A MODERN UP-BRINGING

New Zealand Listener, Volume 10, Issue 235, 24 December 1943, Page 18

A MODERN UP-BRINGING

(Written for "The Listener’ by

B.H.

B.

HE stood on the seat of the tram, gazing out the window. A little girl, not more than four or five, straight hair, bright eyes, not particularly pretty. A woman sat close in front of her, looking rather uncomfortable on the edge of the seat. Now and again the child would turn round and stare curicusly at the rest of us in the crowded compartment, as if she were trying to determine what species of animals we were. Then she would turn to her mother. "Mummy, why do the people get on the tram?" "To go home, dear. See, dear, there are the Government Buildings, those big wooden buildings over there." "What do they do there, Mummy?" "They make the Laws to govern our country, dear." A threatening pucker of the brow. Then-‘"why do the people get off the tram, Mummy?" "Because they have come to the place where they live, dear. Some get off, and some get on, you see." "Do most get off, Mummy, or do most get on?" "Some get off here, dear, but most get on. Soon we shall be out of the busy part of the town, and then most people will. get off, to go to their homes." % M3 HE tram lurched, and the child was thrown from her perch on the seat against her mother’s back. Women were wedged one against the other, hot and tired. Baskets containing the family dinner were clutched frantically, while bodies swayed backwards and forwards, backwards and forwards, then-sud-denly-to the right, to the left, as the car plunged round a corner. Tireless, the mother went on with her logical explanations, never losing her patience, her clarity. Everything the . child asked was answered in detail, much to the amusement of all present. A man stood by the door, with an attache case in one hand, and parcels in the other-interested, and yet detached. His eye continually turned to the pair, as the questioning went on. Surely not the father? But yes. Proudly he listened as his child proved her quick-witted intelligence again and again. Did he give a thought to the admirable perseverance of the mother, to whom all credit was due? Never to become impatient, never to get cross, hot and weary as she must have been after an afternoon in town, and with such a child! What must this daughter be like in shops, if like this in such a limited space as a teiencety * "WHY do they have baskets, Mummy?" "So that they can carry all their parcels more easily, dear." "Oh! Look at the big boat. Why is it out in the harbour, and not at the wharf?" "Perhaps there is not room at the ‘wharf for it, dear, or perhaps it is getting ready to go." "Go where, Mummy?" "A long way out to sea, right across the world." (continued on next page)

(continued from previous page) "What does it do that for, Mummy?" "To take food to other countries, and to bring back other things that we need." "What things, Mummy?" . « « % * * ND so it went on, until finally, showing no. signs of exhaustion, the Mother gathered her parcels together, Daddy picked up Little Daughter, and they picked their way through baskets and bodies, out of the compartment, and on to the street. How quiet and peaceful it seemed when they had departed. Yet some vital part of this little community was missing. We all felt it, as we looked at each other and smiled, a grown-up, superior sort of smile. What a wonderful thing is child psychology, and correct educational upbringing! What a fine race of mothers it will breed! Or will it?