POSTSCRIPTS

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 102, 27 October 1945, Page 6

POSTSCRIPTS

Chronicle an%Gomma4

BY PERCY FLAGS

Let a fool hold* his tongue, and he will pass for a sage.—Publius Syrus. .- ■ ■ ■;■.-♦.- - * ■-~. ■ -..-•■_ ..:.,•■;

I change, and so do women, too. But I reflect, which women never.do. -■- —Written on a Looking-glass. ;, '-.«■-.-' *■-.-. *:.■'■.'*'■" • ■•'. -

One and a half per cent, of Britishborn young men and women receive university education, as against 10 per cent, in the U.S.A. and 6 per cent.,in the Soviet Union.

ATTU BOY.

A Japanese: war dog named Sake, who is-part wolf, has been honourably discharged from the U.S. army. . He was captured oh Attu Island, in the Aleutians, and was taught how to 'disarm Japanese and bring in the wounded.

600CWT. CANNON.

Police and officials of Sandhurst Royal Military College are asking: "Who stole the cannon?"

For nearly 100 years the 600cwt. cannon stood at the entrance to Sandhurst. An A.T.S. girl saw it being dragged off behind ah army lorry. The cannon was made in 1832, so it is thought likely that souvenir hunters took it.

LISTEN.

An Englishman and an American were presented to the potentate of an, Eastern country. As the Oriental looked over the Englishman's passport, he said, "I see that you are a British subject." "- -• "I am, sir," said the Briton, swelling with pride. , "And you," said the monarch, turn- _ ing to the American, "are a subject of the United States." , . The American gazed at the ruler in amazement. "Subject, heck!", he exclaimed, "I own part of the United. States."

ENTERS MONASTERY.

A wealthy ex-major of the last war is about to become a monk, and a lieu-tenant-colonel of this war is about to become a police constable. Fifty-year-old Major Charles Verner, called by his friends "'the perfect host," left his flat at Brighton (he had already given up his expensively furnished house, one. of the show places of Sussex), packed a few personal belongings in a suitcase, and drove off in a baby car to become a member of the Brotherhood of Alton Abbey, { Hampshire. "I spent five months there to see if it suited me; I liked it, and I am going back; good-bye," he said as he left.. The policeman is Lieutenant-Colonel Ronald Rowbottom, 29, who on being "demobbed," is returning to his beat in Southport, Lancashire. He was a former regular soldier, and joined up again in 1939 as a gunner. . * * * PONY RACE. A pony race meeting at the annual garden party of the Licensed Victuallers' School at Slough (England) was abandoned after 12 London bookmakers had taken bets from several hundred people. , A, few minutes before the start of the meeting the bookmakers erected stands alongside the course. The headmaster asked them to leave, but they refused. He then announced through loudspeakers that all bets were off. The bookies, however, continued to take bets until .the first race started-, after which the headmaster cancelled the meeting. When police officers asked the bookmakers why they had gatecrashed at a private party, a spokesman for the bookies asserted that the meeting had been advertised as a race meeting, at which the tote would be working. He stated that according to racing law bookmakers were allowed wherever the tote was working. * # # UNDERGROUND FORTRESS. The Japanese tunnels constructed ~by slave labour, near Rabaul, reveal new wonders at almost each step. Entering these marvels of underground engineering one finds stacks of equipment and ammunition of all types, running into millions of pounds, proving beyond doubt that this base was intended for the invasion of Australia and New Zealand. Huge aerial bombs, torpedoes, machine-guns by the hundred, field pieces of all sizes, millions of rounds of small arms and field gun ammunition, alternate with more scientific equipment—complete ' radio stations, photographic stores, and a host of other articles. The caves and their offshoots are not mere burrows. They have been carefully lined with concrete. This area was a fortress which would have taken years to subdue. One Chinese internee, in perfect English, said that he was a student at • Wesley College, Melbourne. He was "Timothy" Mak Tim Keong, whose parents lived in Rabaul and whose mother died two months ago. * * ■» TO THE GRASSHOPPER AND THE CRICKET. Green little vaulter in the sunny grass. Catching your heart up at the feel of . June; Sole voice that's heard amidst the lazy; noon, * When even the bees lag at the summoning brass; • And you, warm little housekeeper, who class ■•■■.'■■ With those who think the candles ,come too soon, - . Loving the fire and with your tricksome tune : Nick the glad silent moments as they; pass; O sweet, and tiny cousins, that belong One to the fields, the other to the hearth, Both have your sunshine; both, though, small, are strong At your clear hearts; and both seem given to earth To sing in thoughtful ears then; natural song— * Indoor and out, summer ana winter, mrth" LEIGH HUNT. ■ ■ '* '• ■* * '.. ■ ■ THAT RATION CARD. Here is a love story of 1944, told by "Le Soir de Lyon." It reads like a puzzle and to understand it one must remember that French ration cards are marked according to the status of their possessors: J3 (adolescent); A (adult); T (worker); C (farmer); E (child). An A fell in love with a J3, but the girl said: "I'm engaged to a T. *. heartbroken, left town and went to the country, to try to forget the J3. Here he became a C. Shortly afterwards J3's .fiance left his job and became a simple A. He had acted without thinking, the miserable wretch. J3 at once turned her back on so slim a ration card and went to .the country to look up her old admirer C, who had plenty to eat "I-love you,'? she told him. "In two monthsV time I shan't be a J3 any longer, but an A. Then I can marry. Come and see my parents." " ■ i . , Two months later they were married They lived happily and had many little Es. " •■•".■■ •„■■•. ' * #..... * NIAGARA CALLING! Blondin, the world's greatest tightrope walker, put Niagara into _his repertoire. He began by stretching a wire across the torrent and walking back .and forth across it carrying a 401b pole. ,■:• '■■■■•. ~ Then, hundreds of feet above .the v whirlpool, he stood and signalled to a small ferry loaded with sightseers which was waiting below. .--/ ■'■ Singing and waving to,the crowd,.he lowered a rope, drew up' a bottle of wine, and drank it, swaying precariA few days later, he crossed on the wire bound hand and foot On his return, he carried a stove, pushed it to the middle of the.wire, and, while hundreds'screamed and fainted below, cooked an omelette! ■ ; : . \l£ v In 1860, when the Prince of Wales visited America, Blondin turned on his tricks 230 feet above the rapids, .;. somersaulted, fooled, feigned dizziness, - and carried others across on his back. To cap it all, he crossed-^-rbelieve it o* not—on .-stilts! •' ?■ ',: ,v;^v-;,:>■/:■." .■■;' :fi^\ '■:'-,.

In spite of his audacity, in 70 years of, tight-tope , stunting Blondin .never had an accident. :-;,; - ;

Blondin really; started = a.wire-walk- :- ing craze at Niagara. Hardly a; year passed there without a::;sti_at-. whichj more often than not,;ended*fatally,:^