BIG BROTHER BILL AND THE BAIRNS

Evening Star, Issue 19794, 18 February 1928, Page 17

BIG BROTHER BILL AND THE BAIRNS

A WEEKLY TALK Hello, everybody I This time, and for the first time since the puzzles began, I must announce a disappoinihig conclusion. Nobody won • the prize. Everybody worked hard, but of the many who sent results not one got the cake puzzle right. Hunting relations was quite good. All that were sent in had the correct answers excepting a very few. One little chap thought Brother Bill. was asking questions about his relations, a in place of the correct answers sent the names of his people. Thank you very much, lan. Now Brother Bill knows who your people are, and them by name. He feels to be more than ever your big brother. One of your family indeed! The correct answers arc as follows: (1) Great aunt, great grandmother, third cousin, sister-in-law, nephew, stepmother, yourself, grandfather. (2) Cream cake, ribbon cake, fruit cake, plain cake, pound cake, patty cake, sponge cake, marble cake, rainbow cake, layer cake, rock cake, chocolate cake. Better luck next time to everybody. Yours affectionately always— Big Brother Bill. THE INSTALMENT SYSTEM Tnere was an old man of Tareutum Who gnashed his false teeth ’til he bent ’em. When asked what they cost And how much he lost He said: “I don’t know; I just rent ’em.” SOME BIRTHDAYS Birthdays are increasing in the family, which is as it ought to be. Peggy Davis, Moana crescent, Dunedin, was nine years last Sunday. June Archbold, 171 Victoria road, St. Clair, was eleven years on Wednesday last. To both of these Brother Bill sends his love and best wishes. May they have the happiest year, without any shadows to spoil the sunshine. Many, many happy returns. Leslie Brady, James street, Balclutha, had a birthday last Sunday. Clarence Garc, Torquay street, Abbotsford, had a birthday last Tuesday. George Inglis, 206 King Edward street, was ten years old this week, too. Ronald Wilson, 111 Oxford street, Sruth Dunedin, was five years old last

Tuesd-iy. Little Ron had a most wonderful birthday. Ho wrote asking Big Brother Bill for a boat, and about halfpast 6 last Tuesday night found a boat —a lovely one, too —floating in the bath. To all these boys Brother Bill sends the happiest good wishes. May they grow into fine strong men some ’ y, and each year that comes do something to bring them nearer. Many, manv happy returns of tho day to yon all. Let me whisper something to those whose birthdays are coming. If you want something stunner for _ your birthday get dad or mum to write to Big Brother Bill about it. HOW BOTH THE LITTLE CROCODILE How doth the little crocodile Improve his shining tail And pour the waters of the Nile On every golden scale? How cheerfully he seems to grin, How neatly spreads his claws, And welcomes little fishes in With gently smiling jaws! Lewis Cahkolu. THE MONTHS OF THE YEAR Murray Tims wants to know why February has twenty-nine days every four years? And who gave the months of the year the number of days each possesses in the calendar? Which are not hard questions to answer, and discover quite an interesting story. The old rhyme says:— Thirty days hath September, April. June, and dull November; All the rest have thirty-one, Excepting February alone. Which has twenty-eight days clear And twenty-nine in each leap year. But why have four months thirty clays each, seven months thirty-one days each, and one month _ twentyeight days, with twenty-nine days every four years? This is the answer: — It all cams about through a little bit of royal jealousy. There has always been a little bit of difficulty in making tho year keep in step wdth the sun. It takes the earth 365 days and aquartor to roll once round the sun, but, of course, you can’t divide 365 i evenly by twelve. Julius Ciesar, tho great Roman Emperor, ivas really the first to make the best of this difficult job. He made three years to have 365 days, and the fourth 366 days. In this way lie made a workable calendar. And ho divided the months so that they ran 31, 30, 31, 30, 31, 30, 31, 30, 31,30,31,30. If you add those twelve numbers together they make 366 days. That would not do for the 365-day year, so he ordered that, for three out of every four years, the_ second month should only lie' twenty-nine days. AVhich was very nice and workable until the little bit of royal jealousy spoiled everything. Tho Romans were so proud of Julius Ctcsar that they named a month after him, the month we call July—before this the Romans called it Quintilis. Then later on another Roman sat on the throne, Augustus Caesar; and they named a month after him—the month we call August—before this it_ was called Sextilis. Then somebody discovered that Julius had thirty-one days in his month, whilst Augustus had only thirty days in his, which was a dreadful thing, not to be allowed a moment after being discovered. So they took another day from poor February and gave it to Augustus, leaving February with only twenty-eight days. But when August became a tlnrty-ono-day month it spoiled the whole order of tho calendar. And they altered September from thirty-one days to thirty, October from thirty days to thirty-one, November from thirty-one days to thirty, and December from thirty days to thirty-one, which must have been more bother to the Romans than daylight saving alteration in time was to us. Since that time, nearly 2,000 years ago, tho months have remained unchanged, which is quite good and proper. And 1 hereby give notice flint if any member of the family thinks of altering tho name of a month in my honor—say to Bilins—the idea, will cause so much bother as not to be cni.ortained for a moment. AH 818 ENGLISH NONSENSE BITTY HAVE YOU EVER SEEN— One old ox opening oysters? Or two toads totally tired trying to trot to Tewkesbury? Or three tamo tigers taking lea? Or four fat friars fishing lor fainting flics? . Or five fairies finding fashionable Fijian frocks? , Or six soldiers shooting several sum sausages? Or seyen salmon sailing socially in several sorry saucepans? Or eight elegant engineers eating excellent eggs? Or nine nimble ninnehaininers nailing up nonsensical noblemen near Norwich? , Or ten tall tinkers tinkering up ton tenpenny tin tinder boxes? Or eleven electors eating early cnOr twelve tremendous tale-tellers telling the terrible truth? Or thirteen throat thrushes throttling trifty threepenny pieces? Or fourteen furious flounders Happing frigid fins for fun? Or fifteen lifers fifing fifes in a finicky fashion? Or sixteen slippers sliding suddenly over slimy soft soap? Or seventeen sloppy sailors salvaging sorrowful salmigundy? Or eighteen elderly elephants enticing enterprising eels? _ . Or nineteen nasty natives niggardly noticing nothing? , Or twenty twinkling tailors twining in twelve terrible twirls? THE WEEKLY COMPETITION At the special request of a large number of the family this week’s competition is another word-building one. boo how many words yon can make out of the letters in tho following sentence;— THIRTY SHILLINGS BUYS A RADIO LICENSE. Remember that there is one rule that must be kept in mind. You may not use more of any given letter than the sentence contains, this competition will close on Saturday, 1 ebruary 25. THE LITTLE YELLttW TOILP A BED-TIME STORY Once upon a time there was a little Tulip, and she lived in a dark little house under the ground. She was there all by herself, and everything was very, very still. Suddenly came a little tap at the door. „ , “Who’s there?” she called. _ “ The Rain, and I want to cmne in,” said the teeniest soft little voice. “ Well, you can’t,” said the Tulip, sharply. Presently came a teeny soft tap on tho window pane. “ Who’s there? ” said the Tulip. “ It’s the Rain, and 1 do want to come in,” said the teeniest soft little voice again. “ Well, you won’t come in, so there, said the little Yellow Tulip, very angrily this time._ Then everything was very still for a long time, and the Tulip snuggled under her warm brown blanket, and went to sleep again. She was wakened by a whispering and rustling near her bedroom windo®

• Who’s there now?” she called irritably. “ It’s the Sunshine,” said a happy little voice. ‘ ‘ Really, you know, we must come in and talk to you.” “ Who's wc? ” called the little Yellow Tulip. “The Rain and myself. Please, let us come in. Wo have such happy things to tell you.” “ N—no. I won’t let you in,” she called out loud. “You’ve no business to waken me so early. Go somewhere else.” And the little Yellow Tulip snuggled down in her warm brown blankets, and went to sleep again. Spon she was wakened by a whispering and rustling about the keyhole of her door. “O, dear me,” she sighed, “whoever is there now? Why can’t I be let alone? ” “ Who's there this time? ” she called. “The Sunshine,” said the cheery little voice again. _ “ I want to come in. I shall conic in. I’m coming in at once.” “Well, you’re not coming in at all. I simply won’t get out of bed to open the door,” she said. “Do please go away.” But she wasn’t able to go to sleep again. And the little Yellow Tulip discovered, suddenly, that a most extraordinary thing had happened. She had grown' too big for tho bed she was lying m. “Dear, dear me,” she said in a pet. “ I suppose, since I can’t go to steep again, I’d better get up.” So she got up, and sat very still in the little dark house. And all the time she had a most wonderful feeling that she was growing bigger and bigger. She began to feel quite excited about it. “ Whatever is going to happen to me? ” she thought. “ I feel as excited as if I was going a lovely journey.” By this time the little Yellow Tulip was very wide awake, indeed. Then came another tapping and rustling all round her little dark house. “WHO IS THERE?” she called loudly, and not so angrily this time either. “ The Rain and the Sun, the Rain and the Sum” chanted the two little voices. “Wo want to come in—we want to come in—WE WANT TO COME IN.” And before little Yellow Tulip could get to the door of her wee dark house it opened of itself. And the Sunshine took hold of one of her wee hands, and the Rain took hold of the other. They danced three times round the wee room, and, before she could say another word, ran and ran and ran with her right up to the top of the ground. “Now poke your golden head through,” they said together. When she did so. she was in the loveliest garden. The birds were singing and Sunbeams stroked her pretty yellow head. _ And some children ran to her, laughing in excitement. “O look,” they cried. “Here’s a Golden Tulip come to play with us. Hurrah! The Spring has come at last.” THE RECIPE The other day someone sent me a most complimentary letter all the way from Balclutha. The letter said nice things, of course, but the compliment was in what the letter asked mo to do. It said: “We are having a children’s party, and wo wonder if you know any nice recipes for party cakes? ” I felt quite excited and happy in being asked to help; and tremendously complimented too. Here are some perfectly scrumptious “ eats ” for a kiddies’ party. And they are simply and inexpensively made: — Jellies.—Get one dozen oranges and cut them carefully in halves. Squeeze out the juice, and do not break the rind. Clean the remaining pulp out of each half-orungo with a spoon. Now make an orange jelly in the following maimer: A cup of water, 2oz gelatine, half pound of sugar, 3 cups of orange juice. Soak- the gelatine in water for ten minutes. Rut cup of water and sugar in saucepan together and bring to boil. Immediately sugar is dissolved in water pomover gelatine. Add orange juice. Now pour into empty orange rinds and stand to set on glass dish. Before serving sprinkle lightly with dessicated cocoanut. Snow Canoes.—Get one dozen small stale sponge cakes. Scoop a little hole in top of each. Place half an apricot or peach in each hole, together with a spoonful of juice. Now place a spoonful of whipped cream in each piece of fruit. Sprinkle sponge cake with castor sugar. Serve in glass dish. Snowballs. —Halt-ounce of gelatine, three-quarters of a pint of new milk, half a tea cup of sago, two ounces of lump sugar. Dissolve gelatine in half a pint of new milk. Now add all other ingredients and boil for lOmin. Soak small tea cups in cold water and pour mixture into them. Allow to stand until next day. Turn each one into a glass dish. Make a hole in the top of each mould and place therein a teaspoon of raspberry jam. Top off with a sprinkle of ground nuts or dessicated cocoanut and a spoonful of whipped cream. These will make you popular with the kiddies for ever. Cheerio, everybody. BIG BROTHER BILL.