SIXTY YEARS AGO

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12620, 3 December 1926, Page 6

SIXTY YEARS AGO

YOUNG PEOPLE COMPARED DISCUSSIONS AT CHURCH REUNION OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH (By Telegraph—Special to “Times.”) AUCKLAND, December 2. Comparisons between the actions and character of the young people of 50 years ago and those of to-day were made by speakers at an old parishioners’ reunion held in connection with the celebration of the diamond jubilee of All Saints’ Church, the comparisons being generally distinctly unfavourable to the modern youth. An eloquent plea for the stricter observance of the Sabbath was made by Mrs W. Colder, widow of the late vicar of the parish. Not congratulations only should he in evidence at a jubilee, stated Mrs Calder. It was a time to turn down an old page and commence a new one. It was a time to wonder why children of to-day have not clung lo the ideals of their grandfathers. Children of to-day had not a self-con-trolled and disciplined state of mind to get up in time for communion at 8 a.m., but instead they dawdled away the morning and arrived at 11 a-m. Mrs Calder said she still remembered the shocked expression of a girl long ago who confessed that she had washed her hair instead of going to church. Modern girls hod no hair to wash, but instead they washed silk stockings, and then they went for a picnic somewhere God was not given a; thought. Going to church was not salvation itself but discipline. It would stand in gqod stead to those who practised' it. But if going to church waa repugnant because it meant missing a certain amount of pleasure ’ this revealed a dreadful state of affairs. DREARY RELIGION NOT WANTED / There was no slight reason why children should not be taught to come to church, and to think of it pleasantly. The old-fashioned dreary and melancholy form of religion was no longer wanted. It was not right to bl&me ihe preachers for the falling off in attendances. Only this week, added Mrs Calder, she heard two men declare that if they had better preachers things would be better, and that the service was dull and long. Since the service lasted only about an hour it might easily be taken as a little discipline, Church going should he a pleasure, but it was a duty first. Mr J. Stitchbury compared the attitude _of a young man of 60 years ago with that of a young man of today from a somewhat different point of view. DID WITHOUT LUXURIES A young man of to-day, he said, wanted to have a piano and a costly bedroom suite when he got married, hilt the speaker himself waa ‘married, and had no money left for furnishing after paying for the house. He had therefore made tivo chairs oht of flour casks, a couch out of a saddle case, a table from packing case, and a chest pf drawers from two large biscuit cases. He vyas puzzled for a time when a cradle came to be needed, but at length he carried home a gin case arid made a cradle from it. This was his total furniture for some vears.