SWELLING OUR POPULATION

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22504, 12 September 1938, Page 4

SWELLING OUR POPULATION

I'O Tint BDITOE OF IHE PRESS Sir,— May I beg space to thank "Young John Citizen” for his kindly interest in my letter,. I see he appreciates the fact that true liberty lies in not violating another's rights, but respecting the individuality in each. The greatest scientist bows before the mystery hidden in the individuality of each blade of grass, and realises that each blade has as much right to express itself in the world as the next. The expression of each human being rests upon how long it takes to And out that one’s brain is one’s own and not someone else’s. \ Had our great leaders and geniuses Veen content to toe the ■ linej Slong with the masses, how much poorer we should be. It is the mind tired of the superficial which at last seeks the reality, and can bring to others a freshness of outlook which is ever present, free for all; but each must make the discovery before it can become a reality. In my previoifs letter I made a statement about bringing children into the world: Yes! but do let us realise that each child is a unique being with its own inherent possibilities. A child absorbs more than it actually listens .to. Are we actually the monuments of perfection we desire our children to look up to, and do we teach them that the fun of life lies in joyous creative expression? What if the child does blunder and make mistakes, where, pray, is the man or woman who hasn’t, and possibly been 100 per cent, a better being for ■ the clearer vision thus gained? Personally, I do not feel quite as ancient as “Young John Citizen” might imagine me to be, I have never had the glorious privilege of scampering around with young people, but would do so this very minute if 1 were physically able. It is because I have had the iron hand of paralysis holding me down from tiny childhood that I have realised that joyous freedom of youth is a gift which all must enjoy before the inner being can be truly satisfied. So once again I say, let youth bring to us a message which perchance we have unfortunately missed.—Yours, etc., (MRS) AGNES WILLIAMSSeptember 9, 1938.

TO THB EDITOR OF THB PRESS. Sir, —I should like to endorse every word of the letter written by “Young John Citizen” in this morning’s issue, also that of Mrs Agnes Williams. To those persons who advocate that others should have families my answer is to ask them to kindly mind their own business, for I am married and I am not going to be told or even advised by anyone what I am to do with my private and sacred affairs. My own mother was one who fell to what one could call a populating race, for 1 am sure the men of the district were each trying to obtain a record family, and my father did not get a place with 10. But that ignorance compelled my mother, like the other women, to walk five miles one day a week (Mondays if fine, ill or not) and have a day at a lady’s wash-tub, for which she was paid the sum of 2s 6d. But they must have been wonderful financiers, or we should have starved. And wouldn’t some of the old dears of to-day love to see the younger onfes carry on as usual! My mother, though, was an exception to the rule in this respect, that she advised her own family to have a small or no family, and so I am going to take mother's advice. For after all there is a saying that what you never had you never miss, and those who do not come into the world wijl not regret it.—Yours, etc., PLAIN FACTS, September 9. 1938.