“MY DADDY’S CALLED UP.”

Manawatu Herald, Volume XL, Issue 1819, 27 April 1918, Page 3

“MY DADDY’S CALLED UP.”

“The first ballot calling up the fathers of New Zealand children had been published in the morning papers,” Avritcs a correspondent to the Post. “It Avas Anzac Day, and in all the schools the children Avero gathered together to he instructed in the meaning and importance of that day. . . . The school hall Avas crowded. Adults filled the chairs at the hack, the bigger children occupied the front forms, and the little tots Avere seated on the floor of the platform all round the speaker. The latter had attempted to describe the epic of that April day, and Avas concluding Avith a reference to the fact that history had hoav become a very near thing to ns all. In one of the momentary silences in the room another voice—a very little one —from the floor took up the story, ‘My daddy’s called up!’ A ripple of laughter started, and spread through the room. The little interrupter looked round iu surprise. She did not understand this reception of her plaint. The pathos of the situation suddenly struck the audience —the laughter subsided, and no further oratory was needed,”