Evening star., 1943-05-18

one can hear
their soft cry Of
"clickety click,
Henry MeLsnsre. "clickety click"
as they hop about on the floor
and their gentle chirp as they roll
and bounce on the blankets. -.
The dice whose flight to this coun.
try was sponsored by the Army
Quartermaster Corps as morale
builders" for the soldiers arrived
some 10000 strong. This said to
be the largest migration Of dice in
history, far exceeding the one of
1917 that followed the arrival of
our Expeditionary Force in France.
An authority on the matters
top sergeant who has been In the
Army for 80 years and is stationed
here now-told me that in all his
years OF studying dice he never had
seen any as fine as the ones that
have just arrived.
They are perfect" he said. "Ab-
solutely flawless examples Of what
we dice ornithologists call Spotticus
Cubeitus. Now the ones We had tn
France In the first war were not 80
good. Many Of them had the ten
dency to wobble and you could hold
them close together and see the
difference in size and shape. But
the ones which have Just come in
seem to be perfectly matched"
Nesting in His Pocket.
I asked the sergeant If I might
see q few Of them. After all, I was
curious, having never held = Spot
ticus Cubeitus In my hand. Would
they have feathers, I asked myself
while the sergeant went to get q
pair? Would they bite me? Would
they make friends easily? The
sergeant came back with 10 or II
Of them. These were nesting In
my pocket" he explained Is he
handed them to me.
Pretty things, dice. One was 4
rich red with white spots on its
chest, back and wings. Another
was green with the same white
markings. Another was white with
black trimmings. I felt IN immedi-
ate friendliness for them. I felt
the urge to cuddle them right In
my hand and gently throw them
on the floor to see If they could
walk. I answered the urge and
dropped them on the floor. They
bounced along and for some reason
counted the little spots on their
chests. The total was seven.
"A natural hand, a natural hand"
murmured the sergeant. Gould
have used that last night"
didn't ask him what he meant
because learned from 4 long
friendship with another ornitholo-
gist. Johnny Kieran. that men who
study birds are a race apart and
sometimes drift into talk that be-
longs to another world. I did, how
ever, ask the sergeant If he thought
the arrival OF the dice would be a
stimulant with reservations. Know
ing nothing about dice, I can't inter-
pref what he said but these were
his remarks. o-
May Bring Heartbreak.
They will bring happiness to sornes
and heartbreak to others. They will
send some into the shadows Of de-
spair and lift others to the peaks of
pure joy. For every snake-eye, there
is seven. For every boxcar, there is
an eleven"
As he talked to me, the sergeant
played with the fat, saucy, little die
and talked to them In q language un-
familiar to me. He spoke OF Little
Joe. He referred to Ada from De-
catur. He mentioned something that
sounded like Big Dick with the walk
ing stick. And, think heard him
mention the word fever" and some
thing that sounded like baby
Shoes" although I must be wrong.
The sergeant continued, Some
will make their passes, others won't.
Some will get hotter than 4 depot
stove, others will be cold. But those
who are plunged into sorrow will
only wait for the morrow to ret
even"
The sergeant bid me adieu with
these words: If only I had the pair
OF passouts that sent me to Paris In
1917 with 10000 francs"
What in the world could the SER
geant have meant7 brought . pair
Of dice home with me. I aim to be
kind to them. TO baby and cher
ish them.
Distributed By McNausht Syndicate, 1nc.)