FOR YOUNG FOLKS.

Matamata Record, Volume II, Issue 106, 14 November 1918, Page 4

FOR YOUNG FOLKS.

JUVENILE DIPLOMACY.

said the little six-year bid daughter, "do you know what 1 am going to give you for your birthday when it comes?" "No dear," answered the fond father, "but please tell me."- "A nice, new china shavingmug, with gold flowers on it all around," said the little maid. "But, my dear," oxplaimed the parent, "I have a nice ono like that already." "No, you haven't," she answered, thoughtfully, "'cos—'cos I've dropped ft." HOW TO POLISH SHELLS. There is no better amusement on a wet day at the seaside than mounting and polishing the shells you have gathered on the fine ones. Shells look much prettier when they are polished, and their colours become brighter. The polishing is quite simple. All you have to do is to rub the shells with powdered pumice-stone, and, when they are polished sufficiently, to finish them off by rubbing with a soft rag dipped in oil. Pebbles may be polished in tlio same way. If you want to use your polished shells to decorate boxes or frames, a good mixture for sticking them is made by dissolving some sheet gelatine in just enough water to make a thick syrup. If a little plaster of Paris is added the paste will bo stronger, but this is not absolutely necessary. THREE LITTLE PUZZLERS. These are all very easy questions, but still it is simple to trip a perison up on them if he doesn't stop to 'think. 1. How many blocks a quarter of an inch square would you need to fill a box an inch square? Some people will say only four, others will think twice and say 16, and a few will realise that it will take 64. 2. If you cut some equilateral triangles all of the same size out of paper —that is triangles whose three sides are all equal—how many such triangles can you place around one of these triangles so as to touch it? You will have to try angles and try sides a number of times before you can answer this. You will find that 12 is the number. 3. If you have a number of cubical blocks, how many of them can you arrange so that they will all touch at the same point? Many will have an idea that four is all that can be made to touch, hut the right answer is eight. A YOUNG TURK'S DAY. A Turkish boy's first day at school is preceded by an imposing ceremony. When he awakes in the morning his hands are stained with henna, and he is dressed in clothes that he has not worn before. His small dark head is decorated with jewels, and ho is presented with a brand-new bag, in »vhich he carries a copy of the sacred Koran. Accompanied by his father, he sets cut for school, and on his arrival is asked to recite the Moslem creed. This done, he kisses the master's hand and joins the class. Ho learns his lessons chiefly by rote, kneeling with his schoolfellows in a long row, and swaying his body from side to side as he sing-songs out his task. The hodja - headmaster—sits with his legs crossed on the floor on a bright-hued rug, with his assistant beside him. Religion is the principal subject taught in the mekteb, and no trifling is permitted. If a schoolboy is lazy or disobedient, he is either beaten or severely punished by having a kind of wooden hobblo slipped over his ankle and on to his foot. He is forced to wear this all day, and sometimes even to go home in it, which is a great disgrace; so in spite of unlimited. Turkish delight, the schoolboy in Turkey is not to be envied. A CLEVER BOY. A little boy named Arthur used to go with his father every day to a place .Where a band practised music, though fee was only seven. Now, Arthur was so clever and loved music 60 much that before he was nine years old he could play many of the instruments which the grown-up bandsmen played. Arthur could sing too, and one day bid sang a song called "With Verdure Clad" so sweetly that a gentleman got him a place in the choir at the Ohapel Royal, which is the church that Queen Victoria went to when she stayed in London. Arthur was three years in the choir, And often when the other choir boyr were playing at games he would spend the time writing little pieces of music of his own. One of these pieces of music was palled an anthem, because it could be {>layed on the organ in church, and ib was so very good, though such a )ittle boy had done it all by himself, Jhat it was flung by the choir in the, 6hapel Royal. ' When the chief man of the Ohapel {Royal got to know that it was a choir j)Pj who had written it, he sent for film and gave him some money. 1 • "You are a clever little boy," said the chief man, "and I am sure you prill become famous.'-' ( He was quite right, for tha boy's toll name was Sullivan, and ho wrote tote of music tunes when he grew up, And Queen Viotoria made him a knight, Afcft so he was afterwards called Sir