AN ADDRESS TO BOYS.

Shannon News, 30 September 1921, Page 3

AN ADDRESS TO BOYS.

Speaking recently 'to an audience which included a large number of boys, Colonel Mitchell, M.P., for Wellington, at a y.M.C.A. function* recalled the great service it had rendered on the fields of Europe, fulfilling the part of a home for the men. He stressed the refining and uplifting influence exercised by the Y.M.C.A. on the soldiers. “I want to say .here and now before you,” he added, “how I, as an officer andj a fellow-soldier, appreciated the great work which it did, and the great debt we owe to the Y.M.C.A. I am quite sure the service rendered on the field saved a great number of mensfrom going astray.” In peace time the Y.M.C.A. was back here trying to fill the same sphere in our civil life, and he wished them every success. .

The greatest club of alh however was the home. It exercised the great est influence of any institution in the world. There was no finer influence than that of a good mother and a good father in the home. Colonel Mitcheir said he had repeatedly found what a wonderful thing a good mother’s influence was on the battlefield, and one could always tell whether a soldier had had in his life the influence of a good father or mother. Parents did not always realise the extent*of the influence possessed by them oyef their boys. After the mother had finished, more or less, father stepped in, and the knowledge he had gained in life should always be used to direct the boy away from the "pitfalls towards a better and nobler life. The standard of parenthood in New Zealand was comparatively high—as high as any in the <world —but it- fell a long way short of what it should be. If parents had a duty to their boys, ths boys in turn had a duty to their parents. They should love, honour, help and comfort them. The bfiys also had a duty to their country—to fit themselves to take part in the'affairs of life. “You are the boys of to-day,' but you will be the men of to-mor-row. You are. part of one of the finest. Empires God ever created, and you live an one of the freest countries in the world., and it is your duty to fit yourselves to so take care of your country that you can hand it on to your children better thari' it will be handed on to you.” Colonel Mitchell then issued an impressive warning to the boys against the evils of the day. “It is your duty,” he said, “to restrain yourself in the way of strong drink. I am riot a wowser, but I do say right here and now, hoys, that nothing iso demoralised manhood as drink when taken to excess. There was no more evil influence on the battlefield than drink. If it could be taken in moderation it would be all right, but there is no. moderation in drink\so my advice to you, therefore, is: “Leave it alone!” Colonel Mitehefi aso .dealt trenchantly with the gambling evil. He sai'd there was a hateful spirit'abroad of endeavouring to get rich on somebody else’s earnings. “For God’s sake, boys, don’t imagine you can get rich on gambling. It is a very big and bad influence in our country to-day. Over nine millions passed through the totalisator last year—that is about £o v per head of the population. It cannot go on like that!” Colonel Mitchell then \|enl on to refer to tlieHne type of manhood produced in New Zealand. Nothing could excel them on the battlefield. He referred to the degenerate types that were to he seen from some of the nations, and instanced one case where out of a draft, of 130 men less than 30 were found to be fit owing to the ravages of disease in their ranks. It was necessary that we should keep up the standard of our manhood. Our watchword should be service for others. “Don’t put. out the band that, took and never gave!” It was what a man put. into life, not what he took out of it. that made life worth living.