LOVE'S LABOUR LOST.

Otaki Mail, 9 January 1922, Page 4

LOVE'S LABOUR LOST.

1 ♦ ( THE AMATEUR TAB EXPERT. | A good story is being told in a f country town in the Auckland proi vince of the professional man who, with a desire to emulate one of his ! brethren, decided to tar and sand his paths. He watched carefully how nis professional brother did his work, and noted carefully the tar barrel which ; stood outside the gate. Going along i to the countiy store, where everything 1 was stocked from a needle to an anchor, he saw standing in front of tiie (building several casks simßar to the j tar barrel he had seen, and pointing to one of them he said to the genial storekeeper that he wanted it sent J along as soon as possible,- not saying j for what purpose the contents were to :be used. The cask arrived in due

i course, and after the black mass ol stuff had been drawn off and sufll- , ciently heated to allow it to be spread ( thin enough on the paths, and to' make it soft enough to take the sand | and shell that had been laboriously' '.wheeled up from the river, the sais-i ! fied workman rubbed his hands in' il glee as he finished his somewhat tir-1 ing job. Soon the flies commenced i to gather, and his newly done paths . looked as though a swarm of bees.' hagt settled on them. Just then his? neighbour happened to come out of' this front gate, and it was soon dis-| • covered that the cask had contained | molasses used for feeding calves. It I was this that had been spread on the i paths, and had caused the flies to col-. !lectl To mention molasses, tar, >r paths to the professional man does not make him wild, for with a judicial mind he simply says that it has taught him the simple lesson of every man sticking to his own job. In the meantime the family have to enter by the Shack gate, as the molasses melts in the sun, and the choice carpets in the home are being destroyed by the stuff ' being brought into the house. "My wife will have, a big say in who does

the job the next time, and there will not be so many flies about," is what the path renovator says to his friends. —Auckland Star.