An Open Air Page For Big Girls and Boys

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 29, 27 April 1927, Page 14

An Open Air Page For Big Girls and Boys

LOVE OF COUNTRY THIS week the Wigwam has echoed to the sound of martial music and the tramp, tramp of many feet. Time has lifted the curtain that we may look once again into the days of war. Anzac Day has come and gone, the spirit of the past has mingled with the atmosphere of the present and the poppies and rosemary will keep mid-April ever green in our minds. Many of you will not remember those times of anxiety when every home had its burden to bear, though most of you I think will recall the day when the joy bells rang and the wings of peace spread over the land. Then the homecomings, the tears of relief and the silent prayers of gratitude. The names of those who did not return are legion. They < followed the “Long, Long Trail” with unfaltering feet, knowing in their hearts where it must lead. So when their Anniversary falls our thoughts go out to them and we pay our tributes to their bravery and love of country. Almost we can hear the lilt of their marching songs, their laughter, their raillery and visualise the buoyant courage that went with them even to the gates of death. And this is how they would have us remember them, those gallant heroes of the trenches who did not die but, in their own words, were destined to quietly “fade away.” Poppies are the symbols of sleep and “rosemary—that’s for remembrance.” —EEDPEATHEE.