DIOGENES JINKS

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 306, 17 March 1928, Page 31

DIOGENES JINKS

Jinks did not like going t \ with the little girls and Mademoiselle; they chattered so much they c;» turbed his train of thought and h* was a very thoughtful dog. having Scotland for a birthplace and Oxford for a home. Indeed. Jinks was a pei - son of importance, and lie seemed to be happily aware of it. "What the Aberdeen terrier did ~njov was to prance along wrapped in his own reflections, now on three leg*, now on four, in front of a perambu j lator pushed by a silent nurse and , filled with a sleeping baby. So grave he looked as he joggled along that the head of a college wh< lived near understood and respected his studious bent, and used to salut* him by taking off his hat. These walks were not always a peace, as Nurs;' could have told. Jinks was not the shape, or the age. to doig* motor-buses, but he did so success fully, just waddling out from beneath the wheels when everyone had turned away in horror. It was very clever j of him, but distinctly liarrowing to the members of the family who happened to be with him. And there had been a great en- ; counter with a racing undergraduate , one day, from which the youth had , been taken, bumped and bruised, to ! the hospital, and his new motor bicycle to the scrap-heap; and Nurse, who had broken the strap of the perambulator in trying to run to the rescue, had had to hail a taxi and rid* home with the baby, the perambulator and the dog, whose fault it all was, and who had got off quite unharmed and scot-free. One winter day, when he was least expecting it. Jinks's little mistresses gave a children's party. He bore up as well as he could. He took the cak** which was offered to him, and put up with all the patting; he was even in dined to join in Hunt the Slipper. But after tea everyone began to pull crackers. Quicker than he would liav* fled before a charabanc. Jinks streaked out of the house. The guests had all gone away, and it was night, and still the wanderer had not returned.

Meanwhile Jinks trotted determinedly down the highway; anything rather than go home again. That warn not to be thought of. However, as the hours fled b>, an empty feeling about his waistcoat reminded him that his supper would now be waiting beside the kitchen fire Still, the crackers might not all be cracked. What was to be done abou it?

There was a dust-bin standing be side his back-door gate, and sometime* quite good bones were to be found ir such places. In the hurry of this splendi* thought Jinks made such a scramble to scale the bin that he overbalanced and tumbled in, finding it quite empty except for a little hay at the bottom. The space was so cramped and his legs were so short that it was quite difficult to stretch out and lie down. He was just in his first sleep when footsteps were heard drawing near; someone emptied an avalanche of warm tea-leaves all over him, clapped the lid on the bin, and was gone before he had time to bark a protest.

By this time well-known voices, who ought to be obeyed, were calling and whistling for Jinks up and down the road, but all his replies were drowned In the depths of the dust-bin. Still, the hay was cosy, and air got In through a hole in the lid, and he slept as well as he did in his own warm basket at home.

In the morning Cook came again with more tea-leaves, and got a great surprise when she saw his bright eyes twinkling up at her. In great haste she called his master.

“See, sir, where the runaway has hidden himself.”

“Surly fellow to flee good company," said Master, as lie lifted him out. “Little Diogenes In liis Tub.” TRAP

A merry game that calls for no preparation is Trap.'’ It is not new. but is often forgotten.

Any number of players can join, ar.d all should sit in a circle or line. Counting begins at the first player, wli» starts off by crj'ing, “One,” the second player cries “Two," the next “Three, and so on, but when “Seven” is du* . aner when any following numbers containing that particular number, or any multiples of it, are due, the word “Trap’’ is substituted. Thus “Trap” must be used instead of “Fourteen,” “Seventeen,” “Twenty - one,” “Twenty-seven,” “Twenty-eight.” and so on. When the counting is rapid, as it should be, there are sure *.o be many mistakes, and for these. “Forfeits” should be paid afterwards. As soon as a player is trapped, counting should not continue along the line, but start off from number “One” again.

QUAINT PUNCTUATION

A little boy one day told his mother that he had now learnt to punctual - at school. “Well, dear,” said himother, “and how is it done?” “When you write Hark!” he explained, “you put a hatpin after it. and when you ask a question you put a button -hook.” In an examination, one of the questions was: “What happens when there is an eclipse of the moon?” A boy with an admirable knack of getting out of a di£~~olty. wrote: “A great many people come out to look at it.” * * • Tommy (arriving home from school.> : j “I am in the back seat now. mother. Mother: “Good boy! I suppose you had all your sunis correct?” Tommy; “No, mot.heu-, the front seats are being painted.” * * • A Guinea-pig's amusing, A Dog can play at ball; A Cheshire Cat will sit and smile. And that is almost all. But oh! if I could only get A tiny Fairy for a pet. _