CHARMS AGAINST BIG GUNS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 295, 2 September 1918, Page 2

CHARMS AGAINST BIG GUNS

A'PARISIAN FANCY. The now offensive upon Paris is borne cheerfully, thanks to Nenette and Ilintintin (writes a Paris correspondent of tho "Westminster Gazette"). It is the craze of tho day to wear two little dangling dolls which bear theso grotesque names; and, as it is a craze which is designed to lighten the menace from the air, it has more raison d'etre than many of tho passing fashions of other times. Paris has always had eoino caprice of this sort, but it is good to know that Paris knows how to make profitable use of the most stupid-foibles. There are very fewyoung Parisians whom ono sees without its übiquitous Nonette and Hint-in* tin pinned on their blouses. They are miniature representations in wool of a boy and girl, and they are to be had in all tho colours of the rainbow—the favourite, howover, bohig the patriotic tri-colour. When the big gun sounds, in every corner of Paris tho wearer of these' fetishes can venture safely into tho street. When; the terrifying wail of the syren which announces the advent of the Gothas is heard, the little dolls are carefully attaohed. to tho nightgown before tho'descent to _ tho cellar is made. 'With them the Parisian pretends to a complcto security. In this way tho Gotha and tho gun are turned to a. joke, and the efficacy of the charm of. Nenette and Jtihtintin is discussed with a mock seriousness that drives' away all dismal- speculations on the power of mischief of the Hun.

Silly? Yes, if you plpase, but the cult has its real utility, and it is not to bo mocked at in those troubled days. Certainly, trivial as it may sound, no historian will over bo able to write tho story of 1018 in Paris without a reference to the era a' ■ which dominated Grosso Bertha and the Gothas, and which made thousands of. timid -rirls hold, and brought merriment into every salon, nr.d into every cave. It is on little things like this that history has a knack of turning, and while Nenette apd B-intintin keep up tho moral of Paris they are doing good work.

A padre tells me (says another writer on the same subject) that there is one soldier's mascot always in great demand among our British troops. It is a pocket copy of the New Testament, and it must bo a. comnlete cony. That is, a penny pocket edition of one of the Gosnels,. such as we find [archly circulated hv some of our religious' ?ocicties. is of no avail according to tho men who believe in the charm. And tho strange thing is that most of them who put in a request for one have no intention at all of reading it—at any rate, in the common way of things, "up the line." Tt <s used and cherished simply as a talisman.