FROM THE WATCH TOWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 18, 12 April 1927, Page 8

FROM THE WATCH TOWER

By the LOOK-OUT MAN THE QUALITY OF MERCY Time was when the might of Britain blew from the mouths of her cannon rebellious sepoys of tile Indian Mutiny. But those were desperate days, and the quality of mercy is greater now in the British Army, although the late war saw horrible instances of young British soldiers, shocked into nei'vous incompetence by the mad blast of battle, court-mar-tialled and shot in cold blood on charges of cowardice. It is recorded of one young officer who was thus sentenced ” that, while admitting his inability to prevent himself being stampeded in action, he proudly denied any conscious cowardice and proved his bravery by the fearless manner in which he faced the rifles of the firing party and died, “a soldier and a man.” More recent events show a strange softening of British justice, for only last week three Sikhs who had attempted to seduce the Indian troops at Shanghai from duty escaped with a sentence of 18 months’ imprisonment. Perhaps it was lucky for them that they were tried by a

Consular Court —a court-martial might have regarded sedition at Shanghai in such perilous times as something really serious.

TEETH AND THE DENTIST The manufacturers of foodstuffs out of which all tooth-grinding material is refined are worth untold sums of money to the dental profession. You will have noted, by the way, that the dentist much resembles the barbe- in one particular. Just as the baldheaded gentleman who removes the daily growth from your face will strongly recommend a patent hairrestorer for “that thin patch on the crown, sir,’* so will the dentist, wearing a set of his own products, advise you of the things you ought not to eat. Sugar, white bread, cakes and like foodstuffs he anathematises, i-le knows he is quite sure not to interfere with business; for you will thoroughly and cordially agree with him —and then go and eat what you fancy. That is why there are seven school dental clinics in and about Auckland, and why there will eventually be seventy more. ON THE SHELF In the circumstances, the discovery on a shelf of a lady in a Wellington shop which had been burgled was something of a novelty, but, alas! there are many ladies "on the shelf” in this age wherein men are slow to marry. May it be so that the example of the policeman who lifted down the lady from the shelf of the shop will be followed by other men who will just as gallantly lift ladies from the shelves of the marriage mart. LOVE AND SACRIFICE It is really wonderful what sacrifices love is capable of. Observe the devotion of the Countess de Janze, who, prevented from marrying Mr. de Trafford because of the awkward fact that she was already married, shot her lover “so that she could take him with her in death.” Mr. de Trafford’s bullet was effective; unfortunately, that of Madame la Comtesse was not, so she is not with her lover in death, but in the hands of the police in life. This lady is not singular in the excessive devotion which leads to a desire to kill the loved one. There was the Sydney society lady, Mrs. Mort, who a few years ago shot dead a young Sydney doctor. Told that he was going to marry another woman, Mrs. Mort summoned him to her home, sat with him on the sofa, and, while in the act of embracing, shot him dead. Then she shot herself, so that they would be “together in death.” But, like the French woman, she, too, survived the bullet, and is now under restraint. Of course it never seems to occur to these lovers to ask the other party’s consent to a joint trip into eternity. Which goes to show that this great love which must have all or death for two is merely great selfishness.