SCHOOL TRADITIONS.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 257, 30 October 1929, Page 9

SCHOOL TRADITIONS.

HIS EXCELLENCY'S ADVICE. FAREWELL TO COLLEGE BOYS. "STICK FAST TO THE FAITH." (By Telegraph.—Ovrn Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, Tuesday. "This is good-bye, boys, and I do sincerely wish the school prosperity," said the Governor-General, Sir Charles Fergusson, when he addressed the boys of Wellington College to-day, on his farewell visit to the school. He was accompanied by Lady Alice Fergusson. "Do treasure tip the recollection of the traditions that have built up the reputation of the school, and realise that everybody has the responsibility of carrying on those traditions," said his Excellency. "One last word—stick firmly to your religious life, because you will find the world a pretty cold, hard place, where you will have all kinds of temptations. Stick fast to the faith you have been brought up in, however much others may scoff at it. It is the only sure foundation on which you can build." In the dispatches written by Napoleon he referred constantly to the glory of serving one's country and of military achievements. But he never mentioned the word "duty." Wellington, on the other hand, referred constantly to the duty which everyone owed to his country, and spoke of service to the country as a matter of duty, but never once, his Excellency believed, did he mention the word "glory." There was a lesson in that which did not need rubbing in.

A school was a place where boys were taught to admire, beyond anything else, manliness and all that that word implied, to admire frankness, simplicity and truth, to discourage cant, arrogance and affectation, to be trained to have independent minds of their own. And, above all, a school was a place where a boy was trained to be self-reliant, a quality which was apt nowadays to be lost sight of. School life was simply a preparation for a much wider life, and a training for a great part in life to be played later on. Last of all, school life was a training for boys to look upon life as a splendid and glorious opportunity of service for their fellow men, for their country and their King.