TIMELY TOPICS

Northern Advocate, 11 July 1936, Page 6

TIMELY TOPICS

A NATIONAL NEED. ■ “I remember reading that when the French Revolution started there was a great shortage of corn,” said Major Hills, M.P., in the House of Commons, “although there was plenty of corn in France at the time. The com was in the wrong places, and owing to the inefficiency and corruption of the Government and the b%d transport and bad roads, it could not be brought to the people who wanted it. I believe there is some simple rule by which we could bring this over-production of food to the people who want it, and that that solution will be a financial or a monetary one. That question is bigger than anything, except the problem of peace and war. The world is going farther into the cause of under-production, restriction of production and the destruction of articles produced. If anybody could find a way whereby we could bring these two things together, wastage or non-production of food and hungry people, I should be inclined to follow that leader for the rest of my political life.”

OS!® ® The Week’s Quotation.

A quotation from Shakespeare’s works will appear each Saturday. I •pray you, in your letters. When you shall these unlucky deeds relate. Speak of me as I am; nothing extend ■ uate, Nor set down aught in malice ; then must you speak Of one that loved not wisely, but too well; Of one not easily jealous, but, being torought, Perplex’d in the extreme; of one whose hand. Like the base Indian, threw a pearl away Richer than all his tribe; of one whose subdued eyes. Albeit unused to the melting mood, Drop tears as fast as the Arabian trees their medicinal gum. The source of the above will be found on Page 3.

«! jfc §3 ■ R! Do You Know ——? (1.) What is. a felucca?, (2.) Who was the first translator of the whole Bible into English? (3.) What is the Blue Riband of the Atlantic? (4.) What is the height to the top of the cross on St. Paul’s Cathedral, London? (5.) Who was Tamerlane? (6.) Who wrote “The Ebb Tide”? .... Answers to the above question appear on page 3. fej SI IS IS Words That Tell a Story.

GORDIAN KNOT.— When a problem cannot be solved, it is often referred to as a Gordian Knot. The term, which is of Greek orgin, took its rise in Phrygia, an ancient country of Asia Minor. The . .people were informed by the gods that their troubles, which seemed overwhelming, would be ended if they chose as their king the first man they met on the way to Jupiter’s temple. A peasant named Gordius passed by, driving a waggon, and to his great amazement the people hailed him as King. Gordius became famous by tying a knot which nobody could untie. When he offered up his waggon as a sacrifice to the god Jupiter he tied it to the temple so cleverly that no end could be seen on the cord. News soon went abroad that anyone who was clever enough to untie the Gordian Knot would, win the whole of Asia. It so happened that Alexander the Great saw the knot one day, and he cut it with his sword. This daring deed impressed his followers so much that he was regarded as the future conqueror of Asia, which, as a matter of fact, he became. H m ® 1! Words of Wisdom.

The man who cannot wonder , who does not habitually wonder (and worship) . . . i s a Pair of Spectacles behind which there is no Eye. — Carlyle.

[§l B! SI ® Tale of the Day. Mrs Newrich gave a musical evening. She was uneasy at the beginning because the music didn't start. She went to the conductor of the orchestra she had engaged and said : “Why don't your men begin to play?” “Oh, they are tuning up.” “Timing up! Why are they doing it now? I ordered you a iveek ago.”