MUSSOLINI’S AVERAGE DAY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3584, 8 January 1927, Page 3

MUSSOLINI’S AVERAGE DAY.

SIXTEEN HOURS WORK,

London, January 5

“M# mastery over body and brain goes mi all day and all night. My sleep is like a babe’s. I believe I could sleep through the worst tumult as I did in wartime bombardmen (s, when fifteen minutes off duty.” This passage is in the first of a series of intimate articles written by Signor Benito Mussolini for the British United Press, descriptive of his average day. T can concentrate on one subject to the exclusion of all others, and switch from one to another with the same concentration.” he says. “I retire aC midnight rnnd rise at 7 o’clock. There are strict orders that I am not to be awakened except by bad news. This was Napoleon’s rule. Ido not remain in bed a minute after my first yawn. Lying-in breeds stagnation and demoralises self-discipline. “I THEN SHAVE MYSELF”

“I then shave myself. I am an-ti-whiskers. Whiskers are a sign of decadence. When the decline of Roman glory began whiskers came into style. Fascism replaces them with a clean-shaven youth attired in riding breeches. “I go to breakfast. I wonder sometimes what an Englishman, an American, or a German would call it. There is no fruit, no toast, no sausages, no ham and eggs, no corfee; it consists merely of a glass of milk taken without company. It would be an honour even for my own brother to be invited to the table. It is then 7.30, and I am ready for my morning canter. “I LIVE ON THE RUNNING JUMP”

“My day consists of one hour of recreation, seven of sleep, and sixteen of work; eating is a minor function of my existence, and only a matter of minutes.

‘T take life on the running jump. It is the life I am trying to instil into the hearts of militant Fascists, to lie ready and pulling at the leash, impelled by the thought of invincible destiny. “My clarion cry is that it is necessary to live dangerously, which is the essence of a charmed life. The very idea of Fascio is to he hound to a leader who will lift the torch of sacrifice and tie the bravest of the brave.”