POSTSCRIPTS

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 136, 6 December 1938, Page 10

POSTSCRIPTS

BY PERCY FLAGE

Chronicle and Comment

.Czechoslovakia's President foreshadows very close relations between his country and Germany. Hitler will see to that. Harihaha: The boom-and-bust principle is put into practice in Auckland. But twice in a morning seems to be over-emphasis. Hataitai: The Minister of Public Works has found a money pool: th« more you put in it, the more you take out. We trust this pool will not dry up this summer. » ♦ • : DEFINITION. Dear Flage,—l see in "The Post" from time to time references to thi« world of ours as "This queer world" and "This mad world." The poet aptly expresses it:— "Merely, thou art death's fool; For him thou labour'st by thy flight" to shun And yet runn'st toward him still." "NASCITUR." * * • HOW UNFORTUNATE. Dear Flage.—l think the following story will be of some passing interest to our readers: "Once upibn a time there was " O, Flage, I do feel such a fool now! I won't be able to tell you the story after all, because just when 1 finished , writing "was** (supra), I ran completely out of ink, and having no pencils or anything lik» that handy, I just couldn't write another word! Not another word! Think of that and my embarrassment*, too! Dear me, dear me! WINSH. * « • QUOTATION. Mr. Chamberlain's Shakespearean quotation on his return from Munich is not a particularly happy one, when read in its context. He said: "Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety." Hotspur goes on to read from the letter: "The purpose you undertake is dangerous; the friends you have named uncertain; the time itself unsorted; and your whole plot too light for the counterpoise of so great an opposition." (Henry IV, PLI, Act 11, Scene III.) , # * « HEARD THIS ONE? .; Dear Percy Flage,—l thoroughly ea»joyed ths two Scotch stories in col. 8 last night by Burlington R. Cade. Here, is a bit of true Scotch wit, and it happened not very far from Greenock. In years gone by, when there was a death in a family, the relatives and friends were usually asked to dinner after the funeral. ' A death had occurred at this particular farmhouse, and the relatives and friends, including the minister, had been asked, as usual.The next time he was visiting the farmhouse, the minister noticed the small boy of the house gathering the hens and chickens • together and shooing them in front of him. As h« came up with the laddie, this is what he heard him say, "Rin, rin, her* comes the man that ate yer farther." Yours truly, SCOTIA. * # * ■ , ARMY IN PETTICOATS. Two or three months ago -an Auckland client of ours (J.J.) wrote anent the story that "had an army of Amazon's." We-could find no confirmation of the yarn at the time, but a, French magazine publishes an interview with a Finnish soldier-girl which, seems to substantiate the story. According to the young lady Finland has a female army, side by side with a male army. They number 50,000, are called the "lotta-svard,"; and are all volunteers. Actually, the Finnish Army is composed of three forces: the army proper, a civil and territorial guard of a hundred thousand men or so, and lastly the Feminine Civil Guard. To the "lotta-svard" will fall, in wartime, the auxiliary forces, such as Health Service- and the Passive Defence. The story continues: "The recruiting of the 'lotta-svard' was, in the beginning, quite spontaneous. It was a matter of public safety when, in 1918, the Finnish fatherland, which had been reformed, recognised the worst dangers. The nation ran a great risk of being committed to Communism. The'result was an. atrocious civil war.. All the active forces of Finland were arrayed against Bolshevism. Women took to arms. They fought with as much courage as the men. General Mannheuner, who commanded the ordinary troops, many a time declared that victory had been won by the Finnish women. When the danger had passed this army in petticoats was not entirely dissolved. * * * "ONCE MORE INTO THE BREACH.* Hail to the correspondents ■~ Who ask for tepid baths! Alas, that such just letters Should have no aftermaths! Had we a Mussolini, I know what he would say— "These baths shall be completed In three months to the day. Without a moment wasted, The work shall be begun— To progress 'tis essential; It therefore shall be done." Of still more strict dictators, I dare not think at all— They'd stand our worthy Mayor Against the nearest wall. "Unless you wish your city And all your friends to weep, Make now an instant promise— Which you had better keepTo have these baths completed By end of next July. The firing-squad is readyNow, will you live or die?" Am • # ♦ INTIMATION. Cal. Ories.—Not quite so "hot" aft your friends would have us believe. J.R.—lt's first a matter of opinion, and we're ready to back ours for a threepenny bit. Anything doing? Drum.—Trifle below your best. We like the picture of dear Neville and his übiquitous umbrella surrounded by swastikas. D'Orleans.—That one appeared in a contemporary, which puts it off-side with us. Yuletide greetings reciprocated. » R.T.C. (Nelson).—Thanks for that teaser. Hope to make use of it presently. M.8.—(1) You haven't a flair for that sort of tiling. (2) Edgar Guest is still flogging out his daily rhyme, so far as we know. "Just Gasthowne."—You had three out of four correct. Thanks for kindly references to the column. "Swagger" ("Hiking Song").—Here'i the last stanza: And when in the bush of evening # - Me and me swag lie down I go to sleep and forget all about The dirty and dusty old town. J.H. (Napier).—You flatter us overmuch. Praise of that kind is too heady a draught. Mabelle (Mornington).—Have sent it back for" you to reorganise. Quite promising. "Oh!"— Your pseudonym is much more effective than your slim coufileta. But never say die. ■■■■■•