BOYS' OWN COLUMN.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 96, 24 April 1931, Page 14 (Supplement)

BOYS' OWN COLUMN.

TRIALS OF "CHEER UP" WEEK. KEEP THE SPIRIT GOING. Dear Boys,— This is simply terrible. If "Cheer Up" Week lasts much longer I shall have a perpetual cast in my eyes due to walking up and down Queen Street with one eye on the windows for "spots ' and the other eye on those who, coming in the opposite direction, are doing likewise. I feel sure that long after Queen Street sheds her carnival dress I shall still unconsciously look at each and every window as I pass by. "Cheer Up" Week will be marked as a success if only for bringing people out of their homes, and for a brief space setting aside their cares. It is a strange thing the psychology of the crowd (psychology is a big word meaning the science of the mind). An eminent psychologist once was given the privilege of witnessing the first release of Charlie Chaplin's most famous comedy. As he sat alone in the vast hall and watched the famous Charlie go through his antics he could scarce raise a smile. The next day he was in the same theatre—just one of an audience of hundreds —and he laughed till the tears rar. down his cheeks. Just in the same way, if one man had set out to laugh and joke and be merry in Queen Street he would probably have been run in for creating a public disturbance; but with the hundreds and hundreds that formed the crowd in town on Friday last it was a different matter. All had the cheer germ, and with the spirit once in the air it spread like wildfire. Repeated doses of the cheer germ are what are required in this Dominion to-day, and to you young _ people, who have not the cares of adults, falls the honoured task of carrying on the good work. [ J F_ So, onward our army of young people, with a happy, carefree grin always on your faces.