FOR THE CHILDREN

Waikato Times, Volume 94, Issue 14584, 5 February 1921, Page 12 (Supplement)

FOR THE CHILDREN

. (BY PE'I Eft PAN.) j

DUTCH LULLABY.

radium are used every year in making ihose paints, which are to-day being used for watches, clocks, gun sights, lish hooks, compasses, sign posts, and mines. A POINT ABOUT PIQEONB. WHERE DO OUR DOMESTIC FLIERS GOME FROM? DARWIN'S MISTAKE. From what is known of the history of the races of domestic pigeons, such as Homers, Pouters, Fantalls, Tumblers, Jacobins, it seems that all sprang from the wild rock pigeon, which is still to be found in caves and lonely cliffs on the coasts of great Britain. Sports, or new departures occurring in the course of the generations of tamed rock pigeons, have been used by man as the beginning of the various races, such as those we have named. This was proved long ago up to the hilt by Charles Darwin, yet, there seems good reasons for correcting one of Darwin's statements.

Wynken, Blynken, and Nod one night, Sailed off in a wooden shoe. —i Sailed on a river of misty light Into a sea of dew. "Where are you going, and what do you wish ?" The old man asked the three. "We have come to fish for the herring fish That live in the baautiful sea; Nets of silver and gold have we," Said Wynken, Blynken, And Nod.

,The old moon laughed and sang a song As they rocked in the wooden shoe; And the wind that sped them all night long Ruffled the waves of dew; The little stars were the herring fish That lived in the beautiful sea. "Now cast your nets wherever you wish. But never afeared are we." So cried the stars to the fishermen three. Wynken, Blynken, And Nod.

There are two distinct colour patterns of the wild rock pigeon, one with two black wing bars on a slate grey ground, and the other with black patches uniformly distributed on the feathers of the wings and back. Darwin thought the more ancient of these two types was that with the two black bars, and that domestic pigeons were its descendants; but it now soems more likely that the chequered pigeon represents the more ancient type from which the two-barred pigeon had been derived. Domestic pigeons have come from both these sources —the chequered and the twobarred. This is one of the conclusions reached by the late Professor C. 0. Whitman, of Chicago University, who devoted more than half his life to a careful study of pigeons. His works have recently been published, several years after his death.

All night long their nets they threw, For the fisli in the twinkling foam, Then down from the sky came the wooden shoe, Bringing the fishermen home; 'Twas all so pretty a sail, it seemed As if H could not be; And some folks thought 'twas a dream they'd dreamed Of sailing that beautiful sea; But I shall name you the fishermen three; Wynken, Blynken, And Nod.

Wynken and Blynken are two little

eyes, And Nod is a little head, And the wooden shoe that sailed the

skies Is a wee one's trundle bed; So shut your eyes while mother sings Of wonderful sights that be, And you shall see the beautiful things As your rock in the misty sea. Where the old shoe rocked the flshermen three, — Wynken, Blynken, And Nod. —Eugene Field. OLIVER WHO ASKED FOR MORE. FINAL SHOCK OF ST GEORGE'S WORKHOUSE. THE DAY WHEN OLIVER TWIST CAME BACK WITH HIS PLATE. AND THE HAPPY ENDING OF AN OLD, OLD TALE. Tne news that the worhouse -n which Oliver Twist "asked for more," St. George's Workhouse, in Southwark borough, is closed, its inmates scattered, and its copper for making gruel sent to (lie museum, brings to a happy ending a strange story of men's changeful ways from cruel hardship to thoughtful kindness. Eighty two years ago, Charles Dickens —most tender-hearted of men, who in his boyhood had known poverty and care in this very district where the old workhouse stood—wrote the story of Oliver Twist to bring home to people's Hearts the pains and temptations of the very poor in these hard times. Soeing Things as They Are. It was a period when the workhouse and the prison were dreadful places, waiting to receive anyone who might stumble into misfortune on his way through life. How dreadful they were Charles Dickens determined to picture, liil no one could think of them without pain and indignation. So ho invented the boy Oliver Twist, imagining him born in this workhouse, and reared there under the conditions then usual, conditions purposed made harsh and forbidding so as to'cause the poor to dread entering the place. Surprise fop Mr Bumble. So he pictured the starved chlinren of the workhouse lining up with their porringers to receive from the copper II, ( , ladlcful of watery gruel which, served three times a day, made their food - Then, on one tremendous day, little Oliver Twist, a trifle bolder than the rest, having licked from his porringer the last grain of oatmeal, actually had the audacity to step forward, a shivering little skeleton, and ask for more. Mr Bumble, the parish beadle, was shocked by sucli daring, shocked to the, very centre of his well-fed body. The Board of Guardians who had ordered this starvation diet were also shocked at Oliver's impertinence. Change for the Better. But the British public, always Rind r,f heart when it really understands. was touched, and things began to change for the better. In fact, the shock given by little Oliver, the boy of Charles Dickens' dream, shook down at last the whole workhouse system. For many years the workhouse has been a more humane place, and now to a large extent it is disappearing. At last Oliver's own workhouse is gone, and its going can be looked at with a rueful, mellower feeling, for it tells of a happy change in the way of regarding the poor, a change honourable to the British people, hut most honourable of all to the kind-hearted writer Charles Dickens, who first unlocked' the human sympathies »h»-t brought ttiis great reform. SECRET LUMINOUS WATCH WHY IT SHINES BY NIGHT. LIGHT FOR 2000 YEARS. What is it that makes the numerals and hands glow in the luminous watches that are now becoming so much used? The greenish-white paint with which they are treated costs from twentypounds to fifty pounds an ounce, or as much as £2OO an ounce in the case of the best watches. Some of the ' luminous figures will go on glowing ; for over 2000 years; the less expensive I will glow for four or five years only. The luminous paint, is made with ! Hiiy crystals of zinc sulphide, a salt i which phosphoresces brightly if it ne : evpnscil In the light for a few seconds. The phosphorescence soon dies away, hut it can be made to last continually if a small amount of radium or rnesothorium be mixed i with it. Tlifl compounds con- ■ lain about one grain of a radium salt ! mixed With ten ounce:, of zinc, sulI phide. The radium gives off a perpetual ; bombardment of rays, which strike the j /ine sulphide and cause it to glow. : Mesntlinrium does the s ame Ciintr. bill | it, effecl dies away in a few years, I while radium takes a few years to dl- ; rnhu'sh to half its original strength, i Thousands ol pounds' worth of

HARES AND RABBIT,

Hares and rabbits look so much alike that many people are puzzled in their differences.

Apart from the hare's longer legs and ears, the most remarkable difference is that young hares are born covered with fur, with open eyes, and ablo to run In a few minutes, while young rabbits are born naked, blind and helpless. This perfectly suits each animal's way of life. Hares, live in the open, and live solitary, having only "forms" or slight shelters in grass, for homes, where they have their young. But rabbits live underground, and in community. They have warm burrows, and their young are born and kept for some weeks in snug, comfortable nurseries, lined with leaves, grass and fur. Yet rabbits have tbi shorter youth. They pair when five to eight months old. Young hares wait a year before mating.

Rabbits have young nearly all the year round. It is reckoned that a single pair, kept in captivity, would produce 300 young In a year. The wild hare produces from two to Ave young at a time two or three times a year.

Among many difference_s between the two animals, apart from those of their teeth and their bones, are those of their feet. The hare has five toes to his foreleg and only four to his hind legs. The soles of the feet are marvellous—like brushes, for ..protection, and for cleaning the fur, In common, hares and rabbits have hair inside their cheeks, a point very few know.

Hares are supposed to be timid, yet are bold ttglitecs. They stand upright, and slowly revolve round each other, on their thin hind legs, like a couple of waltzcrs.

By day hares remain quiet In their forms, feeding and travelling through the night. To foil their own line as they come in at dawn, they run in a maze, crossing and re-crossing their trail, finally taking several long leaps to the lonely tussocks of grass which they call home. NATURAL HISTORY. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. What Kind of a Flower has a Rowan Treo? The bloom of the rowan tree is small and cream coloured, massed in clusters like the llowers of the elderberry. Can Animals Understand Each Other? Undoubtedly. Many seem to possess what is the equivalent of uuh speech; and scientists believe that insects may have an inexplicable wireless telegraphy. How Long do Cats and Dogs Live? We have exceptional cases of long life in cats and dogs, as in other animals, but as a rule dogs are decrepit and unhappy after about 12 years; cats at about Lb years. Do Monkeys Naturally Walk Along on All Fours? They do. Even the great apes use their hands to help them along. The gibbon is the most upright, and can balance itself with arms above its head. How Long Does an Angora Rabbit Live? if ils hutch is not exposed to wet or cold the Angora is quite hardy, and should live live or six years. All depends, in the case of a healthy pet, upon treatment. Wherß is a Snake's Poison?

A snake's poison is formed in a muscular sac in each side of the upper jaw, and the sacs communicate with grooves in the upper fangs. Through (hose the poison runs as the snake bites its victim. What Does a Crab Eat?

Our common crabs eat animal food, anything that it can catch alive, .anything that it can find dead. But there are crabs that go ashore and cat sugar cane, cocoanuts, ami even birds. Why do Trees Lose their Leaves? Most of our trees make their growth in summer, when leaves are a necessary part of the whole. In winter the sap runs down inside the trunk, the leaves fall dead from the tree, and new ones lake up their work in the spring. How do Fish Live in Ice-Covered Ponds? As long as there is a little water there is oxvgen in solution for them to breathe Respiration is very slow at such a time and the little suffices. But some can be. frozen as stiff as the ice and yet recover when thawed.