Entre Nows.

Free Lance, Volume XV, Issue 801, 5 November 1915, Page 11

Entre Nows.

THE following, interesting lines are from a recent letter from Samoa:—"Things are running more smoothly here now, but there is stilly room for improvement. We had a Major Francis here for a while, and he did :good work. We in the Medical Corps are always kent busy, as there is such a heap of sickness amongst the natives. The 'sick come to the hospital in the mornings, and it is a great collection we get. • I like the climate here first ■rate, and if the steamers d,id not bring us the papers telling of the doings at the Dardanelles,- I would be quite, settled here. The Germans here are start-ing'-to feel effects. One big plantation eompany has gone into liquidation, and may they all go! They should have all been rounded up at first:"- Just the sentiment of all loyal Britishers. * * * #

On the question whether we should retaliate on the Huns for their ruthlessness, a writer in "T.P.'s. Weekly" -declares that in the stem and terrible game of war the rules must be kept on both sides, or not at all. "The Germans have not .kept the rules, and, what is more, they declare that they will not ikeep the rules. Their attitude of stop-' .ping at nothing is.bluff. I mean it is bluff in the sense that their idea is that though they may break all the rules of war, we will never: do so. lam :sure that if they really thought that we - would act as ruthlessly as they do, their in the matter would change. They have thought out all the factors -concerning this war, this amongst them. They appreciate thoroughly the fact that: utter ruthlessness in war is only of value to the side that adopts it if the ■other side refuses to adopt it. If we refused them quarter on the grounds "that they were poisoners, and that they were using atrocious methods of warfare, they would come to heel at once. They would do their best to fight in a -decent manner. Anyone who imagines that this war will be won without taking • off the gloves imagines a "thing." -

The story goes that the smile on the "face of President Wilson's shorthand writer when Mr. Wilson began to dictate one of his recent despatches to the 'Oerman Foreign Office so irritated the President that he sacked the man on the spot. "An ultimatum at last, thank God," was the stenographer's parting shot as he left the" room.

"I can't do much," said an old lady who has joined the National Reserve,- "but I just drops in a word. My garden's back of the tennis club. The young fellers likes to use the backway. So I sits out doing a bit of mending, and, when they comes along, I says, 'Hey,, mister, that's.not the way to the recruiting office.' "

Letters from our soldier boys at the Dardanelles very often contain queerlooking words. These, our fighting heroes explain, they have picked up from the Turks, and it is with great pride that they try to fit them into our own language in the course of their correspondence. In this way.-we may expect to hear of various Turkish words passing into currency in the local .vernacular. For instance, it is only natural that our Main Body, which spent many weeks in Egypt, should frequently use the word "backsheesh," the favourite request of the cadging Egyptian na-

tives. In a recent letter, a New Zealander at Gallipoli opined that the Turks would soon be "mafeesh," by which he meant that they would shortly be wiped out. Other words of common use in the language of the terrible Turk which may confront you in your correspondence from Gallipoli may include the following: Moia (water),, libbin (milk), mungerera (food), bint (child), aish (bread), quies kitteer (very good), aywa (yes), la (no), imshi (get away). * * * ■* The forecast is made that the weaker sex will play a more iactive part in the affairs of the world when the war _is over. This is no idle dream of a militant suffragette. It is the opinion of Olive Schreiner, who, in her book,"Woman and War," makes -this pronouncement on behalf of her sex: —"There is no post or. form of toil for which it is not our intention to fit ourselves ; and there is no closed door w£" do not intend to force open. Acting in us and through us, Nature, we know, will mercilessly expose to us our deficiencies in the field of human toil, and reveal to us our powers. War will pass, when intellectual culture and activity have made possible to the female an equal share in the control and governance of modern national life. It is our intention to enter into the domain of war and to lahour there till, in the course_ of generations, we have extinguished it." If it is true that woman is going to compete with her lord and master in all fields of toil, no doubt our shipping magnates, fpr instance, won't mind giving them a trial in the stoke-hold —and pay them top wages, too. * * * * It may not be generally known that Salonika, which has suddenly assumed for most of us an importance at least as great as Petone since the French and British began to pour their troops into it for the relief of Serbia, possesses a history which ante-dates that of " London or Paris. It is, in fact, the ancient Thessalonica, to whose inhabitants the Apostle Paul wrote his two epistles to the Thessalonians. It is the port pf Macedonia, and was named after. a sister of Alexander the _ Great, who succeeded his father as King of Maoedonia and then-set out to conquer the world. Even now it is second only to Constantinople as in Eastern Europe, and spacious harbour works were opened there onlv 14 years ago. In its population of 174,000 the Jews largely preponderate. Prior t-o the revolution of 1908 the Young Turks made it their headquarters. In the last Balkan War it fell to Greece just three years ago.

Even that famous Parisian landmark, the Eiffel Tower, <is playing its part in the war. It is being used as_ a wireless station, and per medium of it the men in the trenches are kept well posted with the latest news. The operating-

room is not at the top of the tower, as one might think, but underground. The operators often intercept German official war messages, and do their best to interrupt and stultify them. Also, they amuse themselves sometimes by "ringing up" German, stations, and have sparring bouts with the operators as to the Kaiser's monopoly of the Deity and the imbecilities of the Crown Prince.

There is at least one Irish family, that has done its best to give .the lie direct to unbelievable statements that the Imerald Oisle is not rallying t-o the colours as well as she might. This family is by name Fury, and evidently, when there is fighting, to be done, they are the very divil. Ten of the Fury brothers have been fighting under the Union Jack in France, two of them in the Hoval Irish Rifles, and eight of them in the Connaught Rangers. Five of them —just . half- —have been killed fighting for the Empire. Hats off to these gallant young Irishmen!

An Anti-German League has been formed in Australia, and its membership is rapidly swelling. Amongst its objects there is one advocating that no person of enemy whether naturalised or not, shall be permitted to ho!d a position in our defence forces or. in association therewith as contractor or otherwise. Another object is to impress upon the Parliaments and Governments of Australia that the naturalisation process affords no sufficient guarantee of the loyalty of naturalised Germans, and others of enemy origin.

The .Australian's love of sport will out. One -wounded Australian writes to a brother in Melbourne, casually mentioning that he is doing well despite "a bit of Turkish mincemeat" in his heel and another in his back. The pith of his letter is that he enc'.oses "£1 to be expended in buying him a ticket in 'Tatt's' on the Cup, five bob in the local pub. sweep, and what's left for the best procurable double on the two Cups."

A pi'opos of this, there comes another report, this time of a sweepstake in the trenches at Anzac. The sweepstake was to go to whomsoever was the first to stop a Turkish bullet. Entries were numerous, and the winner pocketed several guineas. He is at present in hospital in Sydney, find he states that he _ found the prize money very useful while he was laid up in hospital at Malta.

One of the Australian wounded, recently returned from Gallipoli, is the authority for the following rather startling yarn. He states that he was talking to a superior officer in the trenches, w'hen another Australian" came up. "You don't need that overcoat," said the new man, ''will you lend it to me?" "Certainly," ©aid the officer. While the newcomer was putting it on, tlie officer shot -him dead. "Do you know what vou have done?" said the narrator of this, "you have killed an Australian." "Take off his coat," said, tile officer. They did so. The man was a German, and his pockets were full of bombs. In the trenches that he had intended to blow up there were ICH men.

Have you ever taken part i.n_ an "If" competition P The bigge§t ' 'if'' that won the prize in one of these contests recently was that "if Queen Victoria had died without sons, or if her male issue had been without offspring, then the Kaiser would have been King of England J''

Evidence accumulates that Germany within is seething with discontent, despite the regular and continual reports of the great ■ victories of the Fatherland's armies on every front. Freedom of speech and a free press are not tolerated in German kultur, so this unrest is ventilated, by means of pamphlets, published secretly. An Italian journalist has lately returned from Hunland, bringins with him one of these pamphlets, which demands in black _type_ < 'When is this series of great victories which, according to the official bulletins from the front, are beint? won already for eleven months past, to have a prac-

tical outcome ? . What hope does there now remain for the realisation of that ■dream which, for eleven months; has been fostered by ."journalistic and parliamentary declamation, that there wall .be imposed on Europe a Germanic peace?" This pressman of our Italian ally adds that the alarm among the Hun authorities over the new pamphleteering- methods is so great that extreme precautions are being taken to prevent their spread, and printed mat-" er generally now is subject to unusual restrictions. Thus- the comiic postcards with ■ reflections on the Allies latterly have been forbidden, restaurant owners are advised not to give a bill to the customers, and white paper generally is carefully scrutinised for traces of invisible (ink, which had been adopted as a means of communication.

Henry Ford, the American philan-thropist-millionaire, whose fame has been carried as far as" this Dominion per medium-of the Ford car, recently offered £2,000,000 for promoting the cause of peace. Commenting on this, a leading: New York paper gives its opinion that the ideal insurance, against war would _be to give Mr. Ford's £2,000,000 to William Bryan—the peace-at-any-price Secretary of State who resigned" a while ago-—send him to Europe and to Asia —anywhere, just so it is away— and keep him there. * * * * Our country newspaper editors are busy mortals generally. Some of them not infrequently are literary staff, office printer all rolled into one. Accordingly, readers of this will now better understand how it was the following error crept into a recent, issue of the Waybacks "Thunderer." Two distinct correspondents wrote to the editor seeking information respectively, "the best way of assisting twins through the teething?" and-"how to rid an orchard, of grasshoppers." The editor answered . both questions faithfully, but, unfortu-' nately, got the initials mixed, so that the fond father of the teething twins was thunderstruck by the following advice : ' 'If you are unfortunate enough to be - plagued by these unwelcome little pests, the quickest way of settling them is to cover them with straw and set the bunch on fire." The other man, who was bothered with grasshoppers,., was equally amazed to read : 'The best method of treatment is to give each a warm bath twice a day, and rub their gums with indiarubber." * * * * Much perturbation exists amongst the st-eaka d'oyst fraternity concerning the attitude likely to be adopted by their maternal country in connection with the war. If Greece goes in with the Huns there will be no more stewed oysters or gentle whitebait fritters as the genial gentlemen with the long, ferocious moustachios and the swarthy complexions may have to hike off to the island where there are no paper serviettes. ' • ***.•* The last American mail brings news of a sad tragedy at New Jersey. Two small boys, George Harper, aged 11 . years, and Joseph Schlett, aged 7, were "playing at Indians." They were rehearsing scenes they had seen at " the "movies." Joseph, the" younger of the two, was i;epulsing an imaginary attack . by a. Redskin, represented by George. He was armed with a revolver he found in the house, and, pulling the trigger, George fell lifeless. There is a warning here for adults who" keep firearms on the premises in order to give Bill Sykes a warm welcome when he happens along. Better to let William S. get clean away with t % e family jewels than to leave revolvers or blunderbusses lying about the house. * * * * There is much wailing amongst local meal-house owners, publicans and others owing t-o an unprecedented exodus, of waiters to the South Island. Some employers"'were quite nonplussed as to. . the cause, also the effect, but a little cogitation brought light. Next week is „ Carnival Week in ChristchuTch, and a waiter can earn £2 per day ot so, and he is such a scarce commodity he can come back here the week after and pick up another job on landing. Keeping pubs is not the game it used to be, apparently.