THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 259, 31 July 1942, Page 4

THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY

Comments —Reflections

Laval has censed to wear tho white tie for which he was famous, because lie fears it might make him'too easy a mark for the assassin. This prompts the newspaper, “I’M” to recall the remark of a French journalist: “For the sake of France it would be good if his hands were as white as his tie.” “Now,” the newspaper remarks, .‘‘even his tic isn’t white.—New York correspondent of the London “Sunday Times."

The road will be thorny, but the neighbours will at lust become more neighbourly. A few misfortunes have an amazing effect ns a catalytic agent, and previously insurmountable barriers melt away. A child lies sick and the sympathetic assistance of a whole town block of homes comes on the run. Caste lines vanish under the rush of human feeling and selfish preoccupation with the business of life vanishes. War will bring its inevitable personal griefs. There are few neighbourhoods that will not find themselves more closely knit together when peace comes at last. —New York “Times.”

In a recent Broadcast Queen Wilhelmina made reference to the Dutch ancestry of the Roosevelts; in Scotland they have now discovered that “F.D.R.” has good Border blood in his veins. Why they ask, do you think Mr. Roosevelt calls his favourite terrier “Falii”? The answer is genealogical, fof It seems that “Outlaw Murray,” hero of a Border ballad and Laird of Eala, in Ettrick, is also perpetuated in the name of this White House dog In 1735 a descendant of the outlaw, James Murray, emigrated to Carolina. His younger daughter, Elizabeth, man-ltd Edward Hutchinson Robbins; their third daughter, Anne Jean, became the wife of Joseph Lyman; and the daughter of this union, Catherine Lyman, married Warren Delano, and had a daughter, Sara, who married James Roosevelt anil became the mother of Franklyn Delano Roosevelt, three times President of the United States —and, incidentally, owner of the little dog whose name links the White House with the Scottish Border estate of Falahill.—“Lucio,' 1 in “Manchester Guardian.”

“I have lived all my life in England, a long life; but I have never got used to the decent reticence, the enduring good humour and innate self-discipline ot our people. A British crowd, massed almost beyond breathing room, going about their work, performing their duties, sharing their holidays and enthusing over their Sport, have always won my admiration find provoked my surprise. They are not self-conscious. They do not show Off. They do not get rattled. Thei: nerves are naturally placid and steady. Because of some of their enthusiasms and serenities I often feel like a foreigner among them. Their temper and bearing now during this war leave me guessing. All'the anxieties, the shocks and horrors seem to make no basic change in their habits and their attitude to life. Disasters are shouted to them, lire and blood and ci ashings and blastings that seem to shake the founds tlons of the land they live in do not ehake them out of their daily interests and desires.”—Robert Blatchford in the London “NewsChronicle.”

‘‘lt is not the material sacrifices that are so hard. The most difficult thing C.£ all is to forget the ancient grudges ai:d the distant nostalgias. This is no time for parochial wrangling; and in politics there can be only one party: the nation. Ministerial office takes on its original etymological meaning; in Latin minister is a servant, and officium is a voluntary service. Nor can we stop to dream too long of liberty and that better world order for which we are

fighting. We serve them best by ensuring the survival of the only world in which they can endure and be Improved. For that brave new world, of. which some are still tempted to dream too long, but in which it is our right and our duty to oelieve, is not in the future at all. Unless it is a present part of our soul it is a vain imagining. The will is no dreamer that stretches out hands of longing toward distant shores; it is a present power that works now, and works incessantly, to improve on what is close at hand, and to make sure of retaining it. This native earth of ours; that is all that we have, find unless we are treat enough to hold it and to mould it according to tho principle of its being, how can wo hope for any world that will be either brave or new?—A. R. Chisholm in the Melbourne “Argus.”

The Americans were crazy about Australia, “so long as you stay out ofi that God-forsaken desert.” Several hundred of them promptly married Australian girls, over all opposition, and planned to settle for life in Australia after the war. They learned to call druggists chemists, barbers hairdressers, biscuits scones, crackers biscuits, and gasolene petrol. They did not mind the heavy warm beer, the terrible coffee, the meat-pie, hotdogs, the lack of salads and inayonaise, the lack of ice. On the soldiers’ demand Australian papers soon begun running American sports results. Australian theatre audiences rose when “The Star-Spangled Banner'’ was played. U.S. dollars and quarters became legal tender everywhere. Americans were learning Rugby football, playing exhibition baseball—and there may be miniature Olympic Games in Melbourne in August. The Australians were surprised to see American ollicets and enlisted men eating and drinking together. The Americans adopted the Australian practice of wearing shorts. “Certainly Americans and Australians disagree," said an Australian officer, “They disagree over who can fight best." (Article in May “Life," entitled “Americans Make Australia the ‘49th U.S. State.’ ”) Greek Independence Day. Not for a hundred years has this day gone From the Acropolis without seeing free That people which first looked ou Liberty, When winged, among anemones, she shone Like dawn over the field of Marathon, And so, however bitter be this day, Let it be honoured for the future’s sake And for the sake of ages passed away. Like blackest night between a sunset’s glorj’ And dawn as beautiful, about to break, So stands this evil day in Greece's story. —Lord Dunsany, in the “Sunday Times.”