THE WIGWAM

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 837, 4 December 1929, Page 15

THE WIGWAM

Here ice gather, here tee meet in pow-toow friendly and discreet, To talk of earth, and tea, and sky, and watch the world of men go by.

THIS YEAR OF OURS

“DECEMBER the fourth,” says the wind, tweaking at the newlyturned leaf on the calendar. “This year of ours is nearing its close, Redfeather.” “But the word December has a merry ring,” answers Redfeather, setting a paper-weight on a sheaf of Christmas contributions. “December means holidays for Chiefs and Braves now deep in the Book of Knowledge, sunny weather, hikes and camping expeditions. Then, just think, Christmas is only a paltry three weeks away. Already the holly is appearing in the places where people trade their silver in return for girts for tlieir friends, and the thought of that old benefactor .with the snow\ locks and crimson robe is again active in the minds of children. December is like a fairv tale.” . “With a happy ending,” gives back the wind, pausing at the Wigwam camp-fire and kindling the freshly-stacked twigs to a merry blaze. “This vear of ours.” What comings and goings it has seen, and what friendships it has sealed where the Totem 1 ole stands, a sturdy symbol of the Great Outdoors. rEDFE \tHER

YOUTH

1 wonder if it will be fine tonight, 0p if the wind will blow? having a dance down at the

Shore Light, Th *y've decked the hall with clematis fern, AH starry- eyed and shy, 2* here am I tth history still to learn . . . P*. will the minutes ever pass today? seems an age; a hke to throw theso lesson books away! now I’ve lost the page! nhiiam the Connueror” (I wonder -n, "’hat I'll wear? newest one I think; Ui . 8 ***« taffeta, but there, ‘"ays <iu look rather sweet in pink). 5 last the bell! I cannot learn this ®tllfr; TW s,ock5 ,ock must have been slow . . . tonight, but oh. I wonder, * wonder if XJi b e allowed to go. Harvest Moon (Alma Chamberlain).

VARNISHED money

. better kind of paper money has !ssued by the United States Govni ®«nt which should be cleaner and ? «• handle. a -j® improvements are the result of of experiment, and they 'njbnrtant because in almost all , tr * €a Paper money has come for '’oat » T l e American notes are ke* a Protective varnish which 'iualv them from getting greasy or >o a,’ an< * the Paper is more supple, an* 1 at can he folded more easily more often.

A NEW CLOCK

A new clock, with a vibrating quartz crystal instead of a pendulum, has been evolved through some recent experiments in the Bell telephone laboratOl\ properly-cut crystal placed between two metal plates oscillates at an absolutely definite rate when a suitable electric current is applied to the plates, and crystals vibrating in this way have been made to control the speed of an electric motor which drives the hands.

More copper has been produced in the last twenty years than in the preceding seven thousand.

“CAT-TIME”

A curious story is contained in an old volume written by a Frenchman, one of the earliest missionaries to China. He was walking in the country one day, and saw a little Iboy driving a buffalo. The Frenchman asked the young Chinese the time. The boy looked up, but the sun was hidden by clouds. “Wait a minute,” he said, and ran to a cottage nearby. When the child returned he carried a cat, and said: “Look at her eyes; you see. it is not yet noon.” Tho Frenchman thought the boy was mad, so he thanked the child without questioning him. Later on he related the incident to some Chinese friends. They laughed, and sent a servant to collect alf the cats he could. Three or four were soon brought. Then one of the Chinese explained that the pupil of a cat’s eye gets narrower and narrower as the morning wears on. till at noon it is only a thin line like a hair. After noon it slowly widens once more. The Frenchman saw that the pupils of all the cats in the room were of the same size, and that, by cat-clock it was noon.

GIRL GUIDES’ CORNER

Introducing the last Caved Girl Guide report for the year. Drawn by Golden Birch (Marie Reid).

Golden Birch reports for the Cavell Company: “The past month has been one of rehearsals and hard work, combined with much nervousness in anticipation of our concert. The whole of every Guide meeting was taken up with handicrafts and practice for the play entitled ‘The New Order,’ which the Guides produced. The concert was held at the Guide I-lall on Thursday, November 28, and we all agreed that the success of the plays was due to the coaching given us by Dr. Margafet Knight, our company president. Now that the concert is over we are all working hard to make our break-up as great a success.

“On Wednesday (today) 12 Guides are going for their Child Nurse badge, and during the past month several have gained their Laundress, Cook’s and Domestic Service badges. “Next Saturday week, together with St. Thomas’s Company, we are all going for a hike to Waikowhai. A treasure hunt, a sand-building competition and many other exciting events are to form the programme, so, if the weather permits, we are looking forward to a jolly day. “We complete our Guide year on December 18.

“As this is our final report for the year, we take the opportunity of wishing our fellow-Guides a Merry Christmas and a ‘Guidey’ New Year.” * * * ' Bluebird reports for the Second St. David’s Company:

“On November 5 we held our meeting in spite of the fact that it was Guy Fawke’s Day. We played several interesting games, and the marks for the month resulted as follow: Kotari patrol, 1; Robin patrol, 2; Thrush patrol, 3. “On November 12 we held the concert for which we had been practising for so long. Items were given by the Guides and some friends. “On November 19 we discussed the swimming sports and also gave in entries for the athletic sports which are to be held on December 7. “November 26 brought a camp night with the Thrush patrol as cooks. “The results of the swimming sports were: Robin patrol, 1; Thrush patrol, 2: Kotari patrol, 3. The company championship fell to Joan Woodford, with Margaret Burton second.” FOR WISE HEADS Word Diamond: 1— A consonant. 2By way of. 3To shrink away from. 4To perform. 5 The end of time. Answer to last week’s word square: Lily. Idea. Lear. Yard.

WITH THE BOY SCOUTS

Mr. Charles C. Moore, National VicePresident of the Boy Scouts of America, and also Vice-President of the English-speaking Union, who organised the Malolo world friendship tour, called at the Boy Scouts’ headquarters yesterday and made the acquaintance of Commissioner W. J. Holds worth and the headquarters staff. It is to be regretted that owing to the shortness of his visit he was unable to become more fully acquainted with the movement in Auckland. It would also have been interesting to have heard his views on Scouting in America.

Scoutmaster Norman S. Conquer advises that the Gunson Signalling Cup will not be competed for until next February.

The Scoutmaster of St. David’s Troop reports that the Rover section, attached to this troop, is progressing rapidly and that the membership is now 16.

On a recent week-end the Scoutmaster and four Rovers carried out a twenty-five mile hiking expedition, visiting Huia and Cornwallis. and camping out for .the night. This is the first of a series of hikes to be conducted fortnightly if possible. On December 7 the Rovers propose to visit Hunua.

It is hoped that all Rovers will be invested' before Christmas.

A troop magazine to be called. “Te Tiki,” edited and printed by AssistantScoutmaster Butterworth, will be available this week.

# * *f [ Straight Feather reports for the Eilerslie Troop:

“The great event for the Ellerslie Troop during November was the concert given on Thursday evening, November 21. Three short plays were rehearsed each Friday night, but the items by individuals were left to the industry of the performer himself. It was the first time the troop had appealed to the public for funds, with the result that the concert was very successfully held before a full house. The Assistant-Commissioner, Mr. E. B. B. Boswell, was present, and during the performance distributed the badges won at the last Proficiency Badge night. Many favourable comments were afterward passed about the concert, and we hope that in the future even greater success will be attained. As a reward for the excellent efforts of the troop in this connection, our Scoutmaster allowed us to have an evening of games instead of work at our next parade.

“As Christmas draws near the interests of every tro >;) are naturally turning to camp. This year our site has been fixed at Howick, where the troop camped two years ago.” Great Lone Eagle ,of the Devouport Troop, writes: “Our last camp was very much enjoyed. We had swimming, hiking and games and are now looking forward to Christmas camps. We are renovating our headquarters on Mount Victoria, and this will keep us busy for some time. “Troop-Leader Catchpole has been presented with his First Class and King’s Scout badges, this being the first occasion for years that any boy in the troop has succeeded in passing these badges. “We are preparing for a contest in cricket with any other troops willing to play us.” A BEE’S WORKING DAY A bee has been known to visit 27 flowers in a minute. The general average is 15 a minute, and as a bee is usually working for eight hours a day this means that it makes 7,200 visits each. day.

DARTMOOR

WHERE ELEVEN RIVERS BEGIN Dartmoor, one of the most savage and desolate areas in England, is a wonderland as perplexing to the uninstructed as any place on earth. It is wild beyond reclamation over a great part of its area, too poor in soil even for Devonshire farmers, yet this inhospitable wilderness is a mother of rivers. No fewer than 11 rivers take their rise in a small area of the wilderness.

Those rivers are the Taw, the Ockment, the Teign, the Dart, the Avon, the Erme, the Yealm, the Plym, the Meavy, the Tavy, and the Lyd. They carry with them the golden gift of life and fertility wherever, they flow along the rich valleys, and their mouths form ports and harbours which have been cradles of history. Plymouth is, of course, at the mouth of the Plym, and Drake was familiar with its course long before he anchored ship at the little island which bears his name at the foot of the Hoe.

Eleven rivers, and no height which a mountaineer would consider worth his attention! The marvel of this system of rivers may be seen in operation at the close of any fine hot day. The sun draws up great clouds of vapour from the Atlantic, which drift across Dartmoor, condense upon the granite tors, and settle down as water in the mire and bogs. Even the scanty covering of soil which Dartmoor boasts, powdered remnants of granite and sandstone of other days, affords root-hold for vegetation, and this in course of time has become changed into peat; some of it 50ft deep—death to the unwary walker, life to 11 rivers. THE WORD “GOSSIP” Gossip is a curious word. It now means idle talk or an idle talker, but once it had the dignified and sacred meaning of a sponsor in baptism. To gossip was to attend a christening in this important capacity, and the literal meaning of the word is “a relative of God.” As at such gatherings there was a great deal of talk and chattering among the friends and neighbours, and the gossips, being important people, took the lead, a gossip came to mean a chatterer.

THE OVEN BIRD

In Argentina is found the curious oven bird.

This bird, of which there are a number of varieties in South America, resembles* the tree-creeper, and gains its popular name from the fact that it constructs a nest resembling an oven. The bird is a little larger than a thrush and builds a nest of mud about fifteen to twenty feet from the ground on a tree or the wall of a house. The nest is nearly a foot high, conical in shape, and the cavity in which the eggs are laid, the nest proper, is hidden at the end of a passage. It seems that these interesting birds discovered that telephone poles would serve them as well as trees, and as the telephone poles were erected along the roads of Argentina the oven bird advanced with the poles. Formerly the bird was never seen north of Entre Rios, but now it has advanced to the northern territory of Misiones. The oven bird is greatly valued because it feeds upon destructive insects and their grubs. It is also a cheerful singer, and its bright notes, as an Argentine newspaper puts it, are symbolical of the way in which the once little-known area of Argentina is being won for civilisation. A SAGACIOUS ELEPHANT A short time ago the entire population of the little town of Ljusdal, in northern Sweden, was out in the streets enjoying the unusual and impressive sight of a German circus parading the main street with flying banners and gay music. Suddenly there was a cry of fear in the crowd, for in the middle of the road, quite alone and seemingly paralysed with fright, was a five-year-old boy in danger of being crushed by the elephant heading the parade. No one rushed to save him, for the little one was almost under the feet of the elephant, and everybody expected a catastrophe. Then, at the last moment, the huge animal tenderly seized the child with his trunk, lifted him out of the way of the procession and deposited him gently by the side of the street. The crowd cheered with delight, and the elephant went calmly on his way, evidently unconscious of the gTeat popularity he had won in Ljusdal.