Let Us Remember

Radio Record, Volume IV, Issue 31, 13 February 1931, Page 6

Let Us Remember

"Surely the Spring, when God shall please, _ Will come again, like a divine surprise, To those who'sit to-day with their great dead, Hands in their hands, eyes in their eyes, At one with Love; at one with Grief; — Blind to the scattered things and changing skies"

UWESIDH, a morning of blue and gold, the sun shining in cloudless azure, and happy breezes ruffling golden curls of children who stand and beside church gates, through which the members of the congregation file somberly clad, their eyes fixed and loof, with never 4 glance at the bold hydrangeas that flaunt their beauty in the erysballine air. Inside, the peace of a dim old church, with its shining brasses extolling virtues of parishioners long gone to their rest, and the rose and lilac of stained glass glowing softly overhead. It is the Day of Remembrance and Intercession, and we are met together to bow the-head in memory of that great choir invisible who will ever have an abiding place in the hearts of those who loved them. In the tragic week just passed, when we have lived in suspense and horror well-nigh unendurable, many might be inclined to echo ‘Oleopatra’s There is nothing left remarkable Beneath the visiting moon, and fling faith and courage to the winds. The hour had struck, hope was gone, the worst had happened, the game was up. So it had seemed to some of us; but in the quietness of the church, amid stillness of sorrow and heartbreak, another chord was sounded, another story told, in the transparently sincere and moving tribute of the preacher to the fortitude of the injured, and the self-abnegation of those who, having lost all, worked shoulder to shoulder through those

days and nights of imminent. annihilation,

N the church all ages and classes were represented ; men, women and tiny children. Grave city fathers, from whom much wisdom, judgment, and decision will be expected in days and years to come. Maids and matrons, remotely sad, with here and there a face of trage(ly. In the next pew sat a lad of 18 or so, absorbed in the beautiful ritual of the service, with the sensitive, idealistic face of 4 Young Woodley. Beside me fidgeted a toddler, just past baby stage, blue of eyes and fat of limb, behaving as well as he knew how, and clutching black and hideous doll as something tangible amid the grey sadness: that hung like a veil over the worshippers. Heads were bowed in memory of "Our brothers and sisters who have passed into the Unseen." "The noble words floated down the aisles: "Blessed are the dead. ... They rest from their labours," and poor humanity grieved in agonising remembrance of those who havé gone from us and will ‘be no more seen of men. Of immemorial appeal are the simple hymns of the church to hearts that are weary or worn or broken, and .it

was infinitely touching to listen to the yast congregation sing: Other refuge have I none, Hangs my helpless soul on Thee, as they raised their eyes to the crucified Christ in the high altar window, and strove "faintly to trust the larger hope." In the simplicity and clarity of the viecar’s message, once again came humble and thankful realisation of the great qualities of our race as shown in the epic story of the recent earthquake. "Not once or,twice in our rough island-story" have we had. high cause to be proud of the New Zealand-born. ‘Our men and women wear well, they rise to an occasion, fight a. good fight; and proudly we pay, homage. Prisoners released from: durance responded nobiy to the clarion call of duty and danger; . men of the Navy fittingly followed their great traditions; doctors, nurses, the rank and: file unflinchingly ‘did what they could in face of incredible danger and ‘disaster. There "was no shirking; no self-pity ; simply a gritting of the teeth, a grim holding on in face of terrible odds. Then came exhortation from the pulpit for high endeavour in the future

to emulate such selflessness. "Chantpion the cause of the people before the claims of the individual; cast aside fratricidal party strife and endeavour to achieve national unity; put more into the common :stock than you take out of it.’ A counsel of perfection, it would seem; and difficult, though not_impossible, of attainment. Last of.all the benediction, during which the child beside me turned. the shallow, lovely gaze of youth upon the kneeling throng, while he furtively and’ passionately kissed his black mascot, apparently as a propitiation of unknown gods. Soon we came again into the out-of-dogrs, glad to be alive in a world we may love or we may hate, but few of us wish to leave. Courage was rising again in us like sap in the trees in spring. and renewed faith and confidence in the future; allied with a wistful, poignant, ultimate hope for those whom our hearts cherished, and will cherish for evermore; whose spirits are now at one with the wind and the ‘rain and the. stars in. their’ courses, and whose bodies lie: beneath the scarred‘ and sorrowful earth, which yet some day will surely again blossom like the’ rose. .In.that vast Cathedral leave thems God accett them, Christ receive them

H.V.

L.