THE "GOOD ENDEAVOUR" LEAGUE FOR YOUNG READERS ONLY

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 221, 4 October 1940, Page 2

THE "GOOD ENDEAVOUR" LEAGUE FOR YOUNG READERS ONLY

What ho, 'what ho, ma hearties. After our long tiring journey we have arrived in the gayest capital in South America. Rio de Janeiro is such a fine place that I propose we stay here for several days and araus.' ourselves seeing the sights. Are 3 T ou all in favour? I'm sure you are. Well come along with me right now and We will explore the bay and harbour. See how everything has a Spanish flavour. In the early davs of course as you know the Portugese owned Brazil and now the people still speak the language and adopt the customs of their old Empire. They -ire happy and you can see as we walk along that they have tried to make their greatest town as bright and as gay as possible. Even the pavements are worked in beautiful mosaic patterns of salmon, pale blue, green and orange. Now we are close to the waterfront where is one of the finest drives in the world. It is all fringed with palm groves and gardens, while out across the blue waters of the bay is the sugarloaf island something like our own Whale Island. Now I'm going to take you in the famous overhead or aerial'railway which goes right across the harbour. In you jump. The car will take jusit on thirty at a #lme and now you see we are swinging out right over the ship and the wharves. We are just on two hundred feet above the sea now but in a few minutes will be over 600 feet up. What a glorious view o.f the green Atlantic we get. That murkv spot in the distance is the Island of Trinadad, the British-owned Grown colony in which is the famous pitch lake. Well, here we are at the other end, landing in a bower of feathery ferns. There's an ice-<cream shop nearby. Come along and I'll shout the lot of you. Yours till next week. Peter the Whaler.

OUR STORY ROMANCE OF.INK Those splashes of ink that have just dropped from your pen have a romantic story connected with them almost as old as that-of writing itself. Travel back in thought through tlie centries and peep into a cave tvhere a primitive artist is drawing on the walls that form his home. With mixed, dyes, cleverly distilled from wild plants, lie is depicting the events of his simple life, littLe realising that from these same dyes men wonkl one day make a product of universal use—ink. As the years passed, picture writing gave place to the making of symbols, which gradually developed into words. Then came the need for some indelible fluid which could be -read clearly and in which might be preserved the thoughts and aspirations of mankind. After many . experiments the Chinese produced an ink .suitable for use on the parchment they had made. This ink came from oil lamps which were burned in a very limited supply of air, thus forming a supply of carbon, which was collected and turned into liquid So excellent was this liquid for writing purposes that it was used until two or three hundreds ago. Museums contain many specimens of manuscript writtten centuries before our time in carbon ink, which is as strong and clear to-day as it w r as when first used. And hoAV, you ask, is this ink made? One day a wasp attacked an oak tree,- boring a tiny hole in which to lay her eggs. This annoyed the oak which, in self-protection, grew a nutgall, or small oak apple, around the eggs. Later the eggs hatched, and as the young wasps grew inside their tiny home the nut-gall' also grew in order to commodate them. Finally the insects, greedy for freedom and light, bored a hole through the wall of their home and flew away. A natural scientist noticed that these nut-galls were full of tanin, and after, many experiments converted the tanin into a I'fquid. With this he tried to write, but found that it was only after long exposure to the air that tanin became black.

Aboard for the Goodwijl Cruise PETER THE WHALER of WHALE ISLAND

"This won't do," he said to himself. "People will not want to write invisible letters!" So he went on with his experiments and one day hit on the idea of adding dye. This solved the problem for him, since the blue dye showed up clearly as he wrote, and the tanin, which did not show at first, gradually became blacker and blacker as time went on, thus preserving the writing. From the patient skill of thitf worker developed the huge ink manufacturing industry of to-day. Even the picking of nut-galls, which are principally to be found on the stunted .oaks that grow in Turkey and along the Syrian coast, is quite a profitable source of income to the country folk who have learned that they must wait until the wasp is fully grown in order to get the highest percentage of tanin. After the nuts are picked and crushed the powder is collected and sent off to the ink factories where, in huge vats each holding 1000 gallons, it is mixed with iron salts, a blue or black dye, and water. It is then allowed to boil for three hours with an occasional stir, by electrically driven blades, after which it is left for 12 days to cool off, and a further 30 days for the tanin to settle down. When the ink is at last ready to leave the Wooden vats, it flows through rubber pipes to the filling machines on the floor below—each pipe being labelled Green, Red, Black or Blue as the case may be. In the filling room sit white coated men each with a sheet of \yhite paper pinned on a board before him. From little syringes these men squeeze out samples of the newly made ink, testing its quality ,by; watching the rapidity of its flow down the paper, assuring themselves that the little tightly-capped, blueblaclc bottles that are sold all over the world will conlain nothing but the very best. -

FAITH, HOPE AND CHARITY . Three sisters born on the same day have been keeping their 78th birthday. They were born at. Cracoe near Skipton on December 29, 1857, and were named Faith Alice, Hope Fanny and Charity Sarah. They were daughters of Mr.and Mrs An-> drew Stockdale, and at present they are Mrs Charles Thackeray of Bispbam, Blackpool, Mrs William Rimington of. Skipton, and Mrs Henry Watson of Skipton. MOST THINGS TURN UP IN TIME, A parcel sent off 36 years ago was lately delivered to Mr James CaMan at the Causeway School near Aber-i deen. Inside it he found military equipment he had ordered in Aberdeen before leaving for the South African War. The parcel may have fallen off the van on to a hedge, remaining concealed year by year. It was lately picked up by the side of the road near Aberdeen. MOTHER'S DAY To all Mothers kind and loving, ~ We send greeting gay, Wishing them a happy time, On this Mother's Day. We thank God for our Mother, She is our best friend, And to lighten her burdens, A helping hand we'll lend. What would we do without her. The loveliest lady we know, Let us remember her loving care, Wherever we may go. We hope that she will be our pal, All along the way, To share with us all joy, That may come our way. We pray that God wil keep her, In his loving care, Watching from his home on high, In that land sc. fair.

LAST WEEK'S COMPETITION FINDING THE MISSING LIN 13 There were quite a number poets who tried to find the rhyming line but there were only three..who really deserved free picture tickets. Here is the verse: The Lion and the Unicorn Had an awful light"one day Because each thought he had the right To hold the Royal Sway. But St George of England came along And said 'What's all the noise! Just hold the Shield between you lads Here are the winners: Vera Harrison' 'While I clean up Hitler's boys,' Barbara Wallace: 'Or I'll fix both you boys." Charlie Armer: 'Like stalwart sol r dier boys.' Congratulations, your tickets await you at the Beacon Office. P.T.W NEXT WEEK'S COMPETITION JUMBLED TREES Midshipman Keith Linsell has sent in a jumbled trees competition. I will let you all try it this week and award the three best with free picture tickets. 1 will ask the midshipman not to tell anyone the answers, and I will also add several of my own. LLWWIO TTLWAE ÜBELMUG NPEI LSNNAAAWIG RPPOAL LNREECU WAAKTUUPOH MEL KOA HAS > RIKAU OMR! TAAMI Work them out and send in your answers to Peter the Whaler, c/<? the Beacon Office. TWO RIDDLES What is it which flies high, flics low, wears shoes and has no feet?— Dust. | i . - Can a man's pocket be empty when he's got something in it?-—Yes! When he's got a big hole in it.