"QUIT YOU LIKE MEN."

Press, Volume L, Issue 14976, 25 May 1914, Page 8

"QUIT YOU LIKE MEN."

SENIOR CADETS AT THE CATHEDRAL. The local Senior Cadets, under Captain W. C. Finn's, Area Group Officer, attended.a church parado at tlie Cathedral yesterday afternoon, their numbers being sadly diminished by the fact that the big secondary schools, now closed for the holidays, wero not represented. Despite the fact that only 244 boys and six officers were on parade, tho Cadets made a brave showing as they marched through tho streets, and created a more favourablo impression than they did on their last appearance in public this year, when they tramped through the rain to meet Genoral Sir lan Hamilton. Tho Cadet Bugle Band, under Sergeant-.Major Heald, as usual, had a splendid muster : tho keenness of these boys is ono of the particular bright spots in tho Cadet movement in Canterbury. "THE SHIRKER." Although Colonel V. S. Smyth, 0.C.D., showed plainly that he was disappointed at the number of boys who had attended the parade, he managed to make the very most out of the situation, by telling those present that they would bo credited with a half-day parade as a reward for.their loyalty. "There should have been four times your number present," he said in his .speech in the Barracks. - "You boys _.'h° are k ere are probably the regular attenders, the best boys in the Cadets 'in Christchurch. Tho boys who do not attend parades—and this one in parti- ' cular, because it is almost a voluntary one—they are the shirkers, and I want you to let them-understand what you think of them. When any boys havo to * do a job, and the others hang off, you ' know what you think of them in ordinary life. When you turn out smartly, keeping up the reputation of your particular corps, you are doing their work as well as yonr own. When the shirker grows up all decent folk will suffer for him." The O.C.D. added that they did not want to prosecute the boy who failed to attend parades; they wanted, him to be brought* up to tha mark by the realisation of what a poor opinion the other boys, held of him. -'•'QUIT .YOU,.LIKE MEN." . . The Cathedral was crowded for the 'service, which was brief but impressive. The preacher, the Rev. E. H. Shore, ,-took his text from. Ist Epistle • to." the Corinthians, chapter 16, verse 13: ''Quit you like men." He said that he gave this text to the Cadets as a motto ■on.this day that they came together to tho house of God. "What sort of men?" they might ask. There were different standards, but tho standard ho would .-give -them'was-that of an Englishman. Wherever the name of Englishman was •known, there was a standard of honour, ;and of discipline, a standard_of commercial integrity, of truthfulness, and of bravery. It was a great standard, hut to-day-sifc was very largely called into question. This was the day when every religious law was being brought under tho microscope. These vreie tho days when a story like that 'of the Birkenhead was supposed to cease to fire the-blood of our young, men, and Casabianca was relegated to a girls' school debating.class". In short,-these were the days s of the rotter," it was tsjyd. .'** l look "to you," the ppacher continued, "to set the-standard of a Englishman before you in your sense or honour and of discipline. . -'. . . It is a great thing to^ be said of an*? man that he did his duty! Wellington, in his despatches, wasted no twords upon private or upon officer, but stated the plain fact, 'He did his, duty;' ■ Remember the greatness of to which, you belong. Ji_ all humility, I say we are called to no common-destiny. * We aro called to bo the leader of the great white races of tbo world, arid there is a great responsibility and burden on our . shoul- '■ ders." -

The preacher spoke of the great English cathedrals,' and pictured the flags won by our forefathers treasured up in these buildings. "What do thoy "say to you?" be asked. "They say J remember your forefathers* who " fought for a truth, greater than the world has ever en joyed j under the Empire of Rome or of any other -nipire. Se true to the "deals of your fathers' Quit you like men!" He went on to say that they conld ■ not quit themselves* like men, with the strength, of their own will or their own enthusiasm. The power of religion i-jone could make them accomplish sucJi: a'high ideal. There were two things they must fight for, not with the sword, but-,with the strong weapons of the spiritual world-—self-mastery and .self-respect. "I am told," ho concluded, "that one-third of the New Zealand youth are not shoulder to shoulder, with you doing their duty. Let them see that the «zreatest and grandest sight in New Zealand are you—rthose lads who undergo military •f-r-inin-r, because it is their duty -as Englishmen."