School Post 1 August 1949 [antikvár]

your Letterfrom the Editor Nearly all my life I have livecl only a few miles from the sea and I was t'herefore one of the lucky children who had a seaside holiday once a year. It is quite different from any other kind of holiday and in my opinion, it is the most enjoyable. I used to stay with an Aunt at Eastbourne, and my cousin and 1 spent almost every day on the beach. We knew where the mussels grew the thickest and sojyietimes opened a black shell to look at the queer fish inside. We gathered seaweed and hung large bunches of it on the door of the cycle-shed, firmly believing that it would teli us when it was going to rain by being wet or dry beforeha/md. We used to take our toy soldiers to man the forts and castles we built in the sand, and when we were tired of that we sailed model boats which my cousin made himself. He used to spend all his pocket money on wood and paint and would beg pieces of material from his mother for sails, which he stitched himself with his mothefs seiving machine. Sometimes we spent hours among the rocks calching shrimps, which we cooked and ate as the children did in the story on pages 8 and 9. For a time we had an aquarium. This was a large glass bowl, which was kept in the greenhouse. We put small pebbles and sand in the bottom, filled it with seawater, then put in shrimps, crabs, seaweed, and all kinds of sea creatures. We learnt quite a lot about our strange pets but I am afraid that the knowledge we gained was sometimes at their expense. For instance we once found that a favourite crab had bitten off the heads of all our shrimps! An even more woeful story happened when we were much younger. We had caught a lot of shrimps and put thern in a large tub in the garden, but we were wor-ried because the water was not blue like the sea. We did want the shrimps to feel at home and be really happy. Then my cousin had a bright idea and fetched a bottle of ink which he emptied into the watier. The results were disastrous! We were usually a pair of very untidy, and often very wet children, for we frequently feli into the water or got splashed by the waves, but Aunt never seemed to mind, and we had a very good time. Part of the holiday was spent at home. I remember especially a hot day when we were lying in a park with our books. The cows who had been feeding at a little distance became curious and carne among us. There was Molly, Lassie and Rosebud, and we knew them quite well, but who woulcl have thought that cows had a taste for literature? Our attempts to send them off were useless. They refused to go and began snuffing at our books and before we had time ío rescue them, Molly's large wet tongue had licked the red off the cover of one book and wiped it on the page of another! I hope you are all having a splendid time. Best wishes, A reader writes:— "I am a grown-up reader of your magaziné which I enjoy very much. There were' perhaps too many stories for the younger readers in your last issue but it is a magaziné for children after all. On the other liand there are many adults who like them as well. For instance my wife likes listening to fairy-tales which í reád to her in the evenings when she is knitting and darning my socks and stockings. "I have been attending the Academy of International Trade. I am a bookkeeper and work and study all day long (in my spare time I study taxes and English, which is my favourite hobby). "You will perhaps be interested to know that I learn your 'Letter from the Editor' by heart as I travel to and from my place of work every day by tram." Gertrúd Weber — Vienna. "We loved your nice story about birds in the Easter number of 'School Post'. Now I shall teli you a story about birds. "Our English teacher who is very good, was sorry for an old woman who lost her only son during the war. One day she baked a big cake for her as 'Mothering-Day' was coming. Then she put the cake in the window to cool. Suddenly the voices of many birds were heard. 'Oh dear,' our teacher cried, wringing her hands. What did she see? A big, yes a very big hole in the cake! The nice cake was quite spoiled."