THE CHINA MAIL, SATURDAY, JUNE 18, 1960.
PRACTICAL HOMECRAFT
VERONICA PAPWORTH
That piano, shouted my son,
is a silly clot...
CHILDREN
today so the text-books tell me are menaced by machinery.
Not so my youngest.
Machines are his friends. The toaster pops up with toast to please him, a handy little hair-dryer blows hot or cold at his touch-and, he says, "If you want to know the time ask a telephone.”
Tuesday found him with a large sheet of paper and typewriter; in true machine-age fashion he was preparing typewritten birthday card.
With bright-red cheeks and an ear-to-ear grin he presented his card on my birthday the following morning."M M M M etc., etc, YYYYY" It read.
"Thank you," said I. "What does it mean?" "Read it," he said, "It says, what it says.”
He had dictated his message and he had no doubt the machine had obeyed him. But life, for a five-year-old, is not always as easy as that.
THE wall
•
paper is
up again and not Just in designe
one.
A couple of days later he charged in from his little morning } this school-"Hey, where are you? I can sing a song. Listen."
He tore through to the ancient plano in the nursery, lifted the lid and struck op
"All things bright and beautiful, All teachers great and small," With both hands he strummed for a minute
stopped and started again. Clearly the A
notes were wrong. *AN things..
*
"Dear Mummy, I hope you are well.. riddly pom, pom and having lots to eat, meal, feet... and a happy, happy day, hoordu. "I heard him chanting as he tap-tappid away,
I ranks the seedlings in
next little pin-size.
He made. a. third crashingly discordant attempt, then the. corners of his mouth turned down in a great square howl
"You silly-clot plano," he shouted at the offending Instru- ment, "can't you even play that!"
TRY EATING THEM!
"Attack is the best method of
my kitchen garden greet 2000. The six-inch sprouts stand to attention as I pass and the foot-high "un- defence." ners" have never looked so healthy.
But the young cabbages have "shot" to blazes and the broad beans-crying
out for rain-
will not be ready for at least a fortnight.
There is nothing to eat right
MOLC,
Yet, over the hedge, Nature
趑 her perverse, provocative,
and needlessly prolifte månner runs riot.
Armed I will go and cut the we shall eat the nettles before they creep in through doors and windows and eat w.
"That's right," said our Ernlly. We had them as lids in the First World War and they never did us any harm,"
Harvested
of
sistent contrast of Edwardian stripes oriental elaboration.
and
But it does
add interest 10 an auk. ward angle.
And I feel it could be Alice's door- way to won-
Then back I went to cook it, ful sniffs on all sides, I found } derland. ("Same
sald it delicious.
Emily.)
spinach,"
Twenty minutes later I strained off a small bowl-full of something resembling ancient,
stewed socks.
"More," cried the expert.
Wriggling into my gloves, my wool stockings and my boots returned once again to the f
Mack,
I cooked the second batch.
I collected a large bass bag. I flung it into the electric and the kitchen scissors: then pulveriser. I beat it. I creamed
The paddock is positively reflected that a sleeveless shirt it, I added butter, fresh-ground burgeoning with the biggest, and shorts was anything but pper, salt and garlic,
greenest, lushest-ever crop of the Ideal armour! KETTLES.
In ancient long white kid The hen-house is surrounded, evening gloves from the dress- the rhubarb-bed has disappeared ing-up box, wool stockings and from sight, and the young Wellington boots, I walked out chestnuts, like maidens bathing, alone to meet the enemy. stand shoulder-High in a great emerald Sargasso Sea of sharp- Etinging greenery.
Last week the cry of "Hal" went out.
Canute-like I deДled shimmering waves of it!
the
top,
Waist-deep I harvested the
tender shoots--cramming them in with my long, white, peark-buttoned orms like a prima donna culling bouquets at the final curtain.
At five minutes to lunch-lime the chops lay ungrilled, the Dew potatoes unscraped, the salad uncared for.
But I had a great bowl full of vivid green "goo" and one small corner of the paddock was harvested."
With a good acre and a half hand of potential vegetable in this was my testing time.
1 served it with poached eggs on top accompanied by doubt-
CHILDREN'S CORNER
Punch's Elephant
-His Grandfather Caught Her When Hunting-
By MAX TRELL
and
Hanid,
did the next best thing. I de- cided to make Dotty smaller." the Mr Punch paused because
Kadow Childreth was Kaart and Hunts were both Turned-About Names, were sit-" shouting and yelling and ting on the floor looking at the screaming at the top of their pictures the big Animal Book, lungs, saying that nobody, not A few feet away sat their even Mr Punch, no nobody, friend, Mr Punch, in his old- could make an Elephant smaller fashioned rocking chair.
no matter how hard they tried.
Patiently, smilingly, Mr Punch had quieted down. Then he said: waited until Knarf and Hanid
"But I did make Dolly smaller,"
Taking a snooze? Mr Punch seemed to be taxing a snooze. At least that's what Knari and Hanid thought for they heard the rocking chair creaking gently back and forth
back and forth.
"You couldn't!" said Hanid.
Fitted into shoe box "When I got through making
Then all at once they were startled to hear My Punch Dolty smaller," said Mr Punch, saying:
"Turn the page, please!" Knarr and Hanid lifted their heads in surprise. Mr Punch was wide awake.
"Turn the page, please." he repeated. "I'd like to look at the Elephant,"
$49
Dotty, the Elephant, was
Mr. Punch's pet,
Krárt and Hanid started to interrupt. "But Mr Punch held up his hand and again went on. Still smaller
in a shoe box. So I look away her brief case, and gave her a pocketbook 2 very small pocketbook for a very small Girl. And that," said Mr Punch, "was just the right size. For now, at last, Dotty was able to
it in a shoe box.
"she fitted comfortably inside a "That made her still smaller. shoe box. I'll be glad to show But she was still too big to fit you the shoe box."
"We'd rather see Dotty," said Knar. "Where's Dotty?"
"Gone," said Mr Punch, "But just let me tell you what I did to make Dolty grow smaller.
"The first thing I did and it was the most important thing pf all! was to inke away her trunk. Yes, I took her trunk away and gave her a valise."
Picture of elephant Knart and Hanid turned the page. And there, to be sure, was a picture of an Elephant!
"I always enjoy looking at Before Knarf and Hanld could pictures of Elephants," Mr Punch stop him, Mr Punch hurried qu. sald.
"It reminds me of Dolly ...little Dotly. She was an Elephant, an elegant Elephant.
"She icoked," he added, point- ing at the picture in the bock, "just like that,"
"But Mr Punch, dear," said Hanid, "She must have been enormous!"
She was," agreed Mr Punch with a ned. "She was as big as a house.
Grandfather caught her
"My grandfather he was a great hunter-caught Dotty and brought her home and gave her to me as a pet. She certainly was big.
"I don't know to this day how I ever got her inside my room; but I did. She stuck oul all over,"
Knart and Hanid asked Mr Punch what he meant by saying that his pet Elephant, Dotty, stuck out all over.
"Just this," saka Mr Punch. "Her trunk stuck out of the chimney. Her ears stuck out of the windows. Her feet stuck out of the front door, the back door- "and several aner dodir, I many deelded she was too big day "I didn't want to put her out of the house. In fact, I couldn't put her out of the house; s¤®£}}]
Crew small all over
That made Dotty get small right away. Her ears grew small. Her legs grew small. She grew small over. But she was still much too big to fit in a shoe box.
"So what did I do?
"I took her valise away. And instead of a valise I gave her a brief' case."
"Any questions, my dears?” "Yes," said Kaart. "How did you get Dolly's trunk off to begin with?”
Moved it away. "Very s'aply," answered Mr Punch. "I led it up and moved it away. That's what you do with any trunk!"
"And where did Dolty go to when she went?" asked Hanid.
Mr. Punch simply said: "She pasted a lamp on her back and got herself mailed back to Africa,"
And he went on rocking?
Rupert and the Squire-12
Rupert litens in case the sound How did you do it? No, it can'
is repeated, and at once a figure have been you. You' tao appears round a buah "Why, away." Rupert galan walke It's the Squize himself," thinks Torpen.--** How mara he took
**Hallo, young Rupert," calls the cap saya the Squire Squire, Karing at him."Have you tornata je waa que may hand. been playing one of your tricks? - wecond it was from 197
the
"Nettles are good for brains. the blood, and the bowels," I assured the family firmly.
"The same applies to draught beer," said my husband darkly.
JACOBY BRIDGE
THE bidding of today's hand is not given. It was played in the Open Pairs at the Nationals and everyone reached a slam in no-trump,
Some North players became declarer and fanned the hand for seven against a club opening, When South was declarer the
WEST
Q1062 J1092
NORTH
7653.
• Q 106 SAJ4
EAST AJ54
Q10632
+73
84 +842
4075
SOUTH (D)
AK73
ТАКО
AK395
Ka
Both vulnerable Bidding not given.
Opening leady J
jack of hearts WRF.
always opened, but practically all de- clarers were able to find the three sult squeeze for the grand Klam.
They started by caching the three 1ợp hearts and West showed up with a heart stopper, The next step was to run off four diamond tricks On the
fourth diamond they would drop a low spade from duwany.
By that time it had become apparent to these astute de- clarers that East held the queen of clubs. So all they had to do was to lead a club to dummy's ace; play a club back to their own king and then cash that last diamond,
West would still have to hang on to his high heart and would be forced down to two spades. Then the last heart would be thrown from dtummy and the jack of clubs would put the pressure on East.
In turn he would have to go down to two spades in order to keep that queen of clubs and South's three spades would all be good.
♥÷CARD Sense♣♦
Q-The blading has been: South West North
Paks 14
Esat
Pass
You, South, hold: 412 MQ105 4AD 44AK 109 1
What do you do?
AmBid one zo-trump, You have 13 points only, but do have stoppers in all unbid sults and s no-trump pattern.
TODAY'S QUESTION Your partner rebids to two clubs. What do you do now?
Answer on Monday
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