Thoughtful Moments

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 6, Issue 94, 30 July 1943, Page 2

Thoughtful Moments

(Supplied by Hie Whakat:>ne Mir.isteis' Association)

TO-DAY'S "MODERN GIRL"

The. lady who conducts the Woman's Page in the Australian Chris- % lian W'orkl, has this article which we have had to abridge in a recent issue. "Someone passed me a weekly magazine lo loo'a at. On one page . I read: M would advise those who are ready to condemn the younger generation to look around and see what kind of example they are being set by older people in responsible positions. Recently I attended a day's sports, and a dance at. night. The sports were all one could wish for,'but on the ground was a chocolate wheel on which the prizes were cheap wine and "beer. Not only were the adults running it, selling bottles to children, but they were giving them the. stuff when they won. At night the chocolate Avheel was put on the stage of the hall, and bottle upon bftttie Mas won by those attending.' Then in a newspaper report of a women's meeting, I read: 'The. future of Australia lies -argely in the hands of the girls, who are marvellous', y line. But they arc often misjudged by" people who do not look beyond the. surface. And welfare workers shou'd never be too busy to listen to their problems.' .... To begin with the last, quotation . . . Yes, they are line, andi mo.sit of them are efficient. But,, so also were their mothers, and their grandmothers, and their great grandmothers. Think of the women who came with their husbands, to Australia, mere girls, many of them, and. girls with little knowledge of the rough side of life. But they wrestled with the hardships and the diffculties, they brought up their children, they helped to make Australia." , Then the writer referred to this paragraph, from a question page: 'I am 21, and for the. past live years have been going out with a married man wlioni I a.lore.' "At first glance, on the face of it, one feels that is from a which some people make up to cause discussion of sorts . . . in certain magazines. If it is true it means that a girl of sixteen, uninformed,, undisciplined, *silly, has met a married man, unprincipled and stupid. No decent married man would allow this adoration (!) from a girl of sixteen, nor an unmarried man either, I should think. But. suppose it's true! Where <1 id this girl get her ideas from? From the conversation of other girls without decent home influences? From some of the best sellers in a library or cheap novellette? From watching her favourite film stars? Was her life empty of boms influence, Church influence ? Empty of any knowledge or example of what constitute "first tilings" in life? How much depends upon the view of life, children get from the example of those around them . . ." Referring to the ' lirst quotation, about, the sports day incident, the

OUR SUNDAY MESSAGE

lady says: Personally. 1 have no great experience of young people who driiik and gamble, but I hear details l'rom others . . . . "lJ was asked—l am often asked--my opinion on girls smoking. There I have a little wider experience. 1 know girls who smoke, some of them "l'or their nerves," and I cannot say that I June, seen ability to control the nerves,, or any lessening of the nervousness or nerve irritability as a result of the smoking." The Moderator of the Presbyterian General Assembly, speaking in Auckland last November, said:— We hear a great deal about a new world: the world is. convulsed in agony over the .struggle to produce a new world. If there is a new world, Christ will make it, ancl if it is to be made by Him, the whole evidence of history declares that He will use womanhood pre-eminently in the reshaping of human affairs to a better and purer order. He lifted womanhood and elevated. her estate because it was the principle of. the Kingdom. He came to establish, to stride oil' shackles, and. to give all their rightful place in God's good world. Mankind is. at the major cross-roads, and L think we are going back into the Jungle, or we are going into a glorious new world, a better world than our fathers ever knew. In the. ultimate, everything depends upon whether the influence of Jesus Christ is going to be really brought to bear upon society and upon human life. There has been no more significant move, since the war began than tlxCampaign for Christian Order. Today men and women are being called into the armed forces of Empire,, and if the day is to be really won we need to realise that* men and women are being called, with the utmost urgency into the service of the King of. Kings. If the world is to be saved, there must be more Christian homes, presided over by more Christlike women; homes in which children are welcome; homes in which the mother looks upon it. as her high vocation to bring up sons and. daughters who will carry out with them the idea's and dynamic of the citizenship of the new world; who having been leavened by the spirit of Jesus Christ, will leaven the society in which they mix . . . We believe that Jesus. Christ shall reign until He has put all enemies uiuler His feet, rind in the forefront of His conquering army there will always be the holy women of God."To the modern girl belongs the task of fashioning the citizens oi to-morrow. "A different world the sages say . 'twill he When peace is won, Things as they were,, again will never sec, Says many a one. Hut when the tyrant frets the world no more, Parents will teach their children as before."