Tuesday, October 24, 1939"

THE DAILY

MIRROR

Page I I

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A LITTLE PREMATURE
(as Mr. Chamberlain Would Say!)
Buying It?

" Come, come," he exclaimed. " Now, really men . surely you can answer that" An old soldier stood up at the back of the room. " " All right," he sighed. " I'll buy it if no one else loill . . . Who the 'ell was 'ee ? " Sent by J. Follows, 24, Cambridge-street. Birmingham.

For each SMILE published here 10s. 6d. will be paid. For the best Smile of the week a special 5 5s. prize is awarded. Write your SMILE on a postcard and address it to " The Smiler," " Daily Mirror," Fetter-lane, London, E.C.I.

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top floor of their bedroom they searched everywhere for a staircase. but could find nothing but a dark lift shaft. The gate was open, so Liz stepped forward. Her friend peered down into the darkness ' You all right, Liz ? " she called. " Yus," came a feeble reply. " But mind the first step . . it ain't 'alf a steep 'un." Sent by Mrs. Ada E Burling, 60. Ribstonroad. Sheffield. 9 The 5 5s. prize for the best Smile story published last week is awarded to L. C. Pooley, 6, Westgate-street, Launceston, Cornwall, lor " Good Old Sergeant-Major ! " Almost covered in bandages the two soldiers limped into the dock. ' Well, men," said the chaplain, " this after"What started the trouble between y o u ? ' "^w^^f^^^V^^^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ > ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ > ^ ^ ^ w ^ ^ ^ noon I am going to tell you a story about John asked the magistrate. " It like this," said one the Baptist. But first I want one of you to " First was throws 'is beer over of the recruits, 'e me, then I 'its tell me who was John the Baptist." 'im in the face with me rifle. " Then 'e cuts me 'ead open with a bottle, so Silence! I pushes the winder. Becoming impatient the chaplain repeated thing we 'im through quarrelling." . . . The next know we's his question. " Who was John the Baptist ? " Sent by R. Birch, 118, Lambourne-road, Barking. Still no one replied.

was the militiamen's first day ot manoeuvres, and everything went well until a w*hite flag suddenly appeared above a hedge. " Go over and see what the confounded fools are up to," ordered an officer. " W ^ H ^ T ' S all this talk about the serThe recruit returned. "They say that as ^ " g e a n t falling down a camouflaged it's nearly tea-time, could they please exchange shell-hole and breaking his neck ? " asked two prisoners for a bottle of milk," he reported, t h e newcomer to t h e front line. Sent by A. J. Cant, 95, St. Neot's-road. Sandy. ' Ssh," replied the old-timer " It doesn't Beds. happen till to-morrow." Sent by J. Walsh, 21. Benhurst Court. Streatham. S.W.16

TT

Going Down;

T HE evacuees were billeted on the of a smart hotel. Coming out

Looks like a pig-napping party, but the porker's only being safely stymied for the light on a miniature farm run by an antiaircraft gun crew

ICASHIONS

FRANCES, AT 8. SAVES SIX IN A

J ] I G H T - YEAR - OLD Frances Snodgrass is a heroine who does not believe in making a fuss about danger. She lives in Peake - avenue, ConisboKough, South Yorks, with six other members of the Snodgrass family, and when the house caught fire early yesterday she awoke to find smoke and fumes choking her.
Knowing t h a t to scream might cause a panic, she Opened all the windows in her r o o m . _ _ _ ^ ^ _ A w a k e n e d h e r sisters a n d w a r n e d them not to b e afraid. Called to h e r b r o t h e r , B e r n a r d , aged fourteen. T h e n went on to a w a k e h e r m o t h e r .

Slid Down Blankets

Meanwhile Bernard was also behaving bravely. He busied himself knotting blankets into a rope, which h e fastened firmly to a bed. T h e result was t h a t by t h e time all t h e other five members of t h e family knew of their danger, p r e p a r a t i o n s h a d been m a d e for their escape. Bernard stood by while the others slid down the blanket-rope to safety. Then he followed himself. " I have never known such brave little children," said a neighbour afterwards. "But Prances thought it was just an ordinary thing to do."

GUARDS VILLAGE
A SET of bagpipes h a n g on t h e wall, t h e ^^ t a r t a n ribbons faded and t a t t e r e d . An old man, grey haired, adjusts a once familiar steel helmet, slings a gas mask over his shoulder. Piper Laidlaw is ready for another war. That name stirred the blood once, as these pipes once summoned men to glory. In the tragic Battle of Loos in 1915, a section of the British line, attacked by gas, wavered and fell back. Laidlaw scrambled over the parapet and played his company out of the trench with " The Blue Bonnets Over the Border." Piper Laidlaw won the V.C; was lionised by all Britain. But fame, like tartan, fades. For eight years he was unemployed; now, in Shoresdean Village, near Berwick-on-Tweed, Piper Laidlaw is " just getting on his feet again " as a subpostmaster. He is head air raid warden of the village. His youngest son, Victor Loos, now nineteen, will soon be old enough to serve. " I wouldn't mind piping them up again," Dan Laidlaw said to a Dailp Mirror correspondent yesterday. " Never mind the bad years. This helmet and this gas mask have made me young again. " If they call on me, I'll play the old tune once again." Piper Laidlaw need not worry. A piper marched round the fighting square of Waterloo; a piper rallied the last stand in a ditch at Tel-el-Kebir. There are other pipes and other pipers. The spirit lives on.

They Will Get Leave for Being Fatliers

French soldiers serving in the war zone will get special leave when their wives have babies. Special leave will also be granted if a soldier wishes to get married. War zone soldiers will, in the normal way, get ten days' leave every four months, and those in the interior eight days over the same period. Three days' leave will be granted for serious illness of either parent, wife or child.^Exchange.

WHERE'S THE KING?

They told him he was going to see the King. Here he is looking all round, staring into the distance to get a first glimpse of the King . . . who all the time is smiling down at him, only a Jew feet away ! King George is chatting with the wife of one of his soldiers when he visited the married quarters during a tour of a regimental depot yesterday. His Majesty also inspected Militiamenthe latest recruits to his Army. I t was the King's first visit to the Militia, and he saw all phases of their training during a tour of three barracks in the southern area.

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