BILLY BOYS’ WORKSHOP

Taranaki Daily News, 5 January 1935, Page 17 (Supplement)

BILLY BOYS’ WORKSHOP

A MINIATURE FORT. This is a good strong fort which can be made with pieces of quarter-inch wood and a sheet of three-ply measuring sixteen and a half inches by thirteen inches. The plywood is nailed along its edges to four strips, pne-and-a-half inches wide, to form the base for the fort.

After marking out the front and back parts to the measurements given in the diagram, saw them roughly to shape and then cut put the parts A,A, and also the doorway. Save the part cut out of the doorway, as this can be used for the door. The little notches along the top edges of the turrets can be cut out with a fretsaw, .and, after this is done, cut out the two parts for the sides, to the measurements given in diagram B. Nail the front and back parts to the sides, so that the tall turrets are at the back. These parts can now be fixed to the base by nails driven in from underneath. To complete the two corner tur-

rets at the front of the fort, cut out two pieces, C, and two more pieces of the same length, but one quarter inch wider. Nail each narrow part to a wider part, and glue them in place to form two turrets three inches square. To make the back turrets, cut out two pieces, D, and two more pieces the same length but one quarter inch wider. Nail each narrow piece to a wide piece, as before, and glue in place. For the entrance slope, cut two wedgeshape pieces, E, and nail or glue on to these a piece of fretwood pne-and-a-half inches wide. Fix the door in place with two small brass hinges screwed to the back of the door, and to the inside of th© fort wall. When painting the finished fort, use stone colour for the walls and turrets, light brown for the floor, and green for the sides of the base. The windows and slope can be painted red. The Hut Carpenter, J——■ LAST MOMENT IDEA SPAN OF WATERLOO BRIDGE. FINE ARCH ACROSS THE THAMES.

After 11 years a design fdr a new Waterloo Bridge has been produced which bids fair to solve most of the problems of that ill-starred work. It has come at the last moment of the last hour in this long story, for Sir Giles Scott, with the engineers of the London County Council, has suddenly planned a bridge of five spans which promises to add beauty and distinction to the Thames and still be in harmony with the old and new buildings on its banks.

Though the Children’s Newspaper has always stood for the dignity and charm of Rennie’s famous masterpiece, which need never have come down, it has never denied that a new and equally beautiful bridge could be built in its place, and this new design, besides being graceful in itself, will afford all who approach it by land or by water some delightful vistas which even the old bridge denied them. The new bridge sweeps right over the Embankment and over the river with its first arch, a new idea. It will be strange to the walker on the Embankment to see the parapet only halfway out under the first arch of the bridge, but he will be able to see tne wide curve of the shore instead of the massive masonry which now breaks the sweep of the river at that spot. The clearer view through these arches will also emphasise the hideous character of Charing Cross, and may convince the London County Council of the necessity of dealing with this age-old scandal. We hope, tc /, that a riverside road similar to the Embankment will run under the arch on the other side of the Thames and be flanked by buildings worthy of this new bridge.

Those wtio go up and down the Thames in ships will breathe sighs of relief at the width and design of the new arches, for they will' be 230 feet wide nearly twice as wide as the old bridge, and they will spring, not from highwater mark as of old, but from granite piers rising high above the level of the water and pierced in the centre to re • duce their heaviness. It is estimated that this new bridge will cost little more than £1,000,000, a smaller'sum than was anticipated. It,is hoped that no time will be lost in building :t, for the temporary bridge is a hideous flung and the triflic delays are appalling. Frankly one expects little advantage to traffic from the new bridge over the old one, but it is something to have this question settled, and it will be a relief to get the ugliness of Waterloo away. It has been a disgrace to' all concerned since the bridge began to crack.

OUR POETRY CARGOES. (.Sent by Ada Baylis). Quinquireme of Nineveh from distant Ophir, Rowing home to haven in sunny Palestine With a cargo of ivory, and apes, and peacocks, Sandalwood, cedarwood, and sweet white wine. Stately Spanish galleon coming from the Isthmus, Dipping through the tropics by the palm-green shores, With a cargo of diamonds, emeralds, amethysts, Topazes and cinnamon and gold moidores. Dirty British coaster witil a salt-caked smoke stack, Butting through the Channel in the mad March days With a cargo of Tyne coal, road rails, pig lead, Firewood, ironware and cheap tin trays. —John MasefieldTHE SCHOOL PLAY. (Sent by Iris Lepper). The Prefects got together In a formal sort of way— We knew they were descending On the actors for the play. •We hovered near as possible But couldn’t catch a word (Jill and I and Rosemary Are only in the Third). But presently they sent for us— It really was a thrill—--1 walked in very nicely, So did Rosemary and Jill. They eyed u$ with a businesslike. Deliberating frown, And I was simply agonized In case they turned us down! They checked the chosen characters And wrote them in a book; They wondered whether Rosemary Could manage “Captain Hook.” Exactly, what our feelings are Imagine if you can— They've fixed on Jill for '“Wendy” And on rxe for “Peter Pan"! > HOMEWARD. (Sent by Olive Saywell). Good-bye to you,, poop city, And to all your busy throng, For I’m on my journey homeward To the hills where I belong. I’m on my journey homeward To the dear green hills. With all their sudden gullies, And their little dancing rills. No clang of passing tram-car On the old bush track, 1 Just the liquid lilt of bird song, And the echoes answering back. No laughing, dapcing harbour Smiling blue beneath the sun, Just a little pebbly creeklet, Where happy children run. No bustling throng of people, But ope who waits for me, . So good-bye to you, poor city, And good-bye, you smiling sea. LETTY’S GLOBE.

(Sent by Marie MeAloon). When Letty had scarce pass’d her third glad year, And her young artless words began to flow, One day we gave the child a colour’d sphere Of the wide earth, that she might mark and know, By tint and outline, all its sea and land. She patted all the world; old empires peep’d Between her baby fingers, her soft hand Was welcome at all frontiers. How she leap’d And laugh’d and prattled in her world’ wide bliss! And when we turn’d, her sweet unlearned eye. * • . - On our own isle, -she raised a joyous cry—“Oh! yes, I see it, Letty’s home is there!” And while she hid all England with a Bright over Europe fell her .golden hair. —Charles Tennyson Turner, ' THE TOLL GATE HOUSE.

(Sent by Ada Baylis). The tell gate’s gone, ’ • ■ , But still stands alone In the dip of th© hill, Tire house of stone,' ' 1 • And over the roof in the branching pipe, ' . '' A great owl sits in the white moonshine. . ■ . \ ■ An old man lives, and lonely there, • His windows yet on the crossroads stare, And on Michaelmas night through all the years A galloping, far and faint, he hears. His casement open wide he flings With a “Who goes there?” and a lantern swings. But never more in the dim moonbeam Than a cloak and the plume and the ' silver gleam Of passing spurs in the night can he see, For the toll gate’s gone ahd the road is free. OUR FRIEND ON THE SHELF. (Sent by Joan Brock). He lives upon the nursery shelf, His tail is curly, too: A pig and just to eat Is what he wants to do.

He watches us with eager eyes; He always seems to say, “Please feed me, for I can’t come down And join you in your play.” And what do you suppose he eats? Oh yes, it’s really true. Just pennies—’cause he is a bank— Just pennies, bright and. new! THE LITTLE HOUSE. (Sent by Alice Brock), There’s such a darling little house Stands farther down our street— I look at it as I go by, And think it’s simply sweet. It has such pretty-garden-beds, In neat and even rows— ■ • And muslin window curtains tied With pretty pale blue bows.' I have to stop and look although I know it’s rude to stare— It’s such a dear, wee place, I know A fairy must live there! KEEPING SCHOOL. The dolly boys and dolly girls Behave quite well, you know. They never fidget, never talk-, But oh! they are so slow! They never learn a single thing/ Nor answer as they should; But nowhere could you find a school Where children are so good!

SEKABIRA OF BUDO AFRICAN BOY ACTOR. WHY HE BECAME A MISSIONARY. Sekabira is an African boy who went to school at Budo in Uganda, East Africa. A little while ago the school decided to act a play called Apolo of the Pygmy Forest. It was about the life of Canon Apolo Kivebulaya, the African, who died last year after long and heroic service as a missionary to the pygmies of the great Ituri Forest in the Belgian Congo. Apolo was a simple-minded and singlehearted man who knew no fear. When he first went to Mboga, the centre of his work for so many years, and began to preach the head witch doctor advised the king to send him away. Several times the king ordered him to leave his country, but Apolo refused. At last the king ordered that he should be stripped of his clothing and given 20 lashes with a hippopotamus-hide whip. For several days after this Apolo lay very ill, but as Soon as he could he got up and began to preach again. The king was this time so furious that he determined to kill him, and Apolo was beaten until he lay unconscious; then he was thrown into the jungle to be carried off by beasts.. But this time he was saved by a woman who had listened to his preaching. She went but into the jungle and carried him to a hut, where she nursed him back- to health. Then one Sunday morning the people ,pf Mboga heard once, again the, drum calling them t<s church, and there was ApOjo, whom djey thought dead. So astonished was the king when he heard that Apolo was there that he went to the church to see for himself. When lie found the y°ung man teaching the people as if nothing had' happened to him ’ the king did a wonderful 'thing. He went up to Apolo and, kneeling before him, begged his forgiveness’ for what he had done to him.' ’ ' -

That is only part ,pf Apolo’s' wonderful story, but it is enough to show what a good play can be made of it. Sekabira was chosen ■ to play the part of Apolo. He was not a very good boy, rather a nuisance -at school, but he was a good actor and: he entered into the part and played it well.- It was. his. last . term at school, and he left, soon after the play, and found quite a good job on the Uganda railway. But he was not. satis • fled. The Apple whose part he had taken in the play had become his hero, and soon he knew - that he -wanted to be another Apolo—not in' a play but in real life. So he went back to his schoolmaster and told him of his plan. And now Sekabira has left his job and gone to Ruanda, where he hopes to do a great missionary work, He calls himself Apolo after the custom of his tribe, and he is not likely to forget the high example he is trying to follow.

150 GALLANT MEN THE NOBLE DEED OF TOC HA .hundred and fifty Britpns of all classes have volunteered to go out to West Africa and work, unpaid, among the lepers. AH are members of Toe H. This is the wonderful response to an appeal made .by “Tubby” Clayton, who, while travelling in Africa, noticed the neglected state of the leprosy sufferers. Five men, among whom are a cotton worker, a chemist, a bank clerk and a dentist, have already given up their jobs and started a year’s training to equin themselves for the care of leprosy cases. The British Empire Leprosy Relief Association is providing money to pay their fares and bare necessities. This news comes at a good time, for the Mission to' Lepers has been celebrating its diamond jubilee, and its founder, Mr. Wellesley Bailey, shared in the thanksgiving for th© work already accomplished and joined with the younger generation in the prayer for new strength in the . fight against this ancient enemy of man. . The Mission knows no boundaries, realising that this world disease must be fought on a world front. It has established model institutions devoted to the cure of. the terrible disease and has given special attention to the children of lepers. The work is difficult owing,to the fact that leprosy is largely, a disease of the villages, and' investigations have proved that it is more widely spread than was once thought. As civilisation spreads through the primitive peoples the need tor the stamping-out of such plagues as llprosy becomes more insistent, and. the experience of this mission, with its branches in so many lands, win be more, and more a source of strength in the battle for a clean world.