FROM THE WATCH TOWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 702, 29 June 1929, Page 8

FROM THE WATCH TOWER

By “THE LOOK-OUT MAN.” LITTLE DROPS OF WATER.

Seventy miners ox the West Coast have struck because the seat of the bus in which they ride to work was damp. Miners seldom malcc a fuss, They are men of sterner mettle,

But, when riding in a bus, On the cushioned scats they settle — And those seats are damp, they burn With a fury cold—and stern. Just as good the modern breed Atf the ancient forty-niners. But there’s one thing, that. indeed. Irritates our madefy miners. This the plaint that makes them buck — What is known as angler’s luck. Judge them not of patiry worth, They who keep the home fires burning, Hewing coal beneath the earth, And for simple comforts yearning. Nor their simple rule decry — Always keep your trousers dry. T. TOHEROA. THE HIDDEN TONGUE

Only when speaking to foreigners unfamiliar with our extensive idiom do we realise how grossly imperfect is the English in daily use. Some of the German officers speak English, but they caunot speak slang. Moreover, we have puzzles even for the most accomplished. A cadet from the Emden devoted earnest study last evening to a placard on the wall of the Scots Hall. Then he turned to his partner, “Please, will you inform me, what are the ‘Heebie-Jeebies’ that we may not do?” LIGHTS OUT The high tide of gorgeous luminance that was to be the culmination of Arapuni difficulties has not materialised without its attendant troubles. So queer is Auckland with its lights out, that the other evening when there was a power failure just after the witching hour of six o'clock, looking out from this eyrie that is ours was like gazing across a. bottomless pit. The Sun sign was out, the Farmers’ sign was out. A serious defection, tfiat last. Auckland is justly proud of the Farmers’ sign. Tf there is anything better in blazing electrics in the southern hemisphere, we don't know of it, and don’t want to. This is not only the city’s glory, it is also shared by the people of North Shore, whose fondest delight it is to catch an unsuspecting stranger and taking hijn to a strategic position on the ferry boat, say, “Behold (or, lo), there is the Farmers’ sign. Can you beat it?” When Arapuni saps the magnificence of assets such as this, something should be done about it. See to it, please, Mr. Holdsworth. SHOCKING The very nearly painful and perhaps fatal experience of a workman in a Mount Eden quarry, whose crowbar was struck by lightning just as he was reaching out for it, suggests a new peril for those who use steel tennis rackets. Not many people play tennis in thunder storms, but steel rackets were designed partly to facilitate such eccentricities. There is also the steel golf club. Horrible thought that a golfer, having explained with laborious mendacity that it was not by accident that his ball bit a tree in full flight and then bounced on to the green, should be caught by the wrath of the gods while using his steel-shafted putter. Perhaps the awful possibility explains why St. Andrew’s will not sanction their use. But there is no law against steel fishing rods. A bolt of lightning running down his rod would give even Zane Grey the impression of something ultra-large in nibbles. Yet there is probably not a fisherman living who would not be equal to the task of claiming that he had gallantly essayed to play and land a flash of lightning. BRASS BUTTONS

'Brass buttons, how they thrill! Fells Leo of the jungle may captivate his lady with an amber eye and tawny mane, but all the social lion needs (said the jaundiced male wallflower) is a liberal display of gold braid and brass buttons in profusion. Well, this is to be an open season for lion hunters, for the Emden is here just now, and a French cruiser will be along next month. But you can have too much of a good thing, and the naval cadets of the Emden have perhaps more brass buttons than is comfortable. They have IS in two rows on the front of their jackets, and half a dozen on the cuffs. Such an array constitutes a snare for all who wear shawls with fringes. Many a partner found herself attached to her swain by silken bonds, as well as the entanglements of sentiment. Still, the boys had a good time, and so did the girls. One comes to the conclusion that there is a universal language denied the sere and yellow On the Emden, by the way, the progress of the search for the lost Danish training ship Kobenhavn Is watched with interest. The German Navy remembers two such disasters. The worst of them, the wreck of the Amazone with all hands in 1867, cost the German Navy, then in its infancy, a generation of cadets, and deep sorrow in manj' a stately home throughout the land.