SOCIALISM
Maoriland Worker, Volume 8, Issue 320, 11 April 1917, Page 7
About this newspaper
SOCIALISM
Greetings, little Sunbeams. Greetings and Good Thoughts. Venice consists of a number of little islands away at Hip lieail of the Adriatic Sea. Tlio history of the Venetian Republic if. one that every boy and girl should make. up their miuds to read. The people have been beaten many limc-a but never conquered. But I do not wish- to speak to yon i'rom that yoint of view. I want to tell you about a certain tower. On the principal island (there are eishly islands, altogether) there are gathered together Tiiaiiy art treasures, beautiful pictures and statuary.''l.ookr ing at tho island from the main waterway (mind all the streets are. waterways), yon see a beautiful square. fronting on to the. river or grand canal. In this square there are mauy things that 1 could tell you about, but I want to confine myself to one particular thing. There stood for many years a brick tower called "Campanile" or Bell Tower. It was three hundred and twenty-three feet high, and had an ansel on the top thirty feet high, and the tower was forty-two feet wide at the bottom or base. It was erected to commemorate victories won in the past ages. Commenced in the year 902, it was not finished until six hundred years later. If you look at any picture of Venice you will see this tower standing ;n the Square of St. Mark. All the people there were very proud of their tower and some went so far as to worship the angel on top, because this angel used to turn , rotlnd with the wind and the poor people were taught 'that this had some supernatural ori: gin. Beautiful as that tower was it was doomed to fall because it was built on a weak foundation. The foundation was wooden posts or piles driven into the ground. A little tiny insect or worm had got in and eaten away the foundation, and one day, without the least warning, the tower crumpled down. So you see, little Sunbeams, unless we have a firm base to work from, it doesn't matter how pretty the structure, some day it will fall. Any nation built ou .militarism will fall. Russia, perhaps the cruelest nation of modern times, was built on a military foundation. Almost without warning it fell; but a uew Russia will bff built on a better base, and a new tower has been built in the Square of St. Mark, and built on a better base. So with our characters or reputations, if we are built on a selfish base for a time we may go on alright, but we shall fall.
We have received a lot of nice letters this week. Here they are: The first is from a new Sunbeam at Westport: '
Dear Uncle Ted,—l am writing to ask you if I can be one of your Sunbeam nieces. I will be eleven years old on the 28th May, and I am in the fourth standard. We have a young pup and we call him Askim. I also have a cow ray grandmother gave mc for my birthday three years ago. I had a> dear little sister who would have been seven years old on the sth April, but she died six months ago, and we do miss her. I am so sorry thai Mr. Sempif. Mr. Cookouu'lMr. Vnw.r are ?. pit,■'<<>: 1 know ili«;i. i .-t'liti :il".o :«rry I'm I'mall the other l.abt;r u:>-.'ii in jail. lr.v says it should teach the workers that they voted wrong last elections, and he hopes they won't do so again. Dada often says he is glad he was born in Australia. As this is my first letter I will now close, with best thoughts at nine o'clock to you and all my Sunbeam cousins—l re, main your loving niece, MAGGIE.
P.S. —I am sending one shilling for a card. Keep the Red Flag flying.
Yes, we accept you, Sunbeam Maggie, and we have sent you a card.
Then Sunbeam Miriam of Dunedin sends up a typed letter for which we thank her. And dear little Betty of Palmerston, sends us another of her spidery letters. But she is improving in her writing. This is one of tho Sunbeams I particularly wani to meet. I want to whisper, Sunbeams! Listen! Sh— don't tell anyone, but Uncle Ted has fallen in love with Betty of Palmcrston, and she's 'five years old. There now, the secret is out! * * * ■?■ And Sunbeam Ernest wrote us a nice letter. And Sunbeam Rita and Sunbeam Edith of South Beach, Greymouth; and then this nice letter from Sunbeam Katie of Palmerston North:
My dear Uncle Ted,—l hope that you are quite well. I also hope thai the Corner is getting along beautifully, and that very soon we shall be. able to report such gsod progress that we need a paper all to ourselves. lam sorry that I did not write sooner, but I haven't forgotten you, for I always send my Good Thoughts at nine. The weather is very much cooler, and I was want- Ing to be wrapped up extra warmly with my quilt on, while the night I was bo hot Uiat I had t» Vwoir oH
A writer in the "Waikalo Times" of March 20, signing himself "Yorkshireman," says ha was called up in the ballot. He says he has eye trouble, chronic catarrh and bronchitis, and came to New Zealand because he had symptoms of consumption. He affirmed his examination lasted three minutes, and then the doctor passed him. When the balloted man complained, his examiner is reported to have said: "A few weeks of camp life will do you good." :!; * * * A Wairarapa trustee, appointed under the National Efficiency Board, told an "Age" reporter that there were a number of slaughtermen and shearers in the district who could be reduced without serious disadvantage, whilst dairy farms could be managed by fewer mem of military-afift.
