"TRUE MANHOOD."

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXIX, Issue 7817, 9 June 1909, Page 4

"TRUE MANHOOD."

To the Editor. Sir,—l heard .with pleasure that Mr Greenwood, the newly appointed minister at the Mission, was to give a confidential talk to the young men of our town, and m scanning your valuable evening paper, I was pleased to see the report of it. • To my mind these talks are very much needed, and will have an influence for good on our young men. It is all very well for our homes and reformatories to keep picking up .the slain, but how much better for them never to be wounded m the battle ot life Mind, body, and soul are so curiously intermixed that to attend to one, the others too must be taken into consideration. The mind must first be raised, for truly as a man thinketn m his heart' so he is. The mind must avoid low literature, loose talk, bad companions, vulgar papers, pictures, etc., and there must be a reading ,ot good intellectual books. Then the soul will be uplifted, and take its position as ruler of the body, instead of as now the body degenerating the soul: There seems to be an idea prevalent amongst all classes : "Do anything you like almost, as long as you are not found out." God forbid that our youths should ever let that enter their minds I . • Did I understand by your report that Mr Greenwood had said that the. ministers refused to announce his meeting i if so; I' am very sorry, as I feel that-this subject of "Purity " or of high thinking or plain living, should have the support of all classes of the Christian community. Far' better to put a. fence at the top one writer has said than an ambulance down m the valley. One poet sings over a soldier's grave : Here lies a brave soldier, whom all ! must applaud, He fought many battles at home and j abroad ; ! But the hottest engagement he ever 1 was m Was the conquest of self m the battle of sin. Thanking you for valuable space, 1 am~ ! A MOTHER OF BOYS.