FOR THE GIRLS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 263, 5 November 1932, Page 2 (Supplement)

FOR THE GIRLS.

COURTESY, AND KINDNESS.

.SCATTERING SUNSHINE

My Dear Girls,— — - From the above titles you Have gathered, no doubt, that I am goinf to write you a long, long "lecture." However, I hasten to assure yo„ that I have really no intention of do.ng anything half so d,.agreeable. You see I can remember a time I, too, had * most hearty dishke for anything that even remotely resembled a lecture (for that matter I am not certain I actually enjoy one now). Last week I came across • most touching little act of kindness and thought you might like to hear about it. In Auckland there is a small girl whose name w® will call Rath. She and her people hve m a flat, and because she has no garden and cannot procure any flowers, she buys each week, with her sixpence pocket money, a bunch of roses or violets or daffodils* as the case may be, and distributes them to the hospital folk. I happened to be visiting a patient a few days ago when she came along, so gay and happy, with a great bunch of pink and white carnations. And a lady in a nearby bed explained simply:— "We love her—she is a real little ray of sunshine." Surely Ruth must realise the happiness she leaves behind, with her flowers and her sunny smile, and, I feel sure, considers the little sacrifice of time and pocket money well worth while. And hand in hand with kindness goes courtesy. Sometimes in trams and buses, when I see small boys, and yes, alas, girls also, sitting tightly in their seats while grown-ups are standing, I feel 1 could shake them (the culprits, I mean, not the grown-ups). really I do. On the other hand it is a positive delight to see a schoolgirl shoot like an arrow from a bow and, with a happy smile, offer her seat to an older person. There is nci special time or place for practising courtesy. Practise it at home, at. school,, in the playground— everywhere in fact. Be courteous to your parents, to your teachers, to friends and strangers alike. Alas, this really is becoming a lecture, and by now you are possibly quite annoyed. Forgive me, girls, I really only write a letter of this description about once every twelve months, so cheer up. But before closing, do please remember (and I know you will) always to be kind and courteous, and, like Ruth, "scatter sunshine wheree'er you go," for, in the words of Richard Brooks, I "He who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he . • who plants kindness gathers love." Which, after 1. all, seems a rich reward and a harvest well worth reaping. Don't you agree?