THE "GOOD ENDEAVOUR" LEAGUE FOR YOUNG READERS ONLY

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 158, 10 May 1940, Page 7

THE "GOOD ENDEAVOUR" LEAGUE FOR YOUNG READERS ONLY

AVhat ho, what ho, for good old London town. AVhat a wonderful time we have all been having. Do you remember our visit to the waxworks? I think you all enjoyed yourselves there, the Midshipmaids wanted to stay all day and watch, the beautiful court clothes of Queen Elizabeth and her ladies, while all the midshipmen and petty officers could not tear themselves away from Lord Nelson. Well, that's over, and to-day I'm going to take you to thd British Museum. You know it's the greatest museum in the world, and if we were to stop and look at everything, Ave would take a whole year to go through without even going home to sleep. The Egyptian section is so large that it would take a week on its own. Well here Ave 1 are at the great entrance hall. C6me along inside and mind the jj. -ikige skeleton of the Brontosaurus at the first door. That AAas an ani-> mal living on the earth over a million years ago and Avhat a fearsome thing it must have been —see it is ■ over ninety feet long as big as the largest whale! It Avill be necessary to have a guide to escort us through, if avc are to do it properly. Here is I one, so I will ask the first mate and the engineers to take charge of the . crew and see that no one straggles .■and gets lost in the exhibition • rooms. You see, Ave are beginning with the pre-historic period, and arc •examining the tools and implements of the stone-age man. Isn't it wonder ful to think that our ancestors used •stone and flint weapons. As we go further., AA T e come to the iron and copper age, and see that mankind as gradually improving his home and his property. Noav we come jto Egypt, Assyria, Sumaria, and Assyrian civilisations, and after that the great eras of Persian,. Greek and j Roman kingdoms. Is it not Avonder- ' ful to see what has been happening in this very wonderful AA'orld of ours. I think \\ r e will continue our rambles in the British Museum next week. Yours till then, Peter the "Whaler. OUR STORY THE DOLLIES TIDY UP The moon, round and full illuminated the playroom through its large AvindoAV so that if anybody had been lip and about there would hardly Tiave been any need of turning on the electric light. But nobody was up and about. All the adult members of the family, Avho are. usually •called "groAvn-ups" in stories for children, had gone to bed after looking out of a AvindoAv and telling cach other what a fine moonlight night it Avas. The children had gone to bed earlier before there Avas any fine moonlight to look at. There had been company that afternoon in the playroom and it Avas not as tidy as it ■would be in the morning after Jos-; cphine the Maid had come in and tidied it up. Some maids Avould have come in! : and tidied it up after the company had gone home, but Josephine liked better to tidy it up in the morning ■when the sun had neAvly risen and ■if there Avere any birds about they were singing in the trees on the laAvn. Sometimes, AA 7 hen there Averen't anjr birds singing, Josephine sang herself. Rosabel Robinson, who had been /*" tVf+ssed in her best clothes for the •e3mpanj T , lay on the Avindow seat between Suzette Jones and Annabel lc Smith, who Avere much less stylish, but neither Rosabel, Anna-* belle nor Suzette minded that. In fact, Annabelle and Suzette often told each other they Avere glad they "were not so stylish. No children ever bothered them, so Annabelle said to Suzette and Suzette said to Annabelle, taking off one lot of clothes and putting on another. Annabelle was a rubber doll and Suzette a Avorsted doll. What clothes they had were part of them and they couldn't be taken off. When they Avere left on the windoAV seat they had gone to sleep.

for the Goodwill Cruise

PETER THE WHALER of WHALE ISLAND [

But about midnight Annabellc Smith woke up and sat up. The movement squeezed her in the right place and she whistled through the hack of her head. The whistle woke Suzette Jones. "Hello, Annabellc," said Suzettc, sitting up and speaking in a worstedly voice. "Did you whistle?' ;i "I al\vaj\s AvhistJe when T bend myself,' said Annabellc. She had a sweet, rubbery voice. "I don't like it. Children making me whistle, all the afternoon. I should tiling you'd be glad they can't make you whistle." "They don't put whistles in worsted dolls," said Suzettc. "What an untidy playroom! Not a toy pub back in the proper place. We can*t put them back. Wc couldn't reac-U} the shelves. But Ido hate to /see them scattered all over the floor/' "We can put them all together on the closet floor," said Annabellc. "Then tliey veil] be out of sight, after we've closed the door." "It's open now," said Suzettc. "If it wasn't we couldn't open it. But I think we could closc it if we pushed together. Shall we awaken Rosabel?" "I think not," said Annabellc. "She couldn't get down off this window seat. She has a breakable head, Suzettc." "So she has," said Suzettc. "Come on, Annabellc." Suzettc Jones rolled herself off the window seat. She fell on the floor, and Annabellc Smith followed. They made a worstedy thump and then a rubbery thump. "Here we are!" said Annabelle. "But what will Josephine think when she finds all the toys in Uie closet?" "She'll think the children did it for some kind of a game," said Annabelle. NEXT WEEK'S COMPETITION How far is Whale Island from the Whakatane harbour heads? Find out the answer, and drop me a note with it in. The first three with the correct distance will receive free picture tickets with my best compln ments. Cheerio till next week P.T.W. NEW MEMBER Dear Peter the Whale, I would like you to enroll me as a member of your Good Endeavour League. I am 1.1 years of age, and I enclose threepence in stamps and also the solution to this week's competition. Yours sincerely, JUNE HAMILL. Welcome aboard lass. If you catch the new Empire service airplane you will reach us in London next week and we will greet you with cheers and goodwill. Bring your best clothes a toothbrush, two pairs shoes and a sun helmet. Your certificate leaves to-day. All the best, Peter the Whaler. LINK TAG It is best to have from ten to forty players for this game. A large square—or circle —about twenty feet square should be drawn in the middle of the room. The two teams take their places on opposite sides of the square, with their leader in front, and each player locking his arms around the waist of the person in front. At the signal "go" the teams run round the sides of the square, the leader of each team trying to touch the end of the line in front of him. The winning team is the team that succeeds in touching the last man of the other team without breaking. To vary the game, three or four short teams should compete at oncc. In this case, each team that Is touched is eliminated, until onlj* one remains.

LAST WEEK'S COMPETITION HEIGHT OF -MT. EDGECUMBHJ There were fifteen answers to this unci only two of them were right. Some of my crew thought that tlie mountain was only .">OO feet high, while others guessed as tall as 1200 feet. We'll the correct height is 29-1(5 feet above sea level and the; winners were Vera Harrison Charlie Armer. 5> Others Avho were very near were .Tanette MeLeod, June Hamill and Cecily Sullivan. THE KANGAROO AND ALL ABOUT HIM The Kangaroo, the best known «f all the Australian animals, makes his way about by leaps and bounds. With his powerful legs and short forearms and making use of his long tail to balance him, he is able to! take great leaps that no other aniimal can equal. His usual step in about five feet,, but strides of fifteen to twenty feet are possible if he is in a hurry. When he is fully grown, the ordinary kangaroo is the height of a man but some of the bigger ones over seven feet standing up. Kangaroos live on the plains and open forest country. They do not look for any shelter, but lie down in the long grass or under trees during the heat of the day. Usually the kangaroo is a timid and docile creature; but an old man kangaroo can be dangerous if hard pressed. Each hind foot is armed with a long sharp claw, with which they can slash anyone who attacks them. When the young ones are born, they are two inches long. Mothers fur-lined pouch carries them about. As they grow bigger they hop about and eat grass and small plants. SOME GOOD GAMES PRISONERS I am sure you will like to have some outdoor games to play. Prisoners is a jolly game for any number of players. The players are divided into two equal sides, called camps. Two spaces are marked on the ground, some distance apart, for the respective camps, and at equal distance between them, a ring is marked. A ball is placed in the ring, and at a given signal, a player froim each camp runs to the ring, and tries to capture the ball and return with it to the camp. If he reaches his camp without being touched by the other player, that pJaA T er is a prisoner of his camp, but if the other player succeeds in touching him, he is a pris-> oner of the opposite camp. Two other players are now sent out, and so on, until all the players have had their turn, when the larger camp is the winner of the game. BALLOONS At the corner of the city street Balloons blossom Where black snow is piled, And bleak winds blow. Balloons—Red! Gold! Blue! Old man, I thank you For selling balloons Like flower-clusters^ Where gray wind blusters Around the corner Of the city street.