BIG BROTHER BILL and the BAIRNS

Evening Star, Issue 23373, 16 September 1939, Page 6

BIG BROTHER BILL and the BAIRNS

GENIUS THINKS THINGS. BUT LABOUR DOES THEM The winner of the competition published on Saturday, September 2, was Shirley Macdonnell, 168 Cargill street, Dunedin,. C.2. Congratulations. Prize will be posted. THE POSTIE'S BAG Fox street, Port Chalmers. Dear Big Brother Bill,—As I have previously won a competition, I have decided to try my luck again. During the recent snowstorm we had marvellous fun snowballing, tobogganing, etc. Did you enjoy it?—for we certainly did. On the surrounding hills there were tea-tray sledges and home-made sledges, and several even had surfboards. During the frosts we put out crumbs and water for the birds. We have made a pet of one, and after the snow, if his breakfast was late, one could # hear him rapping on the door THE COMPETITION How many things in the picture begin with the letter C? Send your answer to Big Brother Bill, care of ‘ Evening Star,’ Stuart street, Dunedin, 0.1. Mark the envelopes “ Competition.”

with his short beak. He used to come aud perch on our fingers. We christened him “ Baldy the Rook,” but up to last Tuesday we have not seen him. Can you explain his disappearance? We also keep a canary and a budgie, “ Tom ” and “ Dick.” I have been teaching Tom to speak.— Your bairn, Norman Styles.

[Thank you for your letter, Norman Styles. Your* name is on the Honour Post and you are winner of the best letter 'prize. ■ Baldy the Rook will not come back again as long as he can find food elsewhere. You must expect that kind of thing with bird friends. When Nature spreads the table they depend less upon their human friends; but he will not desert you altogether, Norman. Birds have a memory for folk who are friendly, and one day he will 'be tapping again on the back door. Write again soon.]

57 Queen’s Drive.

Dear Big Brother Bill, —I am entering 'for tjiis w-eek’s competition, and hope to be successful. The snow gave us a lot of fun, and, although I was in bed ill when it started, I was able to be out in it before it had melted. I made an igloo out of snow which I was able to got in.—Yours sincerely. Fred M'Causland.

[Thank you for your letter, Fred M'Causland. The big snow is only a memory now, but a very happy memory judging by the letters Brother Bill receives from bairns. It appears to have treated Fred M'Causland better even than doctor’s medicine, and caused what doctor would call “ a rapid recovery.” Did you see the igloo in the city? It stayed for quite a long time. Write again soon.]

135 Taieri road, Kaikorai. Dear Big Brother Bill, —I am entering for this week’s competition, and I hope I am successful. I read your page every Saturday night, and I like it very much. I am in Standard I. at school. I am having my ninth birthday on Sunday, but I am not having a party. I did not have to go to school on Monday on account of the snow.—l remain, yours sincerely, Margaret Milburn. [Thank you for your letter, Margaret Milburn. Brother Bill would like, at this late homy to wish you many happy returns of the day. Your birthday letter was addressed wrongly, and did not reach Brother Bill until too late to call it over the air, Better luck

next time. He is glad to know that you like the column. Write again soon.] 64 Watts road, N.E. Valley. Dear Big Brother Bill, —Please may I join your happy band of bairns? I read your children’s page every Saturday night. I enjoy reading ‘ Night Pilots.’ At school I passed in my exams. I got 235 mams. When the snow was on I put pieces of bread on the chopping block for the birds. Just now there are a great many sparrows and other birds around.—-I remain, your loving bairn, Joan Bartley. [Thank you for your letter. Joan Bartley. Welcome to the bairn’s club. Congratulations on passing the school exam.; also pat on the back for your kindness to the birds. Write again soon.] f BABY When a young couple arrived recently at Zurich in a Swiss aeroplane they appeared to have too much luggage and a child was missing. On being questioned the husband opened a trunk, and there was a fine baby stretching out its arms towards its parents. Accordingly the charges for passengers and for baggage hud to be rectified, and the happy parents were allowed to go their way. MOUNTAIN AIR IS SO BRACING Squeaked a mole underground: “ I’ll get ill If mv lungs with fresh air I don’t fill. Suffocation 1 fear, For it’s stuffy down here, So I’ll go up and sit on my hill! ” THE GREAT CROWD LOOKING FOR NOTHING On a beautiful sunny afternoon not so very long ago a man sat under a tree on the banks of the River Irwell in Salford and began idly to throw little stones into the water. A little boy stopped to watch him, then a little girl, and afterwards an old man stopped. These three were followed by two more men and three women, and in almost less than no time a crowd had assembled, all wondering what everybody else was looking at. Then the man got up and went on; but the crowd still grew, till finally the police came to disperse it, nobody knowing what they were looking at except, presumably, the little boy and the little girl who began the crowd.

PEN FRIENDS' CORNER Big Brother Bill will he glad to publish names and addresses of those who desire pen friends, also names and addresses of bairns in other countries who desire pen friends in New Zealand. Those below have been given to him by a friend. Ray Anderson, 1,093 Garfield street, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Thelma Ashley, 1,119 Garfield street, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. TRUE FISHING STORY Trout had great fun with two anglers ,in Lake Rotorua, New Zealand, the other day. The two meri were wearing rubber wading boots when, to their astonishment, they felt their feet getting wet. Brown trout had bitten pieces out of their boots! THE WONDERFUL ROBOTS Robots are becoming more and more human. At each entrance to the Liege international Water Exhibition the other day stood commissionaires holding in one hand a plan of the exhibition. Visitors who wanted to know something pushed a button, and immediaely the haughty-lookmg personage unbent. One ot his eyes gleamed and the word “ Speak ” was Tit up. Then the visitor asked his question about the fair and the robot answered it. These pillars of information not only spoke French and Flemish, but several other languages as well. A PACKET Of BEES A big parcel marked 11 Fragile, with care.” was handed by the postal authorities at Butte in Montana, the other day, as carefully as if it was dynamite! This was because they had spied another little notice on the box saying that the package contained 250,000 honey bees! THE IRISHMAN AGAIN After a spell of dry weather there was a heavy fall of rain, and an Irish farmer said to his neighbour: “An hour of rain like this will do more good in ten minutes now than a month of it would do in a w’eek at any other tirtie.” A FISH FROM THE SKY A pelican went without his supper the other day. While a gardener was busy cutting a lawn at Windsor, New South Wales, a big fish fell on the grass at his feet. Looking up, he saw a pelican flying overhead! BILLIE When an old shepherd in Scotland was knocked down recently he was carried into his own home and put to bed. Presently the old man asked in a whisper if Billie had been fed. Billie was a motherless lamb which the shepherd had tended carefully. His wife went off in search of the little creature, returning later to say she could not find it anywhere. It was then she made the discovery that the lamb was under the blankets at the shepherd’s feet. THE THREE BEARS When Mrs Roberts arrived home at her shack at Schist Lake, Manitoba, she noticed that everything was upside down, " Who’s been sitting in my chair?” she exclaimed, and “ Who’s been lying in my bed?” Then, as she looked round, she saw an old bear and two cubs hiding in a corner. She chased the culprits out, but as the shadk had two doors the three bears had a great time playing hide and seek with her until she didn’t know how to get rid of them. Finally she decided to run for help to a neighbour’s house, and came back with men, who got rid of the intruders for her, but it will be a long timo before she forgets her adventure with the three hears.

A FRIEND FOR SWANEE A GOOD-NIGHT TALE He was a handsome grey cygnet—not quite grown up—and he was swimming happily with other young swans in the bright sunshine, diying for fish and eating appetising, dainties, when suddenly something hard struck his leg. He heard a loud cheer. There on the bank was a group of small boys, and even as he lifted his stately head a bail of stones bowled him over. Like a flash a little girl rushed down to the water’s edge. She told the boys what she thought of them, and picked up the swan in her arms. He was a heavy load, though he was only about nine months old, and she was It yeai’s. She carried him home, right through the densely-crowded town. She tucked him underneath her arm, his long, thin face was beside her round, chubby one, his tail swaying behind. He was quite quiet—-he knew that he was safe. The pair reached the house m safety and Swauee was put in the garden. She thought he might bo hungry, but he scornfully refused to eat. Then she had an idea. She put his meal in a basin of water. Oh, how pleased he was! Bread, potatoes, everything was gobbled up. After a few days he began to know Jus feeding and would, Jap pu the

basement window with his beak until his breakfast was brought to him. If his summons was ignored he would waddle round in a dignified manner to the back door and tap on it insistently until the door was opened. There was no Water in the garden, so a tub was put out for him, and every day he would splash about and enjoy himself. And so the weeks went by, arid Swaneo grew tanier and tamer. He grew to love the family and their friends, and to recognise strangers. He was a happy little creature. But alasl the wounds in his leg and wing did not heal, and one day Swanee did not tap on the window for his breakfast. He had gone for his last long sleep in a corner of the yard, a sleep from which he never awakened. This story is true, CHICKS FOR THE GOLDFIELDS The boys and girls who live at Goldfields, away up in Saskatchewan, were agog with excitement the other day when they heard that one of the residents had had some baby chicks sent by plane. The youngsters raced to her chicken yard, and there, exploring their new home with great glee, were 127 fluffy yellow chicks, the first ever to arrive in this mining settlement. It is hoped they will be laying eggs in the autumn and prove profitable. At present aeroplanes take* about 500 dozen eggs to Goldfields eao& w«elfc