DID YOU HEAR THIS?

New Zealand Listener, Volume 6, Issue 147, 17 April 1942, Page 3

DID YOU HEAR THIS?

Extracts From Recent Talks

Traps for Naval Wives How would any devoted wife arriving in Hongkong for instance, have known without being told, that the affectionate kiss which she gives to her husband on being met, is infinitely more offensive to the native than if she had arrived with no

clothes on. Among many of the different dwellers in the Middie East, to ask after the health of female relatives is simply the grossest insult, and. the nearest one can get to such a query is

to say that one hopes "all in his household are well." These are of course extreme examples, but there are a thousand and one ways in which the unwary can give offence without being in the least out of order by her own social rules. The naval wife has to remember that by her behaviour are judged all Englishwomen. It is not very difficult to leave a wrong impression where perhaps only half of one’s remarks are understood, but that wrong impression will remain with the foreigner as typical of the English, because she has no other impressions with which to compare it. — (" Responsibilities of the Naval Wife." Mrs. O. J. Gerard, 2YA, March 27.) Incident in Moscow [NX September, 1812, the French Army entered Moscow. A month later they evacuated the smoking ruins of the city, and began that’ retreat which proved the turning point in the fortunes of Napoleon, It was believed by the populace that powder magazines stored beneath the cathedral of the Kremlin would explode whenever the gates were opened which separated the altar from the body of the building. A service was held to celébrate the retreat of the French. In spite of the prevalence of this belief, a vast throng, drawn to the spot by awe mingled with curiosity, packed the cathedral from end to end. The Metropolitan of Moscow, who was to preach the sermon, approached the gates, opened them amid a tension that may be imagined. Nothing happened. The fears of the Russian peasants were dispelled, even as the forces of Napoleon were dispersed, and in that supreme moment of triumph the Metropolitan gave out his text, " Let God arise, and let His enemies be scattered." (Psalm 68.)-("Songs of the Minstrel King," 2YA, March 25.) With or Without Parents STILL more sweeping indictment of parents comes from the brilliantly clever English writer Miss Tennyson Jesse, in her book London Front. She is writing of evacuees from the slums and of the conditions revernled in the homes from which these neglected

children have come, which has indeed been a heart-breaking eye-opener to many of us, and she goes so far as to say: "As a matter of fact, although no paper would -print it, the chief thing in the bringing up of all children is to temove them from the parents as soon and as often as possible." Of course, as a. mother, I cannot agree with this. While agreeing that children should be rescued from conditions that lead to crime, I think of all the good mothers and happy homes I know. Miss Tennyson Jesse’s assertion would imply that there are no good homes or wise parents anywhere! Yet nearly all great men and women, or those who have excelled in any walk of life, or indeed, the ordinary decent law-abiding citizen, mostly owe almost everything they are to a good mother and a happy home-life.-* Discipline in the Home." Madeline Alston, 2YA, March 30.) Ancient India KING SOLOMON sent his ships to Ophir for gold and other treasures. Various localities have been suggested for Ophir-including East Africa, India, Malaya, Arabia, Mashonaland. This indicates that in ancient times the Indian Ocean was connected with Europe com-

mercially. But the connection was slight. The land masses of Arabia and Asia Minor and Mesopotamia barred the way. For ages the European civilisation' based on the Mediterranean was more or less

content with its restricted boundaries. The story of Alexander the Great shows how limited was European knowledge of these. In the year 326 B.C. Alexander was on the river Indus in India. There he noticed crocodiles. Alexander had been in Egypt, and seen crocodiles in the Nile. He wondered at first whether the Indus could be the head water of the Nile. He had marched his army clean out of all maps, and hadn’t a clear idea where he was. Eventually he sent his* Admiral to sail westward along the coast to the Persian Gulf, which was a known region. Many centuries were to pass before West and East made close contact through the Indian Ocean. Trade from Asia to Europe went overland. Spices for which Europe craved were carried great distances on the backs of camels. The turning point came when the Portuguese Vasco da Gama, bent on reaching the Lands of Spice, rounded the Cape of Good Hope in 1497, and sailed on to India. This was a discovery second only in importance to Columbus’s voyage to America. Indeed, both enterprises had the same object-to reach the East Indies.-(National Service Talk: "The Indian Ocean," March 30.)