Blue-Bird's Corner.

Hutt News, Volume 12, Issue 9, 27 July 1938, Page 8

Blue-Bird's Corner.

Dear Boys and Girls, I am sure you must all be enjoying yourselves at your games these bracing winter days—l see so many of you going off with your teams to play matches and make new friends with boys and girls in other schools and districts. Isn't it interesting to watch the points of your group rise higher and higher after each game till the trophies are won, and to learn after each day's play, where your tactics can be improved or where you can learn to pull together better in the team so that not a point is missed? How skilful of eye and hand we can become with practice—and of course to keep up that practice it needs physical fitness and clear judgment—just think how strong and active and clear-eycd the Grecians must have been to have had records of their games preserved for so many hundreds of years, and it surely seems rig'it to think that they used that same strength, agility and vision to construct their beautiful buildings of marble, with the noble columns and statuary, don't you think so? From "Merlin's" store of knowledge comes to you this fact, that somewhere, in our own country, is a "vast amount of building stone. Can you not see the possibility of building our nation into one that would_ even surpass beautiful Greece in its architecture, music, drama and literature ? Such a state could be built, nor do we have to wait even a day, to commence, for we are set apart from the turmoil of the older countries. Adventurers on the "Bountiful and Followers on the Blue Trail, Merlin says that whether we know it or not, we are building as we go oil our quest, so you see there is something - splendid for us all to do, and the three highest points we ask of each other in our games—strength, activity and foresight—are the foundations for the country we are making of New Zealand. And now a message lor the little boys and girls from Bright■eyes—what is the cause of all the chuckles of joy that have been heard lately—is there a big secret that "Grown-ups" may not share? Happy hours, LP BLUEBIRD

FINDERS KEEPERS This is my world this morning, These are my fields to roam, Though I may tramp for many a mile, I'm never away from home. I've none of the things you cherish, And few of the joys you share, But little I find to worry me now, For the morning's young and fair. For the snow is gone from the hills I love, All the world is green again, And a thousand wonders wait for me In meadowland and gleu. Others will pass this way to-day, But I am the first to see; And who's to say that I may not think God made this day for me. —Maurice J. Ronayne, in Mature Magazine."

modeling with paper Anton Schrodt of Vienna is a paper sculptor. The medium which he uses for mode m? neither clay, wax, wood, stone nor metal—it is just old newspapers and tissue paper. Looking at the wonderfully ammica groups, Often comprismg hundreds ol i exhibited m Anton Schiodts glass cases, one sees how readily this material lends itself to lifeTike modeling. Here Schrodt waxes' as enthusiastic over tho soft texture ot a stop o.tissue paper as other sculptors do when they are inspired to works of art by a block of Carrara marble. He has cultivated his »": inT entedart of paper modeling since he was ta" has evolved a which is all his own. He uses nothing but paper for his woi. milp newspaper and tissue P' l P e forthe small figures, cardboard for the foundation of the buildings. Strips of paper are used, closely rolled to the necessary shape' and thickness, and paste to secure them. His tools are a parr of scissors, his own sensitive., skill ful fingers, and his natience, which equals that of missal-copymg medieval monks. ; n ~.,n . |t The scenes which Hen Schrodt models out of paper sometimes groups of many hundreds of persons He chooses historical subiects for his themes and aims at absolute precision in the reproduction of costumes, accoutrements and trappings. Wide knowledge, minute studies in libraries ana museums, are necessary to fashion these paper groups.

THE W TO HAPPINESS IS BY MAKING OTHERS HAPPY.

In his group, "Rome in "Emperor Nero's Time," the paper sculptor has placed over 650 figures, all painstaking modelled and coloured with perfect historical correctness, against the background of a Roman circus. From another model, "Vienna in 1219," which comprises 150 figures in period costumes and is a reproduction of thirteenth-century Vienna, one gains a lasting impressiop. of an historical occasion. jierr Schrodt has preserved characteristic figures and costumes of rapidly disappearing Austrian types. Every new model is greeted with great appreciation in Vienna. Two of the most enthusiastic admirers of these works of art are the Duke of "Windsor and the Duke of Kent, who, on the occasion of a recent visit to Vienna, watchcd the paper sculptor at work.

COMPETITIONS When we went up-to london. These fire some of the places that we saw. Can you fill in the blanks ? 1. K Gardens. 2 Cathedral. 3. T Square. 4. B Palace. 5 Abbey. 6 Circus. 7 London. 8. S Square. 9 p_— Station. lb. Hill.

IN PRAISE OF WALKING Aeroplanes see country Like a checkered spread, Rainbow-patterned, distant, Covering earth's bed. Motor cars look closer Road and town are heard; Wooded hill and meadow Scarcely say a word. But to know the country Walk a blossoming lane; Listen to earth singing, Touch spring's counterpane. Edith Lombard Squires

OUTDOOR GAMES As some games lend themselves more readily to out of doors than others, I can recommend the following as being especially adapted to large groups: Have the players stand in a circle, with one member in the centre holding a rope on the end of which is tied an old shoe. Have the rope long enough'that the shoe tied on the end passes under the players' feet. At a given signal, start swinging the rope in a circle a few inches from the ground, and the players must jump up as it .passes. The player who allows it to touch him is counted out; and, of course, the last one standing is the winner. Each player has a blown-up balloon fastened by a piece of string about 2 feet long to his belt in the back. Bach player is given a stick, made from many layers ot newspaper tightly rolled the long way. Partners are chosen, the object being to strike your opponent's balloon hard enough to break it, at the same time dodging his attempts to break yours. Winners of each couple pair up until only one remains. String a clothesline and give each player 10 and 10 clothes-pins. The game is to see who will be first to pin all the stockings on the line. Pins not securely fastened have a habit ox popping off due to the earnest efforts of the others using the same line, and many a player coming clown the home strctch. to apparent victory finds his labours undone.

ISLAND HOME He watched the tide default among the rocks, The amber glow of seaweed fade with sun, The water-flowers on uncertain stalks Move gently, ripple swayed, in unison. The gulls slept in the air and to the south Low, powdered clouds crept up the curving bay, The wind, an endless whisper 011 his mouth, Spoke of the dusk in a familiar way. This was his country, his own island town, It lay before him, ringed about by sea; His future and past, failure and renown Cupped in this place, bound by liquidity. The night swept over and a single star Hung like a light above a swaying spar. —John Bitchey.