Radio Script #1028

Little Talks on Common Things
December 1, 1974

Not long ago we had together a taste of Godey’s Lady’s Book in 1849. Another popular publication of the 19th century was Chatterbox, an annual for children, a kind of predecessor for the later very popular St. Nicholas. It was published in Boston by Dana, Estes & Co., under the editorship of J. Erskine Clarke. The volume for 1877 contained such items as A Peep at Australia, At the Zoo in Paris, Eight Rivers, and numerous sketches of historic figures.

There were many illustrations. One was remindful of a practice before the days of hot dogs. Its caption read, “Roasting sausages over an open fire”. Most of the stories were illustrated by steel engravings, one such was captioned, “Cat and Dog Life”. It depicted a cat riding on a dog’s back.

There was a long article devoted to Christopher Columbus, accompanied by a portrait, pictures of the three ships, the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria, the return and reception by Ferdinand and Isabella, and half a dozen other views.

Another engraving showed Gloucester fishermen attacked by sharks.

Pictures accompanying a long article on Australia were especially interesting. They showed kangaroos, emus, long covered-wagon ox trains, cowboys, and nature hunters. Parts of the article itself are worth quoting; so here we go.

“Australia is curiously lacking in useful animals. The thick-skinned species, to which the horse, donkey, zebra and elephant belong, does not furnish that vast continent with a single native member. Even the horse has been brought from overseas. Australia, though well suited to grazing, has no camel, deer or sheep among its native animals. It now has many sheep ranches, but the sheep themselves are from stock originally imported. The dog is one animal that is native to the continent. Even the oxen that haul the vehicles called plum puddings are imported.

“As for the plum pudding, it is a peculiar vehicle. It is a great ball of wool placed on a wheeled platform. The wool comes from sheep raised in great pastures in what Australians call the “out back”. Enterprising Britons have come to Australia and have developed huge sheep ranches, each with several thousand sheep. Sometimes a lone shepherd will tend a flock all summer, miles away from any dwelling, and seeing no other person except the man who brings him occasional supplies. The shepherd spends days at a stretch on horseback. His only company is his faithful horse and equally faithful dog.

“Biologists tell us the world knows 1,350 different species of animals. Of that huge number only 36 are found in Australia, and all but three of those are some kind of marsupial – that is, an animal whose mammary glands are shaped like a pouch to carry the young. The best known Australian marsupial is the kangaroo. The red kangaroo is a huge creature, as big as a man. Other marsupials are the flying squirrel and the wombat. Of this kind of creature, so common in Australia, the U. S. has only one example, the opossum.

“The kangaroo does not use his little forefeet to travel, but moves by great leaps made on his hind feet and tail. The tail is so large that he can balance his whole body upon it, and can lash out ferociously with his fore feet. The natives hunt him with dogs, who can tire him out on the open plain.”

A curious article in Chatterbox gave information about rivers in England. It pointed out the remarkable number with names of only one syllable. Besides the well known names of Thames and Tweed and Trent, the article called attention to more than a hundred other one-syllable river names, among them such little known to Americans as the Blythe, the Churn, the Ise, the Mint, and the Mole. And of course not overlooked were the better known Cam, Dee, Doon, Rye, and Wye.

Among the biographical sketches in Chatterbox was this one on the Scottish poet, Robert Burns.

“More than a hundred years ago there might have been seen a little, rough, Scotch laddie, listening with charmed ears to the voice of an old woman who lived in his father’s cottage, as she hummed a medley of tales and ballads about brownies, witches, elves, ghosts, giants and dwarfs. That was the boy whom Scotsmen delight to honor, Robert Burns of Alloway, near Ayr, from which he got the title of the Ayrshire Plowman. Though Burns was born in poverty and had to toil as a youth at rough, lowly, ill-paid labor, he grew up to prove his father’s prediction, “From this laddie will come something extraordinary.”

I want to add here a comment of my own. I have long been partial to that poet Robert Burns, who by the way should never be referred to as Bobby. Scotsmen always call him Robbie. For several years, through the courtesy of a neighbor, I saw regular weekly issues of the Peebleshire News, a paper published in the Tweed section of Scotland just south of Edinburgh and close to the English border. Every year that paper made much of the celebration of Burns’ birthday.

More than half a century ago, at Hebron Academy, one of the classics I always included in the English course for seniors was Carlyle’s Essay on Burns, with which I included the reading of some fifty of Burns’ poems including Tam-O-Shanter, The Cotter’s Saturday Night, To a Mountain Daisy, and To a Mouse. And I never left out one of my favorites, To a Louse on a Lady’s Bonnet in Church. It is that poem that contains the famous lines:

“Would some body the giftee gie us
To see ourselves as others see us,
It would from many a blunder free us
And foolish notions,
And praps from foolish pride would free us,
And e’en devotion.”

Most of you know that Robert Burns died at the age of 37 a hopeless alcoholic, nor was his behavior otherwise exemplary. But one thing can be said for him – his complete sincerity. He hated hyprocrisy, and in his verses he soundly castigated the hypocrites of his time, both inside and outside the church.

Carlyle did not gloss over Burns’ faults, but I have never forgotten what the great essayist said about Burns’ poverty. He wrote, “Had Burns been richer, ever so little richer, the whole might have issued otherwise.” In spite of the prevalent view to the contrary, people are not always to blame for their poverty. It is not always a mark of laziness and sloth. And it often explains the consequences. The problem today is the same as it was in Burns time – to distinguish the deserving poor from the undeserving, the hard-working, fortune cursed pauper from the professional pan-handler. It is very easy to go too far in either direction – to scoff all poor people, or cuddle all of them in a welfare state. Surely there is a better middle ground.

I want to close today’s broadcast with reference to another publication of much later date. This one appeared only 29 years ago on August 28, 1945. It was printed not in the U.S., but in far away Japan. In the English language, it was a product of the American Occupation that had occurred only a few weeks earlier with the Japanese surrender in World War II. It was called the Nippon Times and was published especially for the rising number of Americas in Japan.

In an editorial, it quoted the new prime minister as saying, “Although the Empire is smaller than before I intend to build a culture that will keep progress with the world. That can be done only if our people have an indomitable spirit of construction. The Japanese people may push through this period of trial toward a glorious future.”

One article in the paper told of the order by the occupying forces that people must stay in the rural areas and not flood to the large cities until food and housing should be more readily available in Tokyo, Osaka, Yokohama and other big centers.

Another article pleaded with the American officers under General MacArthur to enforce strict discipline among the troops. The former head of a Maryknoll Convent in the States was then stationed in Japan. He wrote to the Nippon Times:

“The war is over. Hot tears come to my eyes when I think of the past ten years during which I have lived in Japan as a brother of the people here. I can well understand how the Japanese feel to have enemy troops in their midst. I can comprehend the hatred with which the Japanese who have lost loved ones in the war now look upon American uniforms in Japanese streets. People of Japan, as an American whom you have come to know well, I speak to you. I shall do all in my power to urge the American commanders to enforce strict discipline on their troops, and see that they behave properly. The American are not coming now with bombs and tanks. They come in peace and the entire world is watching. No untoward incident must mar the American intent to see a peaceful Japan restored to prosperity.

Especially intriguing are some of the classified ads in that English-language paper from Japan. Note how they show the scarcity of food directly after the war.

‘Wanted to exchange – white linen suit, medium size, white linen trousers, one pair white leather shoes, size 10, in exchange for foodstuffs. ”

“Woman’s bicycle, almost new, in perfect condition, for sale to highest bidder, in exchange for durable foods.”

“Cloth for men’s summer suit, silk polar and white linen waistcoat, in exchange for foodstuffs.”

“Phonographs, records, radios, electric razors, sewing machines, accordions, portable typewriters – all in exchange for foods.”

That the war was truly over is shown by this announcement in the Nippon Times:

“The Air Defense Headquarters, the center of defense against air raids and of the care of those affected by them is now closed. Those civil defense bodies will return to normal and the air raid wardens will wind up their duties. We have seen many cities burned by air raids with great loss of life and property. For the sufferers the government must do all that is possible. But the awful danger of more destruction is now over.”

Year: 1974