THE CHINA MAIL, APRIL 7, 1987.
Lid
Off
Lid
Civil War with the Vet heard A story you have not have not
WOULD YOU LIKE A CAT FOR
Women and children first. Then
men.
Then animals ;
That is the line-up in war-time. That is what MUST and should be the line-up.
Every day in the news pages you have read of the horrors of the Spanish clash, of the men who have died and the women who have suffered.
Here is a glimpse of the Spanish war you have not seen before.
John W. Burton
He
is just back from Madrid. went there to look after the animals for the P.D.S.A. And in his story of their plight you will find reflected in a new way the sufferings of the war-maddened humans.
HERE are not many birds or
animals left in Madrid. A
BREAKFAST?
-cats and dogs, and household pets sary for Sick Animals of the Poor, of every species have been seized to see what could be done to al for food by the desperate citizens. leviate the sufferings of the beasts You may think it odd that I that have been overlooked in -the should have time to pity animals welter of human bloodshed. when every day the bombs smash and mangle women and children.
But surely it is up to someone to remember the dumb creatures who are suffering agony?
*
"Cats," said the hard-boiled young man from the front, "are being sold for food at two pesetas apiece. Some áre buying dogs. But I can't Yet, stomach them.”
When I expressed my horror he said: "They die, quickly and clean- ly. Better than being maimed and
They have no cause to fight. in ignorance they die, victims of man's savagery.
!!
Women and children, and men, too, no matter to which side they belong, have
does not he
the But the first claim on sympathy.
:
́mediately lights were extinguished, and we raced for the near shel- ter
There was a terrific explosion, and
what had been our dispensary moment before was now no more.
Five men were blown to pieces. A horse, two donkeys and a dog suffered the same tragic end.
After this we had to treat ani-
mals in the open.
·out
Most of our precious instrumenta we were able
of the debris.
Ironically enough I found--un- broken a bottle of chloroform, used for humane destruction.
Soon after the bombardment we THE
And, any had an alarming e experience. We the way, fighting makes a man hungry." were arrested and escorted to mean that few pigeons may be seen, an odd
crippled like some of us.
This particular fellow had lost cat or two, and occasionally a dog humbler orders of life should be for-
his father and mother and both his scavenging forlornly among the gotten altogether. Someone. must
sisters. All that was left of ruins.:
mutilated find time to tend that
once happy household was his cat. donkey gasping and writhing
to-
"He would have been shot by wards a bitterly slow end."
That was why I went to Spain somebody else if I hadn't done
he said. "So I killed him with Mr. C. H. Gaunt, chief super-
ate him." intendent of the People's Dispen-
All save the horses that are strong enough to pull the guns or carry a cavalryman have been eaten by the young soldiers of Spain.
Anything with flesh on its bones
TOO OLD AT SIXTEEN
By BUDDY da SYLVA
то
10 have earned a fortune before
the age of
f sixteen.
when other young people are beginning life.
Think of the British child-talent
which is being missed.
2
it,"
police station.
They accused us
harbouring of arms illegally, and cross-examined us for more than an hour.
"Mr. Graunt, to our amazement, was said to have
carrying
a
and new type of machin but after
a long harangue everything became clear to us 20
From Madrid we went to Valen- cia, now the seat of the Govern- The police were worried about a ment. This city of song and humane killer which had been used orange gloves has been transformed to destroy some of overnight into a dynamo of energy,
-
A demonstration worst cases!
of the gun's
a land of misery, a clearing-house limitations soon convinced them of for refugees.
a
the truth, and we were set free. Here the P.D:S.A. managed to During our last days in Valencia establish a temporary "dispensary. constant stream of
of refugees Right in the middle of the poor brought their animals to us.
Spaniards are great bird lovers. quarter, alongside a refugee encamp-
One old man brought a little can- had lost his wife and two daughters.
ment, we found it possible to tend
donkeys and mules that had enabl
ed their owners to escape with a His son had been killed on the Ma- few scraps from the wreckage of drid front.
their homes.
To be able to retire at a time⠀⠀⠀ Conditions permit the child to be the worn and weary horses, ponies, ary that appeared to be dying. He
just brought up and educated exactly like any normal child, You could not have a better example of this To be too old for your job long than Shirley Temple. before you are grown up. Such
Shirley was seven last April, and things sound like f
But already a fabulous fortune of her they coming true in the case own earning awaits her. of a number of child film stars. The problem confronting all who
tales.
It is quite true to say that in have to do with Shirley is the one Hollywood the children are the luck- every child star
must come ∙up. jest stars, because they are not against sooner or later. How long only well cared for, but in every can they remain child-like? case have parents or guardians who Jane Withers, another famous look after the money they earn and little star of a different type (the invest it with the greatest care, naughty child), is nearly 12 and so that a fo une will have. accu- is still going strong and looking
ulated for them when they reach every bit a child. maturity.
Virginia Vidler is only seven, but Still one might ask: Are they so she looks like having a long, suc-
all? What will cessful run.
very lucky.
happen to them when they are young Shirley's career may finish with men and women? Will they be her childhood days. She may be too bored when they find they have old at 16, or even earlier than that. enough money to buy everything She may utilise her vast fortune they desire without the struggle and in quite a different sphere, for nei- fight into which the average youth ther her parents nor any of her re- enters with such zest?
lations have ever been associated with stage or screen.. What Next?
It is extremely difficult to fore cast the future of these little stars. The problem with which they are faced is too old at 16. Or, in
She might retire for a while and return with an“
the case of most of them, younger Betty Grable on Lew appeal.
than that.
Because the child who does not look child-like is a hopeless propósi tion. In some cases it is the actual childishness which is the great ap- peal.
Louise, Mitzi Greener were all child stars.
Jackie Coogan is beginning a new career. Mickey Rooney may con- tinue as an adult. Freddie Bartho- lomew, Jackie Cooper, and a num- ber of others are still too young for
For this reason, although I do us to speculate about their mature not want to criticise English law, years, but there is one thing which
I think it is a great mistake that stands out as plain fact: for the you will not allow children to act work which has made their fame regularly for the films until they they will be too old before they are are 16.
starayoniously, the only child 16.3.
can have are those who are lucky enough to look much youn-
For their future we can only speculate, but I do think that the ger than they are, as Nova Pll- training they have received in the in studio will influence them to use
their vast fortunes wisely,
beam did when she appeared
"Little Friend."
"They were patient, long-suffering creatures.
"I have only my little friend left please save him," he cried. The bird was revived, and the old On Sunday, February 21, we heard man went on his way muttering his the dull roar of guns at sea. Im- thanks.
CORONATION 1937
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