“ Courage."

Hokitika Guardian, 14 September 1922, Page 4

“ Courage. "

“(’oura'ge” was-tin' title of an address delictroil by Sir James Barrio at St Andrcw’s University on tii ■ oeensitii of his installation as Lord Hector. ’lhour'll !.o ins'st.d that he is more at home with the pen. than on the pint- [' rm, this sn.ech is in his . happiest y in. At the. outset Sir James Barrie too!; liis audience into his confidence. There are. l e says, two of him. There is B'rric. the dour, practical, canny S<ot; and there is M’Connncliic, ' a fanciful, rather irresponsible person, who. d-cs tr, st of the writing that is pahTshed in Barrie’s . name. Barrie’s desire is to lie the family solicitor tyjrs, standing firm on, the hearth rue:, amidst the harsh realities of the office furniture; but Ai’C'imnachie prefers to [lv round on one wing. Barrie had sternly forbidden M'Ooimachic to interfere with this address, but the prohibition was evidently nmleedod, for everywhere .M’Connaehie preps out, whimsical, elfin, and delightful. The anther slips from gay to grave and grave to gay in easy transition. Tie. reminds his hearers that to-day .more than i-ver than in the previous history of the world self-confident youth issues a challenge to the authority of the seniors. Tl-e old men, we are tell, have made a mess of things: let them give place to the young. Sir .Tames barrio is quite prepared to cry “Beceaviimis” on behalf of his generation, hut 1 e warns the young paladins that a time will come when they, too, are rid. Let thrm see to it that they, too are not put in the deck and charged by their juniors with having: made a mess of things. Life is a difficult and a comolex business, and lie who would set the world in order essays no light task. But Sir James Barrie urges them to be of good heart. Everything yields to courage, and without courage nothing will avail. Again and .-gain lie returns to that point. “Courage ir the filling. All gees if courage gees. What says our glorious Johnson of courage: ‘Unless a men has that virtue he has no security for preserving any other.’ ”. That is the truth which Sir Janies Barrie enforces in a speech whose wisdom is seasoned with humour and illuminated with many felicitous 'allusions and apt quotations.