that perfectly matched. In a couple of ticks out tumbled two chicks— The Easter egg had been hatched. DEAR KIWIS, Don't you just love gazing at the shop windows with their tempting looking Easter eggs, most of them accompanied by the sweetest looking yellow chicks! The thought of Easter eggs is almost as exciting as bauging up one’s stocking on Christmas Eve. The majority of these eggs are made from chocolate, and are, of course, a delicious morsel for Kiwis to consume, but the first Easter eggs were not made of chocolate, but were real eggs given by an English monarch to his servants, caeh one stained a pretty colour. I wonder if any of my Kiwis have painted their own gift eggs this Easter. If you first boil them for about an hour, then paint them a pretty bright colour —use water eolour paints for preference—and tie a piece of matching ribbon round them, they will vie with any of the fascinating eggs displayed in the shop windows, ana make very acceptable gifts on Easter Monday. I wish I had space to say a great deal more to you about Easter — its customs, and the spirit in whieh we should regard it, but essays are many, and I must reserve my eloquence!— Senior essays, except for a small number which i held over last week, have had to be filed, as junior scribes are filling all available space this time, but tho senior entries will appear in next week’s issue. Will Kathleen Witton please tell me how old she is, as she omitted to state her age on her essay! Henry Epps wrote an interesting essay, and I had unwillingly to deduct a mark because he forgot to leave a margin. Will Dorothy Stace, who wrote her letter from Hampden, North Otago, but Who stated in it that she was returning home, please supply me with her homo address, so that I shall know where to send her certificate. This Kiwi also had to lose a mark on an otherwise deserving letter, owing to the word limit (ISO) being exceeded. New Kiwis to welcome are Peggy Wilkins, Nancy Windle, Keith Taylor (Your next entry will surely gain a certificate, Keith), and Elaine FrankBn. The latter little girl wrote her essay in pencil, so it had to be given to the dragon. Write in ink next time, Elaine, please. That you may all have a happy Easter is the sincere wish of CHIEF KIWI.

ESSAYS-JUNIORS, THE WIND IN A FROLIC. Dear Chief Kiwi,—Thank you for the certificate. Do you like the wind in a frolic! I do. Mum doesn *t because ho blows dust and thistle all over the house, and loves to twist the clothes round the line. He comes whistling round the corners, and oft go our hats. I am sure ho laughs when wo have to run fast to get them again. Hometimes he swings the apple tree branches so much that the apples tumble off like HumptyDumpty off the wall. On he goes across the lawn, and the little brown autumn leaves basking in the sun get blown into all sorts of places. Away he goes over the hills and valleys, still on mischief bent, until the sun disappears ia the west. Then the wind eeases his frolics and everyone is glad to have peace and quiet once more. —Prixe of 2/6 to Phyllis Persen, age > years, Omahu road, Hastings. A WEEK AT WEST SHORE. Dear Chief Kiwi,—Next day two fishermen put a net out and caught a five-foot shark, a flounder, and a red cod. When the shark was opened it was found to contain twenty-three young ones. Further along the beach the men put the net out again. This time they caught five sharks, all much larger than the first one. In the afternoon my friend and I went fishing on the opposite side of the inner harbour. My friend was luckier than 1 was—he caught a herring. Next morning we went for a swim. The sea was very rough, so wo did not stay in long. About five o'clock iu the afternoon we went for a stroll along the beaeh to look at what remains of the wreck of the Trusty, a boat which had broken from its moorings many years ago. After a most exciting week we were very sorry to go home. Love to Kiwis —Pink Certificate to Keith Dyer, ago JO years, 511 Wellwood street, Hastings. THE BROWNIE PICNIC. Dear Chief Kiwi, —One Saturday all the Brownies gathered at the usual Brownie meeting plaee, ready for Brown Owl to take us for a picnic. At a quarter to ten the two cars started

I off for the Black Bridge. As soon as [ we arrived, we went for a swim. After ; a pleasant swim we divided into pairs, [ and made our own fires. When they I began to blaze, Brown Owl gave us each a sausage on a stick, and we had i great fun grilling them over our fires. After lunch we had a rest, then we packed up and went to Haumoana. We had another swim, after which we had afternoon tea. It was then time to pack up and start for home. We sang happily all the way and are looking forward to our next picnic. Thank you for the certificate you awarded me. With love to all. —Pink Certificate to Jorothy Douglas, ago 9 years, 608 Nelson street, Hastings. BIRDS Dear Chief Kiwi, —In a clump of boxthorn there is a little blightie’s nest with five eggs in it. Tho eggs are white with brown spots oa them. One day the blightie did not get off its west so it must be hatching its young ones. The fantail has its nest up in a pine tree, right out at the end of a branch. The thrush has her nest in the willows. One day I was moving some wood and 1 found a blackbird’s nest with four eggs in it. In the hollow of the willow tree is also a minah’s nest with three eggs. The quail lay their eggs on the ground underneath the boxthorn. They lay about twenty eggs. Love to all. —Blue Certificate to Henry Epps, ; age 9 years, 515 Wellwood street, Hasting* BALING HAY. Dear Chief Kiwi, —Thank you for the half-crown you awarded me last week. On Saturday Dad asked me if I would like to go with him to help bale hay. Of course I said I would. When we got there they were just going to start. At one end of the trusser there was the engine. It went quite all right in the morning, but in the afternoon the belt ripped right down the middle. The men put on another. Love. —Blue Certificate to John Whyte, age 7 years, Crownthorpe. AN OUTING. I>ear Chief Kiwi, —Last Sundrty Mummy said ‘‘lf you help me, we will go to Havelock.” My sister and brother helped too, and my little brother was very excited, because he is always talking about Havelock hills and wanting to go there. We went in one of the Cosy Service ears, and when we got there Alan looked all round, and he pointed to the hills and said: ‘‘Mummy, I want to go to Havelock hills.” He wasn’t satisfied with what he saw at Havelock; he wanted to bo right on top of the hills. We played with a little boy and girl. They gave us some grapes and we had rides on I their bikes. We had good fun. My brother and sister and I all want to live there now. Love to all Kiwis. —Pink Certificate to Rov Burfield, age 6 years, 803 Queen street, Hastings. THE SPORTS. Dear Chief Kiwi.—This week I am going to tell you about the sports at Nelson Park. They started at halfpast nine in the morning. I was not in them but my sister was. In tho morning my sister came third and in the final she came fourth, but she says she will try again next year. A girl we know came first in the three-legged race. It was funny to see the wheelbarrow race. Some of the boys could scamper along, while others could only get half-way and then fall over on their side. The high jump was very nice. Some of the boys jumped it clear and some knocked the pole off. Next we saw the cups given out and then we went home. Love to all the Kiwis. —Pink Certificate to Robert Garrick, age 8 years, 802 Queen street. Hastings. HELPING MOTHER ON SATURDAY

Dear Chief Kiwi, —On Saturday mornings Mother and I have a very busy time doing housework and cooking. The first thing we do is to prepare the fire for cooking, so that when we are finishing our housework the fire is ready. While Mother is measuring out the ingredients for tho sponge cake I heat up the eggs and sugar. When we have the sponge in the oven Mother will go on preparing for scones, while I do the nuts for the toffee and the decorating of the cakes. By tho time we have made sponge cake and scones it is time for me to do the vegetables. After I have finished the vegetables Mother says I may go out and play till dinner-time. With love to all Kiwis. —Pink Certificate to Gwen Couper, age 9 years, 806 Eaton road, Hastings. THE PICTURES. Dear Chief Kiwi, —Thank you for the certificate you awarded me last week. Last Thursday we were allowed to leave school at two o’clock to go and see the picture called “The Seige of the South,” which I found very interesting. It showed Sir Douglas Mawson striking very rough weather on the journey across the ocean. On reaching their destination they anchored, and went ashore to pitch camp. On returning to their boat, they found it surrounded with ice, and had to use the ice cutter to free the boat. It was very interesting to watch them shoot the harpoons at the whales from a gun on the deck of the ship. There were also big icebergs miles long and standing like high cliffs. Love to all your Kiwis. —Pink Certificate to Rex Bennett, age 9 years, 601W. St. Aubyn street, Hastings, SUNDAY SCHOOL. Dear Chief Kiwi,—My brother and I went to Sunday School. We left hive about half-past-nine. Our Sunday School goes in at ten o’clock. We all went to our classes and sang a hymn. There are quite a number of classes in our Sunday School. After we had bad our lesson we sang another hymn. After school we went to church for the first time. I liked tho organ music. There were quite a number of people at church. We listened to the minister preaching but what I liked best was the singing, 1 knew one of the hymns, we sang it this morning.« Then the collection was taken, and we came home. Love. —Pink certificate to Nancy Garrick, aged 7 years, 802 Queen street W-> Hastings. PICNIC AT POUHERERE BEACH. Dear Chief Kiwi.—l am going to tell you about our school picnic at the beach. We left Omakere at 9 o’clock on Friday morning, and arrived at the

beach which is nine miles from Omakere. It is a very nice sandy beach, and you can go for miles along it by the water’s edge in a car. Before lunch we had a swim and played a game of rounders. After lunch, which the parents of the children handed round, we had races. When the races were over, we were told there were some bags of sweets hidden about amongst the grass and we were to find as many as we coult*. I found three bags, some children had as many as seven. It was a nice day, but a bit windy. We enjoyed ourselves very much and arrived home tired about five o’clock. —Blue certificate to Milly Rowe, age 10, c/o Omakere Station, via Waipawa. MY MECCANO. Dear Chief Kiwi,—Thank you for blue and red certificates which you sent me. This week I am going to tell vou about my meccano. On Saturday 1 made a crane. After I had finished it I got my mother’s weights. Then I put six pounds onto a piece of meccano and put it on the hook of the crane. It just held it and no more. After I had had a bit of fun with it, I took it to pieces and made a footbridge, -or I thought it would be useful for my Hornbv train. I got my trains out, and the engine and carriages would just go under it. —Blue Certificate to John Mackersey, -igo 6 years, Box 51, Hastings. MY BIRTHDAY. Dear Chief Kiwi,—Last week I had eleven of my girl friends to tea and we had a lovely time. We played games till tea-time, and after tea we had a concert and more games- My cake was iced with pink icing and had ten candles on it. My friends all said they enjoyed themselves. 1 had somo nice presents. My peanut plants are still growing, and they are big enough to transplant. To-morrow I am goiug to the beach and will bring homo some sand, which I will mix with soil and put in some very big pots. Then each peanut plant will be carefully lifted out and put in a pot by itself to give the roots plenty of room. Thank you for the pink certificate. —Blue Certificate to Dorothy Bryant, age 10 years, Murdoch road, Hastings. HARVEST TIME. Dear Chief Kiwi,—What a wonderful time is harvest time. We see all the beautiful green lucerne getting cut and put into stacks for the cows in winter. One day there passed by our house a big threshing plant. la m told it’s to thresh the seed from the grass, barley and oats. It is put into sacks and stored in a dry place until needed. The nurseryman collects the seeds from tho well-withered flowers. Then we look in the pantry and see the lovely bottles of yellow peaches, red plums, and white pears that have been carefully preserved for the time when these fruits are not in season. 1 must not forget the pickles, sauces, and chutuey, for I like them so much. How nice that churches have Harvest Thanksgiving services, for it is right for us to give thanks for such a good harvest. —Blue Certificate to Josephine Lowe, age 10 years. Maraekakaho, Hastings. MY HOLIDAY. Dear Chief Kiwi,—l am sorry that I have not written to you before, but I have been having such a lovely holiday that I have not found time. However, ,my Daddy has been posting me tho Kiwis’ page to read each week. My sister and have been staying here with our grandparents for the holiday, and we have had to start school here because Daddy could not come down to get us until now. Daddy brought us to Wellington and we travelled on the boat by ourselves. Grandpa met us in Christchurch and brought us here. Hampden is a very pretty little town, with a lovely sandy beach, where my sister and I go swimming nearly every day. It is 18 miles from Oatnaru, and a number of people from there have baches here. We are coming home again next week. —Blue Certificate to Dorothy Staee, age 9 years, The Vicarage, Hampden, North Otago. MY CAT. Dear Chief Kiwi, —I have a pussy cat. He will bite you if you tickle his back. When you pick an apple or a plum he runs up the tree and bites your hand. One day wc weighed him, and ho weighed six pounds. His name is Silver, and he is a silvery coloured cat. When I was writing this letter ho came and sat on my knee and went to sleep. —Red Certificate to Josephine Goymour, age 7 years, Arataki road, Havelock North. OUE GARDEN. Dear Chief Kiwi,—The anemones and ranunculus are up three inches, and look as if they will be good. The creepers I told you about have had a long time in bloom, but now they are looking dull. On the corner past the creepers we have an ice plant creeping under a huge palm tree. It covers about twelve feet of ground, and comes out in a cream flower. Then there is a border of hen and chicken with a bed of petunias at the hack. The best bed stands on the lawn, and is made up of six kinds of roses with tulips for a border. At the gate Daddy cut a tree half down because it hung over the path. It looked bare, so we planted a creeper, which has covered it nicely. We have some pretty carnations and violets. —Red Certificate to Gladys Flanders, ago 10 years, Mangateretere, Hastings. SIEGE OF~THE SOUTH. Dear Chief Kiwi,—The sun shone brightly on a glorious summer’s morning as we wended our way to tho Arcadia Theatre to see a picture of tho Frozen South. A crew of about twelve men set sail, and first of all they arrived at a snowcovered country called Queen Mary Land, on which were thousands of penguins. From there they went to King George Land. Here two mon mounted two seals and drove them into the water. Ono of the men got bitten. The ship then ploughed her way through thick icc, and after passing many huge icebergs they finally reached the South Pole. After erecting a flag they set sail on the return journey. I enjoyed the picture immensely, and was sorry when it came to an end. —Red Certificate to Louie Kitt, age 10 years, Murdoch road, Hastings.

Dear Chief Kiwi, —Our school sports wuo hekl on the Dili oi Mareu in Nelson Park. My mummy coulun t get ready early to take us, so my two brothers and 1 and our friends across the road went on, and our mummies came later. Ilio races started at U.Jil o'clock. 1 went in one race and came second, but in the final 1 didn't win. boon after 1 saw Mummy, so then we sat down and had some lunch. After lunch there were more running and jumping races. Altogether it was a lovely day. Mahora won the cup, and my brother Roy and 1 go to Mahora School, so we were quite happy. —Red Certificate to Eva Burfield, age 7 years, 803 Queen street, Hastings. CRICKET Dear Chief Kiwi,—Please excuse me for not writing for such a long time. 1 am writing about cricket. At le Kura all the men have tried to make a cricket team Some of them have not touched a bat lor twenty or thirty years. They meet on Tuesday and Thursday nights and Saturday afternoons. Last Saturday was the day they had all been looking forward to. They motored in to play Otane. 01 course they knew they did not have a chance of winning, but still they wanted the game. They enjoyed it, although they were very stiff next day. —Red Certificate to Merle Thomas, age 10 years. Te Kura, Otane. SEAGULLS. Dear Chief Kiwi, —Each year some seagulls come and settle in the paddock next to ours. Every morning they make a noise and wake us up. Some of them make their nests near the pit close by the paddock where they settle. It is fun watching them run along the ground for a short distance and then fly up into the air. Sometimes they all fly up together and go round and round in a circle and squawk and make a terrible noise. Their colours are black and white. A flock of them look very pretty flying about. Being near the works the smell of the meat seems to bring them around. I am sorry 1 have not written to you for a long time. —Red Certificate to Mavis Roil, age 10 years, Tomoana road, Hastings. A HOLIDAY IN THE COUNTRY. Dear Chief Kiwi, —May 1 join your happy band of Kiwis? First of all J •m going to tell you about when I went out into the country for a holiday. While I was there I had my eighth birthday and received a great many gifts. My sister used to ride on a lamb’s back. When we had been there » good while, the lamb became used to her, and every time it saw her it ran away. It used to take her through boxthorn hedges and through vegetable plots and down holes to try and tip her off its back. —Red Certificate to Peggy Wilkins, age 10 years, 41] Brunswick street, Hastings. MUSHROOMING. Dear Chief Kiwi, —It has been raining for two or three days now, so yesterday 1 went out mushrooming. Taking a basket to put the mushrooms in, I walked to the far paddock and began looking for them. I had not walked far before I came across a great patch of them. 1 soon had my basket full so I took them home and peeled them, •nd we had them for tea. —Red Certificate to Margaret Whyte, age 10 years, Crownthorpe. THE PICTURES Dear Chief Kiwi. —Thank you for the certificate. Last Saturday Rex and I went to the pictures. There was a cowboy picture shown, which I did not like, because the men were were shooting at each other all the time The best picture of all was Kingsford-Smith flying from Australia to New Zealand. At tho end of this picture ho was ■ursing his dear little baby. Love to all your Kiwis. —Red Certificate io Gwen Bennett, •ge 6 years, St. Aubyu street, Hastings. A DAY AT THE BEACH. Dear Chief Kiwi, —One Sunday after Mother and Maisie and I came home from our holiday, a friend asked us all to go to the beach with him. Mother packed some lunch, and we left homo about 10 o’clock. Maisie and I sat in the dickv seat of the car, and we enjoyed the ride When wo arrived nt tho Port wo all had a lovely hatho before lunch. Then wo went for a walk around the wharf ami after a while we had another bathe. On tho way home we stopped and got some Ke-cream s Love —Rod Certificate to Graeme Willison, age 9 years, Opapa. KNITTING. Dear Chief Kiwi, —This week I am going to tell you about knitting. At home I am knitting a cushion for my dolly. It is of different coloured stripes in plain knitting. I think it will look nice when it is made up. 1 want to knit a beret for my uncle next, laist winter I did quite a lot of knitting. Love to all the Kiwis. —Red Certificate to Mary Moroney, •ge 9 years, Kenilworth, Tomoana. MY PET Dear Chief Kiwi, —My pet is a puppy. He is black and brown and we teed him on raw meat and milk. His name is 'liny. He has a kennel When he is loose he likes to come into the house, and if ho can. he’ll take our •hoes out.-ido op the lawn and play with them. Love to all the Kiwi band —Orange Certificate to Vonnio Proctor, age 7 years c o Post Ofli<-e. Hastings MUSHROOMING AND BLACKBERRYING Dear Chief Kiwi.—Last Sunday my sisters and I set out mushrooming. M hen we got over the hills I felt very sick so we started to wend our way In. uh W’ • n we came to the river we tlm-i he v. ■ would have aft'moon tea l.i’ier »>• came to soini blackberry which we st: rted to pi IVe went on i? 1 v came to the road, and ■•lrui v■■ of home it w:*< six o’clock aid we Ind more mushrooms than blm ’ be. rirs. '■ Certificate to Nancy V .dip. age 10 years, Nelson street. W.iipukuiau.