TOPSYTURVY TOWN

Otago Witness, Issue 3619, 24 July 1923, Page 63

TOPSYTURVY TOWN

(All Rights Reserved.) No. 3.

By

Edith Howes.

CHAPTER 111. “These children are after power !’’ shouted the next speaker. “The spirit of the age has seized them,. Like everybody else, they want to pull down those above them and take their places. Are you willing to discuss that?” -A woman stood up. “Power doesn t matter,” she said. “The thing that matters is that children need protection while they are young and ignorant and helpless. They need our constant care and watchfulness until they have loarnt how to live. If we withdraw that care and watchfulness how are they to be safeguarded from all the dangers and evils of the world?’’ The conjuror had been slowly making his way towards the front of the crowded meeting. Now he turned and began to speak. Why not give the thing a trial? he asked. They needed a holiday from the cares of parenthood sometimes; whv not take one when they had the chance ? Children had far more sense than they were generally supposed to have, and no real harm could come from the change if proper conditions were made at the start. Grown-up people were constantly heard wishing for their childhood days again; well, why not have them back? Why not be care-free and happy ? And while doing so they liad a splendid chance to show their own children how to behave, how to be good as well as merry. Ex amnia was better than precept, and there was no telling how much benefit might come from such an object lesson. He went on and on in his beautiful voice. He showed them how lovable and how clever children could be, with their pretty knowing ways, and how necessary it was for them to experiment if they were r eally to learn. There was no training like responsibility, he said. Give the children responsibility, and see how nobly they would rise to it. On and on he went, with his easily flowing words and liis jolly smile, till the people began to smile too. “Besides, it would be a great lark,” he told them, “a very great lark. It would show that we have a sense of humour, and are not afraid to let it carry us into something new. It would show that we were good sports. Oh, it would be a very great lark indeed!” On and on he went, winning the people fast to the children’s side. “Is it his magic?” wondered Kenneth. “Is he a real magician?” The people were laughing now. He had them. Objections were raised here and there, but the conjuror answered them gaily. “Come, Sir Mayor, let us take a show of hands,’’ be said, and a shew of hands was taken. The children’s side won by a large majority. The conjuror was a real magician ! There were conditions. Tire heating and lighting and water of the town were not to be interfered with, nor its manufactures and trade. But in home life and in school life, in all that directly touched the children, they were to “have the say.” _ And in entertainments narticularly, as Kenneth was careful to state. “You may have my position,” said the Mayor to Kenneth, “and I am sure the councillors will be glad to take a holiday.” “Certainly!” said the councillors with ono voice. Even Mavis Clark’s rich uncle was smiling now, and as for Mr Graham he chuckled and laughed, a boy already. The mothers too, bewitched bv the conjuror, smiled and nodded to one another, and said in amused tones: “What a rest for us! What a time we are going to have !” “Well,” said the Mayor, “it is time we children went home for our evening meal. I for one am as hungry as any child should be. Graham boy, I leave the meeting in your hands. You grown-ups will no doubt remain to make your arrangements.” And he and the councillors left the building, followed by the laughing, chattering people. The children were left in the hall. Victory! Three cheers for victory!” called out one of the boys, and three ringing cheers they gave: “Hooray!’’ and “Hooray!” and “Hooray!” till the high v»aLs rang, and the homeward-going people turned and stopped to listen. “Three cheers for Kenneth Graham. He did it!” called the same boy. And acain the cheers rang out. “Three cheers for the conjuror He did it!” Kenneth called happily. With equal heartiness these cheers were given. “While we are all together we had better choose a mayor and councillors ” Kenneth said.

“I name Kenneth Graham for Mayor,’’ said Clive Banks. “All those in favour hold up the right hand.” Everybody held up the right hand except those who held up the left by mistake, so of course Kenneth was declared Mayor. Never before had there been a Mayor so youing. He was flushed and very proud as he sat himself gravely in the chair pulled forward for him on the platform by his admirers. “I’m the youngest Mayor in the world, I’m sure!’’ he thought. And he undoubtedly was. Now began the election of councillors. Clive Banks was the first elected. Then Alice Dare, one of the biggest girls, jumped up to 'speak. “Half of us are girls,” she said, “so half cf the councillors will have to be girls. We don’t mind having a boy for Mayor, because anyway his sister can be Mayoress, but evensecond councillor must be a girl. I name Mary Montague.’’ Kenneth looked somewhat bewildered. “But there aren’t any women councillors!” ho objected. “Thera are in some towns. My aunt is one,” the girl replied. “And every council ought to be half women. My aunt says so. Anyway, this one is going to be half girls, or we won’t help vou in anything.” all right!” said the boys, and Mary Montague was elected, and after that every second councillor was a girl, Alice Dare among them. When the election was over Kenneth said: “The first tiling is holidays. No more school till we feel inclined for it. Hand up those who agree to that.” Every hand went no, so that was settled. Kenneth went on : “The next thing is that every child must go in free to any entertainment in the town.” Every hand went- up for that too. but a horrified voice came from the shadows at the end of the hall. “How unkind to your poor conjuror !’’ it said. “Are you going to starve him out of the town?” It 'was the conjuror himself; he had not gone with the other grown-ups. “You will fill my halls and pay me nothing!” he cried. “How can I live on that?” No, that would never do!” the children said. “"We must pav the conjuror.” .“You must pay the others too, or they wiir starve,” said the conjuror, “and then who is to entertain you?” “Oh, well,’A- said Kenneth, “then we can t go in free. Children must pav as usual.” (To be Continued.) PROTECTION OF BIRD LIFE. D.L.F. COMPETITION. The following- letter is commended to the careful attention of L.F., especially in country districts: Dear Dot, —Let us make a humble starton our bird crusade. We want to interest our Little Folk in our native birds—teach them what they are like-, what interesting habits they have, and, above all, to love and protect them. We want our children to know that many of these birds, only a few years ago quite common, are now becoming very scarce, and we are anxious that each and every child should learn to use his or her eyes, tell us about these birds and where they are Some of us will select, eay, three best letters from June, 1923, to June, 1924, and award a prize accordingly. Each competitor should mark his letter “Competition Letter, No. I,” etc. Of course common sense would tell you to select your descriptions at fairlv wide intervals of the year, so as to include winter feeding, changes in plumage, mating of birds, nest-building, young birds, natural enemies, tricks or schemes of mothers to pro.ect their young, etc., summer feeding. PRIZES. We have much pleasure in notifying LF that we are carrying cut the suggestions proposed by Dr Fulton, and are "offering the following prizes: First prize £2 2s and the book prize donated by Mr Oscar Ceilings, entitled Animals of Lew Zealand,” by Hutton and Drummond. Second prize Cl Is and a book prize Wild Lue in Australia,” by Le Souef lliird prize, 103 6d. COMPETITION LETTER No. 1. Jiboiio some of our native birds. One of the prettiest of cur native birds is the fan to if its ml‘T ° its h ? bit of spreading its tail lik,. a fan. A popular little creatv’-o it is, for it will even inter tire house ‘at times and catch the flies that flit about'tliwindow panes. In the open it may often be seen flying from branch to branch, darting heie ant. there, ever on the move. If V ve are ciose enough to the fantail we mav hear the snap of its little bill as it catches the insects that hover among the trees It is n most use.ul bird to the orchardist for i! preys upon the codlin moth, which causes such havoc among the crops of apples and pears. . Fan tails are now protected by law danrured ■ b-g eggs must not be darned, but these birds are so pr e ttv in their ways and so useful in their habits that siuely there is nobody who would seek to aestroy even one of these sweet little crca tures for any reason whatsoever. Thef ts q WO T , WSoan, one of the most beautiful w d r h u- eVOr , seen - D « very tame hc-n feeding on the berries of the "trees it scatters the seeds to the ground, and thus th* young plants spring up. The wood ptaeon is also protected by law, Hut none of these pretty creatures should need the authority of the law to save them from destruction t notll . e , r favOUrite of , mine is the white-eye' so called because of the plain white rinround its eyes. It is also known Is the blight bird, for it eats the blight that is found on the fruit trees. The smallest bird m Lew Zealand is the tiny wren which is about 3in in length, and with hardly any tail I have seen it searching in the nooks of the bark ever on the alert for a choice morsel for its young ones. I could tell a great deal more about our native birds, but I shall oon'clude. Kind regards to all the L.F. not forgetting yourself.—Yours truly, MOTHERS HELP (Nokomai). COMPETITION LETTER No. 1. Dear Dot, —I am going to tell you a little about some of our native birds. I will tell you first of the morepork. His colour is brown. The morepork never comes out in the day time, he always comes out at night. He looks for his food after the sun has gone down. He preys upon rats and mice,

and upon the moths and beeiles which come out at night. His nest may be found in a hollow tree, and if we were to find one wg should watch it closely. When the eggs arc hatched we should see funny little fluffy chickens in the nest. When the morepork is out at night we should hear him calling out “Morepork, morepork” quite plainly. The tni has two white tufts of feathers at his throat. His chief delight is to sit on the highest branches cf the lofty trees and sip the honey from the bush flowers. Surely it must be the honey that gives such sweetness to his wonderful song! Listen to the chime of bells! Whence come such beautiful tones'? bar asovs us, where the sunlight dances in little places on the dark green leaves we see the tui. Both the tui and the boll-bird are honey eaters, as they dip their bills into the flowers some of the pollen sticks to the leathers round the hill, and is thus carried from one blossom to another. This pollen is needed for making the tiny seeds from which the new trees will spring, and so these wonderful little singers are reallv of holy to the life of the forest. Love to° a Scotch Sheik, also to Tiny Tot, not foreetiing your own dear self.—Yours truly, GOLDEN BIdLLS (Nokomai). COMPETITION LETTER No. 3. Dear Dot, I will write another competition letter in place of the last one I sent, a-s it was about the pheasant, and therefore no good for the competition. Unfortunately the letter was posted before I saw your answer to mv query, or I would not have sent it in. I will now write about the wood-hen or weka. At Present the wekas are very numerous about here, but they will very likelv decrease in number as the remaining bush is cleared and the swamps drained. °Thev are inclined to be a pest just now, as they come up to, the house at nights, and if there is a uen’s nest they can get at they will carry away the eggs and eat them. The weka is a slightly smaller bird than the ordinary fowl and is a. dark brown colour. They have rers : small wings and they are therefore unable to fly, but tney can run very swiftly and are ab e to dodge in and out of the tussocks in a perfectly dazzling manner. If" vou watch one running you will notice t-liat it flaps te 3 wings as it goes, which helps it to attain les great speed; so the wings, though smaF ;V-° eutn-ely useless. On misty nights they usually carf cut to one- another and it fn . list «n t<> about 10 of them . t ‘mi lng tbelr plaintive call at the same time. The weka makes its nest in the fusbeside a creek, or at the foot of a usuPta tl b'n,vi n b Y SI1 ’ and the bests arc u , *-‘ 5 "aud t° End, as they are* nearly ahvays covered up with leaves. If tLe nest is beside a creek it is made between two tussocks or m a hollow log G r „tunin T+ w oompesed of dry grass and rubbish, and is veij cleverly hidden under the tu f 3Gtk ' '-i-'l’-e nests that are m the bush arc- usually at the foot o f trees, cabbage trees preferably These nes+« 0t 3 > “ad when the bird is off the nest the eggs arc sometimes covered up so a.s to hide them from view Abour eight or nine large creamy-coloured Offgs with brown and grey spots on them are laid, and then the hen bird proceeds to hatch them out. In about three weeks’ time the eggs hatch out, and she has a brood of fluffy little chicks to look after When the chicles are young their plumage is a light brown colour, but as they grow older it changes to dark brown. A lot of nests are destroyed by floods, and a good many eggs are eamn by rats and weasels, so the weka ha-s an up-hill struggle to rear its young. Vieiras have been known to go into camps anct carry away spoons and forks and other glittering - objects, while others have been made pets of, so they are not what we would cat! wild native birds such as the hawk and duck. I think this is all I can write about but I will write about some oilier biros later on. —Yours truly, KAKA (Upper Tutaenui). COMPETITION LETTER No. 3. Dear Dot, —At school I have to do an analysis—that is, dividing a sentence into different parts such as subject, predicate, and object, and clauses, and I have been trying to do the same with the birds, each letter dealing with a different subject, so this time I will write about the song or call of different birds I hear. Every bird has its own song, cr;-, or call, and I give first- prize for the sweetest song -to the little grey warbler, second to the hedge sparrow, third to the ringoye or fantail. The hedge sparrow is not a native bird, but it has a very sweet little song wlien it: likes to sing on rare occasions, mostly in the spring time. The tomtit has a queer little melody, more of a whistle than a song. Of the larger birds, tuis. mockers, t-lnushes, and blackbirds only the first- two are native birds of New- Zealand The thrush is, I think, the best songster of the four if we except the sweet bell-like notes of the mocker, and for this reason it is some times called the beilbird; but the tui, late on a summer’s evening or early morning, has similar notes. The brown cuckoo, though we seldom hear it row, has a shrill, piercing call like a- shriek, and it is sometimes called by that name, “ihe shriek.” There is a swamp about half a mile from my home, and sometimes, on a still moonlight night, when in bed, I can hear two distinct calls of some night bird—ono shrill like a cuckoo's, but not so harsh; the other more of a booming sound. This, T was told, was made by the bittern and the other by a swamp-rail. I also hear the cry “More-perk, mniore-pork” of the native owl or more-pork and the whistle of the little grey owl (imported). All the night birds seem to have a harsh call or cry, and I have often thought how nice it would be if we had nightingales here, so we could hear their song at night,. To-day I aaw a kingfisher, the first for a long time, and do you know what it was doing, Dot?—cracking nuts with a stone and eating the kernels just as a boy would, except that the nuts were shell-fish (periwinkles) and that it was cracking them on the stone with its strong beak. There was quite a little heap of shells round the stone, so evidently it used the same stone often. Tlic kingfisher is a pretty bird with its cream vest and coat of kingfisher blue. Sometimes we motor to the beach in summer, and we see there different kinds of sea birds, sometimes thousands of petrels and mutton birds, a few godwits, shags, dotterels, and gulls. It is interesting to watch the gulls picking up a tokeroa (shell-fish), fly up into the air, and drop it on the hard beach to break it. Sometimes a young gull (you can tell them by their grey colour instead of white and dark, as in older birds) would fly up too high, and before it would swoop down for its prize another bird watching would be there before it. The other birds would chase the thief, screaming and squawking, until it dropped it.—Yours truly, JULIE (Invercargill).

The official Influenza precautions issued by the Health Department are almost identical with the directions for taking FLUENZOL, which should he slightly wanned, gargled and sniffed up twicedaily.