COG STORIES

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6815, 19 January 1929, Page 14

COG STORIES

STORIES IN STAMPS.

“ There are a great many pictures on my stamps, that I'd like explained to me,” said Harrison, looking up from a study of his collection, one evening. “Begin at the beginning, and take them one at a time," said Daddy, smiling. “On a Liberian stamp, two men are carrying on their shoulders something that looks like a long, round curved sticlc< » “That’s ivory,” explained. Daddy, “it’s an elephant’s tusk.” “Do they grotf big enough for two men to carry?” asked Harrison in surprise. . * i They weigh. from 50 to 150 pounds,” said Daddy, “and are sometimes nine feet long.” “Where are most of them found?” asked Harrison. “In Asia and Africa, but the largest are taken from the elephants in Africa,” explained Daddy. “ A pair of such tusks are pictured below a panther on another African stamp from the French Congo.” ‘ ‘.What is • this sharp-pointed mountain in the sea?” asked Harrison, holding up a Newfoundland stamp. . ■ “That’s an iceberg. It’s a floating mass of ice from a glacier,” announced Daddy. “They are very beautiful, but ships don’t dare go too near because of their size.” “It doesn’t look so very large,” answered Harrison in surprise. “Only one-ninth of tho whole iceberg can be seen,” explained Daddy. other eight-ninths are below water. “Then a ship couldn’t see it all even if it were near,” exclaimed Harrison. Satisfied about that, he handed Daddy another. ‘ * Here is a single tree on a stamp from Toga. I wonder why it’s used?’’ “That, must be a breadfruit tree, answered Daddy. “Why is it called breadfruit? Is it a sort of bread?” . ' . , , “It has a large, round fruit that does resemble bread when it’s baked. It s used as a staple food in the South Pacific Island much as bread is here. The treo itself is useful, too,” added Daddy, “for cloth is made from the bark and lumber from the tree.” “I think it deserves a place on a stamp—l’m glad .they used it,” exclaimed Harrison. “Here is a coffee plantation, from Liberia,” said • Daddy, looking at the next one Harrison had selected. “The coffee plants are pretty shrubs with shiny evergreen leaves.” “Mountains and waterfalls seem to be almost as popular as animals for stamps,” observed Harrison, as he took up another little pile of stamps. “Here are at least six waterfalls.” “Any from America?” asked Daddy. “Yes, here’s Niagara on a five cent stamp printed, in 1901. (There. are others from Jamaica, British Guiana, South Africa, and two from Congo. “Besides mountains, lakes, and harbours, hero is a staircase from Bahamas, and a suspension bridge from Peru,” said Harrison, as he gathered up his stamps to put them away. “And just to bring things up to date, the United States has an aeroplane,” said Daddy, “and Guatamala, radio antennae.” “I’ve had peeps at things most around tho world,” said Harrison, “and learned lots of interesting things.”

HE DIDN’T WANT A PENN’ORTH! Three boys entered the village sweet shop. The proprietor said to the first boy, “What do you want, my boy?” “A penn’orth of bulls-cyes please.” The shopman climbed a ladder, brought down the jar that contained tho bull’s-eyes, made up the packet of sweets and returned the jar to the shelf. Then he asked the second boy what he wanted. “A penn’orth of bull’s eyes, please. “Why didn’t you say so before?” said the shopman. As he went up the ladder again he demanded of the third boy, “Do you want a penn’orth-of bull’s-eyes, too?” ‘‘No,” replied the boy. The shopman climbed to the shelf again, brought down the jar, made up the second packet of sweetts, restored the jar to the shelf and once more put the ladder away. Then the third boy piped up: “Ha’porth of bull’s-eyes,.please.”

THE DOLLS’ HOUSE. T have ,a house, all trim? and neat, With doors and chimney-pots complete, And tiny casements painted blue, To let the morning sun shine through;) Carnations green and daisies red Bloom gaily in their little bed Beneath the latticed balcony, And never droop, or fade, or die Like flowers in other gardens do, But blossom all tho long year through In summer’s heat or winter’s snow, They’re only painted tin, you know! A model family of niao Live in this little house of mine. Who never vex, but always do Exactly what I want them to; And never sulk or pout or frown, Or cry because they’ve tumbled down, Or tear their clothes, or bite their nails Or answer back, or carry tales. And never quarrel ,tease or fight. Or wake in bed and scream at night-—" But then they’re made of rag you see, Not flesh and bones like John and me!| —D. Glasson.

Riddle-Me-Ree. 1. Why docs a ticket-collector 1 punch a hole in your ticket? 2. —What occurs twice in a moment,’ and yet not once in a thousand years? 3. —why lias, an author more free l dom than a king? 4. —What does the largest ship on the ocean weigh? 5. Which is the cruellest vegetable?] 6. —Why" is the wick of a candle like Athens? 7. —What is the worst fare we can; have? 8. Why is it, always wrong to, whisper? i 9. —How is it that we do not geq much honey from Birmingham? Answers. 1 1. —To let you pass through. 2. —< The letter M. 3.—Because he can choose his own subjects. 4. —Her an* chor. 5. —A heartless cabbage. 6. Because it is the centre of grease. 7. —Warfare. B.—Because it is not, aloud. 9. —Because it has only one