Did You Hear That ?

Southland Times, Issue 23954, 21 October 1939, Page 11

Did You Hear That ?

Handwriting MOST people, I suppose, assume that handwriting affords some indication of the character of the writer. The extremes of temperament, rashness and caution, optimism and pessimism, extravert and introvert dispositions, are liable to reveal themselves externally in dress, in conversation, in the way a person walks into a crowded room—and in handwriting. Such impressions are a good rule-of-thumb guidance to character, but they do not take us very far, and sometimes they are misleading. We have alb received letters written in a big sprawling hand from someone who turns out to be neat and dainty in looks and appearance, and conversely pugilists have been known to use a pen more donnishly than many dons. —John Brophy, London. Long-lived Birds THE claim of a Yorkshire farmer that he owns a hen over 10 years old £s notable, but that hen will have

to, live another 10 years to create a record for its kind in Britain. And not very long ago a hen died at Sutton, Surrey, after 18 years of consistently useful life.

Compared with other birds, however, domestic fowls are not long-lived. Even canaries have survived to the age of 20 years, and a St. Helena singing finch has been known to live 22 years. Of English- birds a house-sparrow once lived in captivity for 17 years, but that feat was surpassed by a linnet which survived to be 22, a goldfinch 23, both a skylark and a garden warbler 24, and a nightingale 25 years.

—The Manchester Guardian. Everything in Place

THE skeleton is hiding in the closet as it should, The needle’s in the haystack and the trees are in the wood, The fly is in the ointment and the froth

is on the beer, The bee is in the bonnet and the flea is in the ear.

The meat is in the coco-nut, the cat is in the bag, The dog is in the manger and the goat

is on the crag, 0 The worm is in the apple and the clam is on the shore, The birds are in the bushes and the wolf is at the door. —Arthur Guiterman, in The Saturday Evening Post, Philadelphia. Recluse A FRIEND called upon a guest at a hotel, knocked, and asked him to open the door. “Can’t; door’s locked!” the voice within announced. “Well, unlock it!” the caller requested. ' “Can’t; lost the key!” “Great Scott, man! What will you do if there is a fire?” “I won’t go!” . —The Christian Science Monitor. High Class Hobby

THE centenary notices of Walter Pater mention his unusual habit of reading himself to sleep (or, if that is an invidious phrase, of reading before he went to sleep) from the Dictionary of National Biography. As that work runs to 63 volumes of about 450 pages, he can have had no hope of reaching a Finis. It was a high-class hobby, but, perhaps a little unsociable. There was a lesser litrerary light who started on the Encyclopaedia Britannica, with the result that none of his friends dared to converse with him on any topic later than the letter C. —Observator in The Observer, London. Motor Slogans

MR Stuart A. Hirst, at a meeting of Leeds Safety First Council, quoted some of the slogans he had seen on motor-cars in New York City, among them the following:— “ ‘lf you drink, don’t drive. If you drive, don’t drink.’ “ ‘Carefully drive to arrive alive.’ “ ‘This is a highway not a speedway.’

“‘Better reach your home at 6 p.m. than the infirmary at 5.50.’

“ ‘The car has no brains—use yours.’ “ ‘Children should be seen—not hurt.’ ” —Public Opinion, London.