THE "GOOD ENDEAVOUR" LEAGUE.

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 9, Issue 62, 12 April 1946, Page 6

THE "GOOD ENDEAVOUR" LEAGUE.

PETER THE WHALER of WHALE .ISLAND

FOR YOUNG READERS ONLY

I'Aboard for the Goodwill Cruise

What ho, what ho, raa hearties. Well, here’s another Friday come round to greet us (and that brings us another week closer to the term holidays). Very little has been doing over here on Whale Island the past few days, except that Peterkin and Butinsky found a rats nest out by the front gate and were so excited that they both came running in to drag me out and have a look, and let all the little rats escape in the meantime. Butch came out to have a look at it too, and when he saw that it was empty, he made all sorts of remarks about the intelligence (or lack of it) displayed by certain goats and penguins. One of the most interesting things

one can do to fill in an 6dd half hour I’ve often found, is to watch a spider at work. The other day I was contemplating having a spring clean (or rather an autumn clean) and glanced into the corners of my cave and up at the ceiling, to see just how dusty it really was. Over on one side of the ceiling by the wall, was a spiderweb, with quite a small spider—one of those about as big as a passion fruit seed with tremendously long legs, sitting sleeping in the middle. As I looked at him, I remember thinking to myself how tiny he was, and how clumsy his long legs, out of all proportion to his

body made him appear. It seemed impossible that he should be able to catch any fly at all, particularly as his webb was very frail. Just at that moment, I heard a buzzzz, as a blowfly came in through the door and flew round and round the ceiling at a pace too fast to follow. Suddenly the droning stopped, and changed to a bzz-bzz-bzz-bzz, Yes sailors, the fly had blundered straight into the web- of the little spider I had been watching but a ietv moments before, and was fast tearing the .sticky threads to pieces. In another moment it would have escaped, leaving a wrecked home for the spider to repair, but it reckoned without the gallant little defender sitting waiting for just such a tasty meal to chance along. The spider' came running down to where his prey was jumping hither and thither, and then I saw the reason why Nature had endowed it with such long un-

wieldly legs.. Turning round with its back to the fly, its body remained at a safe distance, whilst the two hindermost legs started to work quickly back an forth like a shuttle, weaving a strand of web round and round the fly tying down its wings, and; then its legs, and the binding it round the other way as you would tie up a parcel. At the end of a very few minutes, the fly was in a perfect natural straight] acket, and the spider, fastening the loose end of the string of web to the ceiling, rushed in to commence its dinner. Suddenly the fly, by an immense effort, managed to wriggle, just a fraction. The spider immediately turned about, and once again spun another cocoon about the fly on top of the first. In the end, the fly could not so much as move a muscle, and the little spider, only an eighth the size of its prey, commenced its hard earned meal.

So you see sailors, although I did not intend that this little story should have a moral, it does have one, and that is that no matter how small you may be, or how large the job you have to do, by perserverance and ingenuity (that just simply means using your brains to decide the best way of tackling the task) you are bound to win through in the long run.

Well, I think that should conclude my message this week, as I seem to have included a short story on natural history as well. Cheerio for this week. P.T.W.

LAST WEEK’S COMPETITION TELEGRAMS POPULAR Yes sailors, its obvious that last week’s competition was one of the most popular we have had this year. I received all sorts and types of telegrams with each word commenc-

ing with the letter ‘M\ and all of them were very good. This week’s ticket winners are:— Keith Gardner June Gardner Leith Stewart Valerie Linwood (Special prize for neatness). Winning telegrams are printed below:— June Gardner Molly Martin, Matata. Milly might marry Methodist Minister Monday. Mother may miss marriage. Madge. Keith Gardner Michael Murton, Marton. Mass meeting merchants Monday. Mailing members messages. Murgatroyed. Leith Stewart Meet Micky Monday morning Masterton. Motoring. Mother misunderstood message. Minnie.

MY MAIL BOX Dear P.T.W., I would like to know whether you can put drawings in the Beacon, as

I have one. Yours faithfully, Valerie Linwood. (I’m very sorry that we can’t Valerie, as it is very difficult and expensive to have what the printers call a ‘block’ of the picture made, and from which it is printed. However, I would like to see it very much and if you care to send it in, it should be worth points. P.T.W.) Dear P.T.W., I am enclosing the threepence in stamps. I am sending two twopenny stamps because I have no penny stamps. Yours truly, Jimmy Andersen. (Thank you Jimmy, your certificate will go out right away. P.T.W.) Dear P.T.W., Please may I join the crew of the Good Endeavour. I am 8 years old. I enclose threepence in stamps. Yours truly,

Graham Ross. (Step aboard Graham. I have forwarded your certificate. P.T.W.)

Dear P.T.W., I would like to join the Good En-

deavour League. I enclose 3d in stamps.

Yours sincerely, Johnny Wairua. (You’re welcome aboard the Good Endeavour Johnny. I have sent out your certificate. P.T.W.) RIDDLES What is most like a horse’s shoe? —His other shoes. How many days belong to a year? —325. The rest are Lent. What bow can’t you tie?—A rainbow.

What stands on one leg, has a heart, but cannot talk? —A cabbage. What ladder can’t you climbs?— A ladder in your stocking. What can turn without moving?— Milk,''because it turns sour.

(Copied—John Shaw). (Good work John. Three points are allotted to you for this contribution. P.T.W.) NEXT WEEK’S COMPETITION Printed below is a short paragraph, but oh dear, the printer missed out some of the letters in the words. See if you can fill them in corectly sailors. The number of dashes represents the number of letters missed out. Here is the par:—

“Do y- u ever g- - s - asi --? S - m - peo - -- n - - e - do, w-il - t others b n to --el -11 the m - - ent th - - s - t f--t u--n a deck. I k - - w y-u wi - - sc ely -e - iev - -- is but - - ere are - ven -me sea c - p ns who - - t si - - d- - - ite the 'f- ct t- at they -ay ha-e b n - t s-a a the - r .”

(Four points are awarded to Janice Goldsmith for sending in the idea for the above competition. P.T.W.)