FOR THE YOUNG FOLK

Northern Advocate, 16 March 1929, Page 6

FOR THE YOUNG FOLK

A GAME TO PLAY. There are many funny things in this world. Some things that you have never seen. Have you, for instance, seen a kitchen “sink"; have you seen a penny “stamp"; a garden “fence”; or a sponge “trifle"; a walnut “stain"; a window “box”; a mud ( / . “guard"; a door “step”; or a lamp “stand”? This idea would make ? a jolly game for you. All players should have pencils and papers, and they must write down, as many of these funny' instances as they can think of, for there are any amount of them, and, of course, the one who has the most quaint things written down is the winner. OUR SWEET-MAKING CORNER. WELSH TAFFY, Put three-quarters of a cupful of butter into a saucepan to melt slowly, taking care that it does not "burn or discolour. Add two cupsful of granulated sugar and one cupful of warm water; stir once or twice, and bring the whole to the boil. Now let the mixture boil gently, without stirring, until a little tried in cold water becomes brittle. Take the saucepan off the fire, add to the other ingredients three-quar-ters of a cupful of seedless raisins—which have been washed and well dried in advance—stir quickly, and turn the taffy on to a buttered tin to cool. Mark into squares before it is quite set; it should break easily. HOW THE SEA GETS ITS COLOUR. Placed in a vase, sea water appears to be perfectly transparent and colourless, yet when gathered in a large mass it reveals a number of j beautiful colours, the most common being a fine azure blue. This colouring of the sea is caused by the action of the sun’s rays through innumerable small salt particles held in sus- ■ pension in the water. The Mediterranean, which holds a large proportion of these salts, is a wonderful blue in colour. The polar

j seas are also descrioea as Deing oi brilliant ultramarine blue. So are the waters of the equinoctial Atlantic, while the Pacific is almost indigo. All four, however, are alike in one respect: near ; the shore the colour changes and becomes green, .sometimes such an intense green as to appear almost black. When the waters are rough the green changes to a brownish hue, but beneath a calm sunset the surface 'seems,, lit up with all manner of, delicate tints —pink, topaz, emerald and purple. Many local causes also influence the colour of the sea and give it a decided and constant shade. A bed of white sand causes a grayish or ap-ple-green colour. In the Bay of Loango the water appears, to be a deep red owing to the red bed. Around the coasts of New Zealand I are seas in which myriads of red animalcules cause the water to adopt

a crimson' tinge. In the south of France there are salt-water marshes where “red” sea water is concentrated, but the- colour isi due to the presence of a microscopic red-| shelled parasite. The salt lakes of [ Great Tibet owe their colour to the; same cause. The tiny creatures are present in millions, but do not appear until the salt water has attained a cei'tain degree of concen-> tration, vanishing mysteriously when a further density is reached. Off the coasts of Japan the sea is yellow, and to the west of the Canaries it is a vivid green. Near Callao in Peru the water is olive-coloured, while along the Gulf of Guinea and near Cape Palmas a ship often appears to be sailing in a sea of milk, ;