FROM THE WATCH TOWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 798, 19 October 1929, Page 8

FROM THE WATCH TOWER

By “THE LOOK-OUT MAN.” WEEK-END LINER I shall away at the break of day To the open spaces tomorrow. I’ll shed , the shackles, the binding hackles, That tie me to toil and sorrow.' And a hint of the joy I had as a boy I’ll steal from the past (or borrow). I long for a free and open sea, With the sun on a headland gleaming. And a narrow space in a cliff-hemmed place With the broken rollers creaming On the golden sand of that favoured strand, The land of my leisure’s dreaming. Here In a coign by a surf-washed groyne I’ll tempt the elusive schnapper, And bake in the bright beneficent light Till matron and maid and flapper Appraising my tan will deem me a man . Who is modishly brown and dapper.

Oh, yes, I’m strong for the things I long for, But if you discreetly delve Deep into the mystery of former history You’ll find that I weakly shelve These high ambitions. My plan’s fruition Is breakfast in bed —at twelve! FULL TO CAPACITY Unusual candour on the part of a man charged with being drunk in charge of a car is reported from Wanganui. The gentleman was evidently in that pleasing state when the form of the law loses its forbidding shape. When accosted by a constable and asked how much liquor he had taken, he blithely replied; “Barrelfuls.” A PINT OF PANSIES. PLEASE! According to Mr. F. K. Hunt, S.M., flowers in one respect are like beer. The particular point of resemblance is that neither can be legally sold after 6 p.m. It is fortunate that the parallel ends here, otherwise the city auth.orities would have a hard time keeping the surging mob out of Albert Park. HIS HIGH-GRADE COW The courtesies between nations are not only those of ambassadors and diplomats. Private citizens may play their part, There is as much likelihood of friendship between ourselves and the United States being sealed by acts of private hospitality as by judicial attention to treaty rights like those concerned in the Texas forgery case. Incidentally, the processes of both public and private hospitality are sometimes lubricated. A visitor from the United States was taken up by a hospitable Aucklander. The first celebration occurred when a nice drop of Scotch whisky was suitably taken with milk. “Say, mister, you’d get a great price in America for a cow like this,” said the guest with satisfaction.

THE LIDO COMES TO TOWN

The days when the latest whimsies of Madame Fashion were tacitly acknowledged to be for women only have evidently passed into the limbo of dear forgotten things. Nowadays if there is a fashion show or a mannequin parade advertised, trust the strong and silent portion of the community to be well represented. Moreover in current window displays the men seem to be anchored on the footpaths, pop-eyed, while the women hardly pause. A statistical friend noted 18 males and two females outside one exhibition of particularly abandoned wax hussies. The gorgeous creatures were modestly clad in bathing garments of every hue. It is the consensus of masculine opinion that bathing is going to be a very popular pastime this season. Incidentally, some of the newer fashions may be first-rate wear for waxen figures, but practical usage may tell a different story.. The L.O.M. would like to see what a few of those yard-wide hats would look like in a Milford-bound bus when there was standing room onlv. THE OLD HOME TOWN Here is a correspondent, “Evertravelling Civil Servant,” who chides Mr. W. J. Gilberd, a Chamber of Commerce delegate, for his recent effort to decry the increased cost of State services. He connects Mr. Gilberd with Wanganui, which is quite correct, for Ml - . Gilberd is a soapmaker of that town, though it is obviously not soft soap that he specialises in. Furthei’more, Mr. Gilberd has been intimately associated with the civic affairs of Wanganui, where the trams have been nearly run off the road by bicycles, and the residents hardly dare pick up their newspapers for fear of learning that some new calamity has befallen the municipal purse. These tidings may delight “E.T.C.5.,” but they lie heavily on the heart of L.O.M. “Where is Wanganui, anyway?” asks “E.T.C.5.,” and adds; "Perhaps your L.O.M. may have a ■ spare moment to look up that infor- \ mation.” The fact is that L.O.M. does . not need a spare moment to ascer- j tain where Wanganui is. He was born j there. _ _ _ '