FROM THE WATCH TOWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 542, 20 December 1928, Page 12

FROM THE WATCH TOWER

By

“THE LOOK-OUT MAN."

THE POINT OF VIEW The lot of the secondary school teacher is no hed of roses, according to Mr. F. W. Gamble, speaking at the breaking-up ceremony* of the Mount Albert ,Grammar School . . . “Life is no bed of roses/’ Sighed Doctor Swott, M.A. “The average man supposes We masters draw our pay For some such recreation As abstract application Of facts, plus castigation j To all of which mg answer is A most emphatic Nay/* The learned man’s reflection No lively youngster curbs: Young Pew has lost affection For parsing Latin verbs. “Look, boys, old Swott is dozing. His codfish eyes are closing " Quoth Sicott ? "Note, just supposing You bend and learn how punishment The human frame disturbs.” “Life is no bed of roses,” Sighed William Horace Few; “My aching hide discloses That every stroke sang true. Impressed by this disaster I’ll harder work, and faster, To learn to be a master; Which seems the ideal sort of life From every point of view.” — BEOWULF. * * * A CAPITAL TOO MANY

The producers of the picture "Annie Laurie," which has been showing in Auckland, have captured the Scottish atmosphere of the period faithfully. The true clansman, however, will cavil at the spelling of “MacDonald,” with a capital “D.” Descendants of the Macdonalds who were butchered at Glencoe are particular about the spelling of their name. Moreover, the true Macdonald never forgets his inveterate hatred of the Campbells. In a North Island country town there long lived a bearded Macdonald who could never pass a Campbell in the street without registering annoyance or disapproval. To extol a Campbell or spell Macdonald with a capital “D” was the easiest means of goading him ou to a frenzy. NO FISH IN G, BY REQUEST One of the delightful practices of our local bodies is to prevent people from fishing whenever there seems to be a pretext) for doing so. On the bridge linking Mangere with Onehunga is a weatherbeaten notice informing the world at large that people fishing from) the bridge will he prosecuted. This no doubt accounts for the fact that whenever there is favourable tide, the bridge is lined with fisher men. * • « POTENT PICTURES John Tinney McCutcheon, the cartoonist of the Chicago “Tribune,” who has drawn a very fine picture depicting the return of the Prince of Wales to his father’s bedside, is recognised as one of the leading American newspaper cartoonists. Thomas E. Powers, of the Hearst Press, and Rollin Kirby, a little Scotsman in the service of the New York “World,'” are two others who rank with McCutcheon. The output of these men formed an interesting feature of the Presidential campaign. Mostly it was broad in humour and suggestion, but the ability of the cartoonists was striking. McCuteheon’s cartoon, “The Tammany Farmers,” showing a group of Smith’s New York associates going out into the country to solicit the farm vote, and asking many ridiculous questions, such as “Say, Mike, when dey plant corn, how do dey know which end of de ear to put in de ground?” was one of the best of the series.

*** X* & %*%is* &% 3( -t- * ■BY THE SEA A note of originality in the names of New Zealand churches is provided by the name of the Anglican Church at Milford, St. Paul’s by the Sea. The appendage. "By the Sea,” has an Old World flavour. English villages owe much of their quaintness to their adjacence to some lake or bridge, or some other feature, which necessitated the attachment of a distinguishing description to the name. In New Zealand we have two places named Palmerston. We might have called one of them Palmerston-by-the-River, or Palmerston-on-the-Plain. Instead, we called it Palmerston North, which could hardly be less imaginative or picturesque. Incidentally, largehearted spirits are trying to induce the town to call itself Manawatu, but with scant success to date. There are also two places called Havelock, one in Hawke’s Bay, the other in Marlborough. Again, it is Havelock North and Havelock South, instead of Havelock-by-the-Sound, or Havelock-on-the-Hill, the Hawke’s Bay village, the abode of admirals and others seeking peaceful quiet, being spread upon the sunny slope of a ridge of hills. It has a rest-house, and a Community Spirit, so it is rather a pity that it did not bestow on itself a more picturesque title. Think how much more impressive Hrmmure would sound if it were Panmure-by-the-Bridge; and transharbour suburbs would acquire a lev distinction if they were called Northcote - cum Birkenhead, and Birkenhead-cum-Chelsea, instead of just plain Northcote and Birkenhead respectively