FRESH FORMS FOR FAMILIAR GREETINGS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2493, 25 December 1901, Page 64

FRESH FORMS FOR FAMILIAR GREETINGS.

GOOD WISHES ARE INGENIOUSLY PRESENTED. (Cassell's Saturday Journal.) Every recurring Christmas witnesses huge efforts being made to instil some novelty into seasonable greetings. "A Merry Christmas" and "A Happy New Year" get, perhaps, a little worn as the years go on, and there are various kind greetings of other sorts for whicb no one invents fitting substitutes. Failing fresh "words, then, our anly resource is to find novel methods of forming the old ones, and in this little irticle we are going to notice some injenious ideas of the sort. First of all we have a living Christmas greeting formed by various members of a

gymnasium. Each letter, as you see. is made up by men or boys, the gymnasts, after a deal of rehearsnl, running up and promptly falling into position. Naturally enough the I in this "A Merry Christmas" was the easiest letter to form, and the most difficult were the C and the S's. Nothing could foim a more appropriate wind up to a Chiistm-is Eve gymnastic display. In this and in a few of the other , expmples we give only some of the words that are formed, but they are sufficient to illustrate the methods adopted. t

Wording of different sorts is sometimes adopted for the formation of bodies of gymnasts in the huge athletic displays given in Switzerland. These are held in the open air. and a? many as 3000 or 4000 men, all dre&sed exactly alike, may take part in them. Instead ol a mere greeting, therefore, a whole column of a. newspaper could be printed in human type, provided there were sufficient room.

Our second little picture shows a far more peaceful method of wishing us "Good Health." This is a trick much more difficult than it looks. Not only has thp letter to be formed of smoke, hanging in the air, but the performer has to get away to form the next letter without, as he goes back, drawing the first letter after him, and so at once spoiling its shape. We believe that such performers mix something with their tobacco in ordei to give the smoke greater density.

As the cycle-riding season proper is at the present moment in full swing, the übiquitous wheel here claims attention. Picture number three gives a little view of "The Compliments of the Season" as presented by 26 ladies of an Australian cycling club. In front and at the back of their silk blouses they carried the letters of the ■words, one each, so that the greeting

could be read s ap proached or ro«^ 11U11 , UIIC O i JCLiauui '. 0 course, you remember that it is swelterinj weather in the Antioodes when turkey anc

pium puoaing grace tne ooara. it yo\ have counted the letters in "The Oompli ments of the Season," you may ia)&e tin query, "why 26 riders':" Well, the Lisi one, as you .see, Avas a full stop. Cycles aie often used in schemes of Christ im<? decoration. Detaching the pedals anc handles of their machines, members of somt clubs form patterns on the walls with then wheels, cycles in this way frequently bein^ used to frame seasonable good wishes. All sorts of lettering, too, are formed out o1 cycle parts, the turns and angles of which lend themselves readily to such use. In the fourth of our little illustrations you see set up a big board, thickly studded with little sharp nails, driven through from the back. Standing some 12 yards or so from this the man you see takes, one by one, from the basket held by the page a number of small coloured balls, and these he throws smartly at the nail-covered board. The balls are impaled upon the nails, and, with much deftness, the performer prints for us "A Happy New Year." Like number two and the next picture, this is an exhibition of pure skill. Amongst American cowboys, who are so intimate with the use of firearms that at some up-country hotels the waiter is summoned by revolver shot, the amusement of writing a greeting in bullet holes is something indulged in. As we all know, seasonable greetings of various sort-« are written acres the facades :>f big buildings in electric light, or spelt 3ut in jet-dotted gas tubing ; but there is now nothing out of the way in that. Sheets of paper are sold, chemically treated, in which, when the glowing end of an ex:inguished match is applied to an indicated spot, the paper smoulders away in a turnng ond twisting line that is soon seen to ■orm the wokK -With All Good Wishes." A. kind of game for children's parties consists of a length of string, upon which, in regular order, are tied letters that read "Best of Luck in 1901,'' or some similar cheery sentiment. The string and letters are all jumbled up m a ball, and small 7>r ZPi are given to those who unravel the skein and get the letters in proper position in the shorte«t time. The finishing small picture here shows "(lood Luck" spelt in spinning plates and tops. The latter are of a veiy heavy, easy-running pUtern, and will spin for a surprisingly long time. The perfoimer, therefore, once he has got he lot going, can devote his whole altenion to the wobbling plates. Of course, whilst near enough to each other to form he letters, no tivo plates must touch, or kiss," &•? the technical term i&, or - tbe ssult would be disastrous. These are but a feAv of many clever Avays f writing old greetings in new form, and, s ■will be readily seen, there are any mraier of variations of the idea. At this time of the year such little tricks are especially appreciated, and audiences quite like the work of spelling out the Avords presented.