WHITE FEATHERS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 165, 27 May 1940, Page 4

WHITE FEATHERS

THAT feeble-minded coward, the 'White Feather Fiend' is abroad again and instances of his or her misguided patriotism have been brought to our notice. That such childish and crack-brained method's should still be in vogue un this age of so-called enlightenment is not merely a reflection on the mentality of the persons responsible but also on the community in which they live. Yesterday in the public hospital, a married man with two children who was recovering after an accident received two of these stupid emblems, and though more amused than indignant feels that he would like to let the nitwit responsible know that in spite of his family responsibilities he offered his services some time ago, and was: rejected, because of his occupation as a farmer. If this will satisfy the skulking vermin masquerading as a human being,, who hides behind the screen of anonymity and forwards his precious feathers in carefully printed handwriting, he trusts that they will now crawl back into the rathole where they belong. Another instance of the: utter puerility of the persons concerned Wjis reported last week when an old man of seventysix years was the recipient of two feathers by the same subversive medium. Nothing is more disgusting or more detestable than this slimey practice by ignorant persons setting themselves up as invisible judges on their fellow men, yet who, scared to come out into the open and offer fair criticism, choose the reptilian method of stabbing their innocent and unsuspecting viictims in the back while: they themselves scurry off to the safety of their lairs and skulk in the shadow of their own warped conscience. Heire in our midst is something akin to a 'fifth column" the tactics are the same, and it should therefore be eradicated as a noxious weed. Senseless hare-brained flappers, who should have been more soundly whacked by their parents in their younger days are often responsible for white feathers' fondly salving their conscience by the boast that they have performed their duty. Duty as we know it to-day is a giant by comparison with this mean and dispicable practice. The Red Cross, calls for more and increased effort there lies the path to duty,, and surely this is preferable to wasting new ink and honest paper on a filthy and damaging mission.