BOYHOOD’S IDEAL

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLV, Issue 122, 27 April 1925, Page 4

BOYHOOD’S IDEAL

TO BE AN ANZAC. WORD WITH GREAT APPEAL. During his address at tho Anzuo Day service at the Showgrounds on Saturday afternoon, Padre Walls dwelt 011 the* significance of the word an Anzac has become the ideal of the boyhood of to-day,” said the speaker. “It has been enjoined upon thousands of youths during past years, and the spirit has been extolled to" such a degree'that it would be wise to pause for a moment and reflect on this word, so full of potential meaning. The English language has many expressive words, but to the colonial lew words have so great an appeal as the one word ‘Anzac.’ Virile manhooddogged determination—the will to conquer—the tenacity of purpose—a wilderness of heroism—a riot of personal expression—are all centred round that word. Though achievement is indelibly interwoven in the spirit of the term, there is more behind that almost sacred word tlian. merely such Most marked was the precious manhood expended in that gallant venture, the determination witnessed through dreary months, the will and tenacity that were expressed; but underlying everything is the wonderful and 'magnetic personality that caused men to hold, limpet-like, to the narrpw confines oi that small cove or shore that was little better than a living hell. “They were fitted for their task, for were they not bom of freedom loving parents, and had journeyed from a free country which had allowed them unmolested expression and opportunity to form life and character after a pattern of their own design. .Their buoyant spirits were redolent of the farm and wild uncultivated broad acres oi their motherland. Their characters were akin to the beautiful clematis. Their trooping thousands recalled myriads of toi toi gently nodding under the influence of a soothing breeze. The smell of the kauri arose fresh in their nostrils and imparted strength to their tired limbs and called into life an awakening articulation. They clung as does the rata to the object' before them and as effectively smothered opposition and held on to their taslcs as men of whom it is written: — , His strength is as the strength ot ten, because liis heart is pure. EVERGREEN MEMORY.

“Further, their memory is green because passing years have allowed me in imagination to see revealed in all their stately bearing, and in their sacrifice, the noble pohutukawas of our land. Look upon them to-day and picture again those fellows, as in one solid muss they bled from their gushing wounds upon that rough land,and through the translation of pain there flowers in blood that wonderful emblem of New Zealand, in ail its stately beauty and majesty.”