PATRIOTISM.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 94, 29 July 1910, Page 2

PATRIOTISM.

AN ADDRESS TO BOY SCOUTS. The Rev. J. G. Chapman .gave an address last night to the Boy Scouts on the j subject of "Patriotism." He said he had I chosen that subject because as young soldiers of the Empire he thought they would be interested in it. Patriotism is the love of and service for one's country. They had good reasons for loving their country, for he had visited many lands, j but none had he seen which surpassed or i equalled their country. Patriotism might 'be shown in several ways. All had heard lof Winkelreid, who, with his comrades, : faced a phalanx of steel, and gathering '■ an armful of the (nemy's spears, bore them to the .ground in his body, and made a gap in the enemy's ranks tor -::s comrades to rush through. In the late Russo-Japanese war many an ordinary Japanese mother quietly committed suicide so that her son might go to the war to defend his country. Those were noble specimens of patriotism. He hoped, however, that they would never be called upon to defend their country from the invasion of a foreign foe. There are enemies, however, which we need fear more than the soldiers of another nation, enemies that are destroying the young manhood and womanhood of our nation; and these very real foes are in New Plymouth to-day. Drink, gambling, lust, swearing and cheating were mentioned as some of the deadliest enemies of our national life. Gambling alone was undermining the character of many a young man in this town. Only last Sunday he : saw si number of young men playing cards in a secluded spot on the beachplaying probably for money. They could not show their patriotism in a u.-rre splendid 'way than to combat these enemies that were working such mischief in our midst. After giving several instructions of true patriotism, Mr. Chapman said you sometimes hear a boy say of another hoy, "He's a brick," and that laying had its. origin in this wise: An ambassador from another country on one occasion visited Sparta, and when he was having an interview with the King he said that he had visited the various cities of Greece but had not been able to discover any "walls. The next morning the King took the ambassador to a great plain, where the troops of Sparta were gathered together. He caused them to march in front of them, and then said to the ambassador: "These are the walls of Sparta, and every man is a brkk." So let each one of them become a brick in the wall of defence around their national life. The men who are doing most to defend the nation are the men who are doing most to build it up in health and strength and character.