The WENDY HUT LETTERBOX

Taranaki Daily News, 17 October 1931, Page 21 (Supplement)

The WENDY HUT LETTERBOX

LETTERS to ba Addressed: "WENDY,” Care Taranaki Kally Box lIS. NEW PLYMOUTH

Ruth Nicholson, Waitara: Three cheers for Ruth; We are glad you have come to join our family. Thank you for the riddles and the dear little poem, which Baby Margaret likes very much. When will you write us] a letter?

Sylvia Price, Oiikura: You will soon have a fainily of fluffy little chickens, and what happy times ybu will spend watching them 1 One of “Ban Tim’s” little chicks was cheeky . enough to stand on its mother’s back, and when she got up it had a little ride and then a tumble. Baby Matgaret is gardening to-day, pulling out all the weeds that sprang up after the warm rains. Claire Grinlinton, Pungarfehu: Billikins says the “painting folk” have had their turn, so now he is going to give the “writing folk’’ a turn, but I think that everyone will be able to join in. Did you see the Wendy dressmaker’s clever little nighty case last week? It would make a lovely Christmas present for your friends. “Joy-bells of Peace,” No * Plymouth: Yes, we have a vegetable garden, .and I can see Billikins running in with a bunch of fat red radishes for lunch. Very soon we shall be having crisp green lettuce salads; will you? Thank you for the poetry. Can you imagine how beautiful- the -hills, in Scotland look with the purple heather like a purple mist stretching for miles?

Lalla Radcliffe, .Uruti; Y r es, .you may have t.hpt pen-name. ; Did •you-know it is called the .flower of remembrance ? I saw a lovely apple orchard' this week. It was a.mass of pink and.white blossom, the scent was beautiful. It had been raining , fine, . mje-ty': raip, and every bloesoni was’ covered in dewdrops. “Mother’s . Help,” Pungarehu: At last “Susan” has been decided upon to be the pet lamb’s name, so “Susan” it will be called in future. “Billee” has grown up Very quickly, ,'but he' won’t like going without his brittle! The valleys are filled with golden gorse ju&t. as if it had 'been tipped out and was flowing down like a river. • ’

Cora Andrews, Okalo: Good ' morning, little stranger! How would Irene like “Clover’’ for the name of her little calf? There are lots of birds in the Hut garden; Baby Margaret feeds them every day and they splash about in the bird bath on the lawn.. I have heard a peculiar sharp call lately and have just learned that it is a erGeorge Herbert, Awakino: Welcome to our large family, George; we are so pleased to have f you. Eileen Will be at the' very miscliievous age, and I expect you have to watch all your toys and school things, don’t you.? I hope “Pansy” will, be very successful iii the competition; we like her- name very much. ' Ronald Reid, New Plymouth: Another new member, hurrah! Billikins' is 'bustling about finding an erirolment card to send to you. You will like -it better when you colour it in, too. No, we have not any marmalade oranges growing, but we have wonder-lemons — those large lemon-shaped things that make fine lemon marmalade.

. “The Three Kittens,” Brixton:'. You will have Seen in Other T’hiks’ letters by now that lambic' is.now called “.Susan.” Do yon like that name? Tinker Bell is giving odd. corners of the pint touches of paint to 'brighten it lip for the spring. She loves flourishing a paint brush and one wonders w.hat will be the next thing to be dabbed.

Mavis Humphries, Opunake: One must have rain to have gardens, so we must not mind when it conies, although it is hard when it spoils a picnic, isn’t it? Have you ever read the little poem with these lines in—“Thp soft libt'le hands of the rain stroking my cheek, the kind little feet of . the rain ran by my side”? Eileen Bryant, Tangarakau: What excitement there will 'be when the canary brings out some little —I was going to say chickens, but that's not right, is it? When balls go on the roof, Billikins is the person to send for. He loves roaming about on housetops like Father Christmas. Evelyn Calder, Matapu: We are very glad to welcome you into our Circle, Evelyn, and we christen you a Tink. Baby Margaret thinks the poem about the blackbird’s nest is lovely because she has discovered, a nest .with four little thrushes in it.

“Dewdrop,” Lowgarth: Tinker Bell has found her way to the dovecote with her paint brush now, and I am sure the pigeons will not recognise their newly-painted house when, they return from the day’s wanderings. Baby Margaret is picking handfuls of daisies, and soon she will have us all making daisy chains.

Ilene Thompson, Te Kiri: Thank you very much for the jokes you sent for our page, and I am sure our Tinks will enjoy them, too. What a gay garden yours must be with its clusters of flowers! Perhaps yours is a late rose and will bloom later than the rest. I have seen one pink one nodding in our garden. “Pink Rose,” Rawhitiroa; You. have a busy life, but I am sure it is a happy one, isn’t it? There is not’always time to write Wendy a letter, but she thinks of all her Tinks all- the same. Some horrid old slugs have come and eaten our pansies, and all t'he' flowers have funny little nibbled edges. Gladys James, Waitara: Your little calf niust be very fond of you if it follows ypii everywhere. I suppose you are glad that it drinks by itself now because it can give your lingeis quite sharp little nips, can't it? I can see a .silver track tri beneath a stone, where a snail is waiting for nightfall to come out and chew our plants up.

Reggie Rookes, Pungarehu: I J"’ 011 * der if you. have ever seen a squinel? It is a very pretty little creature, and its movements are so graceful; its tail is almost as long as its body and is so pretty and fluffy. I one in a wood, one day, sliding up and down trees, gathering nuts and cracking them- to sec if they were ready to store away in his winter store-cupboard.

Roscoe George, Hawera: You have a year more of fun before you than we thought you had, although we are sorry to have inade the mistake. Your account of your lamb suggests its name should be “Frisky;” doesh t it? The wind has come in at the window and out by the door, leaving a whirl of Daucrs behind as he trues.

Queenie and Douglas Coombe, Oaonui: The piece of cake was delicious and all the Hut folk tasted it and ask me to thank you for remembering us. Was mummy the splendid cook? I think you must have missed the answer to your letter because I kiiow I sent you one. Could you find your favourite sweet in the “'Cheery Children’s Corner” last week? Ngaire Campbell, Pungarehu: We are all hoping you will find this competition as much fun as a painting one.. Billikins says that everyone must have his or her turn, so “that,” said John, “is that”—only' it was Billikins this time. Your spring bulbs must be late. if they are just coming out now, because ours arc all finished. Irene Wilson, New Plymouth: Three cheers for passing, your music examination so well! I am sure you find that all your work has been thoroughly worth while, don’t you? You are very fortunate to.have your own school baths and they are set in such .pretty surroundings. I know the old river well. Ruth Laird, Mata: Tinker Bell is greatly amused about your forgetting your pen-name, but she Says that “Fairy' Wand.’’ is the correct one. She is brushing cobwebs with a long handled broom this morning and I can see spiders scuttling everywhere for shelter. There isn’t room for the Hut family and spiders, too, in the Wendy Hut! Jean Laird, Mata: Baby Margaret sends love and kisses to Lcali arid hopes she is well again. “'Ban Tims” little chicks are so pretty and look like young pheasants, with their browny feathers. Father “Ban Tim” finds worms for ..his family and gives them bits in turn. “Waratah,”' Tirimoana; Thank you for the little message you sent by that ■little flower. I think it is one of the daintiest' little flowers that grow in a garden, and also one of the most shy, because one usually finds it nesting beneath a taller plant. I lore Iceland poppies, too; they are like captured sunshine. Bell Kilpatrick, Auroa: . Baby Margaret is tired of playing grizzly bears so now she is going to have a game with her lamb; I can see him Jumping up for joy because he thinks it means “bottle-time”! The naughty little chap has eaten all the heads of the woodhyacinths; I think he must have liked the colour. “Country Maiden,” Lowgarth: For a little lady who does not like writing letters you write a very interesting one. All the rhododendrons are out in flower in the gardens just now, anil just outside my- bed-room window is a very deep cerise- .one, - each head of bloom like a beautiful bouquet. Bell Waller, Eltham: George must feel quite grown-up with his “real man’s” presents’. Billikins had an old watch which he took to ’ittle bits, and ■ when he put it together again he had enough for two watches! Wasn’t that clever! We are so glad to hear you are all quite well again. “Sweet Briar,” Matapu: The Hut dressmaker says she has never made any stuffed animals, but she thinks it would be quite easy, if you cut them out in paper first. For instance, draw a cat (you know what one looks like sitting in front of the fire) and sew a round 'piece at the bottom so that it will stand up. Of course, the tail would have to be sewn on afterwards. “Heather Maiden.” Waitui: Would vou like “Kerry” and “Poppy” for your calves’ names? Baby Margaret has so many nice names for her lamb that she calls him a different name every day, but last, night, as he was creeping into bed, she said she thought she would call him “Susan.” Rex Woodley, Mangamingi: Billikins has read t'he account of your car experiences with wide-open eyes and mouth. How glad we all are that the flames did not touch you! Daylight saving is splendid, though it does seem strange to have tea when the sun is shining. Do those 30 pigs belong to you? Clarence Brown, Auroa: Welcome into our big family, Clarence, and We hope you will enjoy being amongst us just as much as you enjoy going to school and having fun with the other boys. Billikins took the lawn mower out into the fields and mowed a cricket pitch, and now the poor old lawn mower is too blunt to be used. Geoffrey Hardwicke-Smith, Mangamingi: AVhat a lovely place to go for a holiday! Billikins wants you to tell him all about the Zoo next time you write because he has never seen a Zoo, where you feed the monkeys with nuts and give buns to the elephants. Zoos are cruel places, but at last we are learning to give captured creatures open spaces to roam in as they do in their native countries. Edna Reynolds, Oaonui: Someone else has the pen-name you would have liked, but Tinker Bell suggests either “Red Rose-bud” or “Rosie.” Which would you like? Wouldn’t it be very funny if pussy brought out some chickens! He is a very thoughtful cat and I don’t suppose Tweet’s mother minds a bit! Melva Reynolds, Oaonui: The drawings are beautiful and our favourite this time is Cliff with.his boxing gloves on.' Bi'llikiue says he looks really very fierce in his . fighting mood. I know that lovely little creeper with berries like red match-tops, that grows with the moss, and another one I like very much has little fat'purple berries. “Goldy Locks,” Pungarehu: Tell Tommy we shall be very pleased to have, him if he wants to join the Hut. The poem you' sent has been in before so that is why you have looked vainly on the other page. Never mind, send another next time. Are the slippers for you, or Daddy or Mummy? “Golden Stars,” Auroa: All the lambs are nearly as big as their mothers now and can chew grass just as quickly. Baby Margaret's lamb ducked in through t'he garden gate this morning and came inside to greet us at breakfast. ' That must be the last time he does that or he will have to go in the fields with the others.

Robbio Kilpatrick, Auroa:. The Hut folk like fine, sunny days, too, so that they can get out to play in the garden. The rose-trees are in bud and the Hut gardener has been spraying them because every bud is covered with tiny little green creatures that spoil the flowers. Have you any on your rosebushes ?

Doris Ayson, Westown: It is too bad that "Old Mau ’’Flu has found where you live and has bothered you so, and we hope you have sent him on his wav by now. There is a lovely sun shining that will kill all cold germs and make the gardens bright and tyiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiHiiHiiiiiiiiiiiiiitiHiiiiißiiiiHiiniliitiiitiiiiiitti

FLOOD SALVAGE. Three school children rode slowly down the slushy country road, heads bent against the driving rain, and reins loose on their ponies’ necks, to allow their hands refuge in their pockets. “They sent flood warnings down the river this morning,” said David Garland, one of the three. “I bet we’ll have more water to-morrow than we want to bathe in, Pqrity. . “t know.” It was a girl’s voice which answered. “Dad’s getting the sheep off the river flats this afternoon.” “I think it will come down to-night, said the third rider, quietly. “I’m no weather prophet, but I do know that Bevan’s dam won’t stand this lain. It nearly broke in the last fall, and I kiiow he has not done anything to it.” They emerged from the screening trees and halted aghast at what they saw. All three of them had been born and bred by the river, but never in their short lives had they seen it so high. The paddocks on either side were sheets of rushing water. - Polity gave such an exclamation of dismay that they looked at her. “.The sheep,” she said. “There’s 200 lambing ewes in the little river paddock.” They crossed a little watercourse to reach the place—a mere gutter-like depression, usually dry, and the water reached halfway up the ponies’ legs. lit seemed they were none too soon. The sheep were huddled together on a patch of high ground, with water all round them, deep on three sides and rapidly rising, though still shallow on the fourth. Fumbling at the gate with numbed fingers, Dave swung it open, and they splashed through 50 yards of swirling water to the sheep. Without dogs to help them, the rescuers were at something of a disadvantage. for the sheep were afraid of the running water, and broke back from it time and again; but foot by foot they were driven doggedly on, until with a terrified bleat the first one dashed in and tho others followed. The ground sloped suddenly into a deep gutter. The sheep were trying to turn back, the lambs were being swept off their feet. Shouting, pushing and striking desperately at the stubborn sheep, shoving and lifting the lambs over the deep place, they struggled on, the light dimming, the rain increasing and the water growing momentarily higher. Polity felt that there was nothing else to do but drive sheep through swirling water for the rest of her life, and felt quite a surprise when they all of a sudden bolted ahead, and she saw that they were through the gate and on to the higher groun- . “We can’t get them any further,” yelled Dave. “I don’t think the water can get this high;” “They’ll have to take their chance, anyway.” Dennis rubbed his hand over his face and left a black streak. “We’ll have our work cut out to get the rest of the way ourselves.” Had they been any later his words would have been only too true. As it was, the water, which before had reached the ponies’ knees, washed round their saddle flaps, as they rode through it towards home; Morning sliowcd the waters receding, and. the higher ground still uneubniergcd. The sheep were saved. THE WIRELESS BEACON. A lighthouse sends out a beam of light into the night which the human eye can see. But this beam cannot penetrate fog. A bearii of wireless waves is not interfered with by fog, and though it cannot be seen it can be turned into signals the ear can hear. For many years a wireless signal would travel in all directions alike. Then came the modern miracle of detecting from what direction the waves were sent. 5 A ship in dense fog could listen to a wireless message and say: “These signals are coming from a Station north, east, west or south of us,” and so on. Such a receiving device was called a wireless compass; and it soon became possible for ships to detect the direction of the signals with great accuracy. Thus it happened that the idea of the wireless beacon came about. By its means signals which cannot be seen can be heard by the wireless operator on board ship, and by means of the wireless compass can be located just as a lighthouse is located by the beam of light. By locating two such wireless beacons the navigator can find quite quickly tho exact bearings of his ship in foggy weather. “HERMETICALLY SEALED.” You often hear the expression, "My lips' are hermetically, sealed, ’L by which tho person -speaking means that- no word of what has been confided to him shall be repeated. Again, we say, “The dobrs * and .’windows of that house are hermetically sealed,” meaning they are very firmly closed. But these are mere figures of speech. I'or to seal’ a thing “hermetically” is to seal -t “like a cheriiist.” When chemists have anything they wish to preserve from the air, they heat the neck of the vessel until it is quite soft; then they twist it until the opening is firmly closed up, thus sealing in the contents. Now, an ancient Egyptian called Hermes is supposed to have invented chemistry, among other things, so you will quite understand how the phrase “hermetically sealed” came into use.

Yoii know flow Gwen caught a cfab the other day. Well,-she has had another funay" adventure with a crab, and Richard, Ted afid Polly have not yet finished teaslug her about it. This is how it happened. One niotning, Gwen and Polly washed Ted and Richard bathe until .Gwen began to get tired of it. “Let’s do something else,” she said. '

So Richard and Ted finished their bathe and dried themselves on the sand whilbjthey listened to-the proposition Gwen had to put before them. “I vote we go crab catching,” she-said. “Very well,” agreed Richard. “But how do we catch them?” “That will be easy,” Gwen declared. “Certainly Gwen ought to know,” said Polly. “She caught one the other day.” ..

As Gwen was so keen on catching a crab, the others decided it would be ' best to humour her. Sb, taking a bucket in which to place any crabs they might catch, they followed her across the rocks. .Gwen sniffed and sniffed, saying she could smell crab—but they must have been safely tucked away out of sight for never a crab did they discover!

Aftei: they had searched the rocks for a long time without catching sight of anything like a crab,' Gwen sat. down, thoroughly disgusted. “This stems td be a very poor place for crabs, she said. “Perhaps,” said Richard,’“we are nbt looking fdr them in the right place.” ' “Non Sense cried Gwen. “I coflld smell a crab a mile off.” She Coiiidn’t, hdwevtr, smell the one that is clutching at her tail!;

It was just when Gwen was thoroughly annoyed, and beginning to say she didn’t believe there were any crabs about, that she felt her tail gripped. It was a very good grip tod, because it was a large crab. Gwen flew up in the air with A lotid yell, much to the astonishment of the chums who, of course, didn’t see the crib behind the rock.

Now the leap into the air was such a sudden one that the crab was quite startled, and let go just as Gwen’s tail gave a great swing. To the surprise of all, especially the crab, he fell plop! in the bucket. That is how Gwen caught the second crab! She at? it for supper that evehing, and it tasted so nice that she did not even get annoyed when the chums teased her about the way she caught crabs.

The Beginner: "They say.a man can become so keen on golf that he forgets he's got a wife at-home.”-The Veteran: “Don't you believe it —you'll only bo disappointed.