CRAZY THINGS.

Waikato Times, Volume 120, Issue 19992, 16 September 1936, Page 8

CRAZY THINGS.

STILL DONE IN WORLD. A COLLECTION OF SOCKS. (Times Air Mall Service.j LONDON, August 9 In the golden days when dance marathons, pole-squatting feats, and long-distance kissing competitions were filling the front pages, prophets of doom went about saying that the world was crazy, writes H. W. Seaman in the Sunday Chronicle. To-day wars, revolutions, pestilences, famines, and political unheavals have driven all such antics into the dim background. But the world at heart is still as crazy as ever. And here are a few choice bits of news I’ve collected to prove it. Herr Holz, a commercial traveller, of Cologne, according to a hot cable just received from that cultured city, collects old socks. His most cherished items are a pair of socks worn by an Armenian philosopher in 1100 8.C., and a pair of green stockings that Henry the Eighth once wore. Hooray for Herr Holx! If all other Germans were like him we should have no need to worry about the refortification of Heligoland. Slaughter at Wedding. A Turkish peasant in Southern Anatolia ran amok the other day and, with the help of his nephew, slaughtered 14 people at a wedding. If that had been a political massacre instead of an ordinary crazy affair, it would have been all over the world. v And thank heaven for Hollywood! Stars who get only £2OO a week are finding it difficult to make ends meet. By the time they have paid taxes, agents, managers, publicity, wardrobe, and make-up expenses, and advertising costs, they are nearly a» broke as you and I. Sea Monster. Do not let your thoughts go bach to Spain or Palestine for a minuti or two. Think of the sea-serpent 40 feet long, which has been sighted by no less a personage than the ex-Lord Mayor of Norwich, Alderman H. E. Witard, off the Norfolk coast. Last seen heading south at 90 miles an hour, lashing his tail and rolling his great eyes. Then there is the sea monster, 46 feet long, which has been found floating in the sea off Singapore. British and Dutch scientists are rivals for the possesison of the carcass. If they don’t settle the quarrel soon the inhabitants of the small island where it is beached will push it back into the sea and clear the air. It has tusks 12ft. long, a greenish black skin, and ears like an elephant. Oh, for a Barnum! Oh, for a respite from wars and revolutions, and a return to healthy craziness! All these things show that the crazy golden age, to which we now look back with regret, is not dead, but is kept alive, here and there, by blithe spirits whose brilliance is only momentarily eclipsed by such sober clowns as soapbox orators, wearers of gloomy shirts, and professors of political economy-