ON THREE PENNY PIECE

Southland Times, Issue 19254, 27 May 1924, Page 9

ON THREE PENNY PIECE

LORD'S PRAYER INSCRIBED. “The Lord’s Prayer in a sixpence? Why I can write it inside a three penny piece!” And Sergt. R. Getliff, late of the 61st Foot, and now of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, legibly inscribed the Lord’s Prayer within the prescribed space and presented it to a newspaper representative in London. Sergt. Getliff, who is seventy-eight, explained how he developed his remarkable penmanship. Twelve years ago, walking near Victoria Station, he was accosted by a constable with the challenge, ‘T want you!

You're supposed to be a very fine penman, and I’m the best penman of our division. Can you write the Lord’s Prayer within the circle of a sixpence?” The sergeant replied, “I think so,” and he did. The constable failed, and according to one condition of the contest, never allows the old man to pass him, even nowadays, without the salute. Sergt. Getliff was not content. He determined to get the Prayer inscribed within a three-penny piece and the Creed within the dimensions of a Id. postage stamp. In both he has succeeded. There is not a Dominion without a copy of Sergt. Getliffis handiwork —Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa—they all have them, and as, for a small consideration, he disposes of a hundred copies a year, he is able to add materially to his comforts. “Many distinguished officers and their ladies,” he tells you proudly, “have had copies of my penmanship.” Sergt. Getliff has been twelve years in the Hospital.