RHYTHM OF LIFE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 247, 17 October 1936, Page 21

RHYTHM OF LIFE.

WHAT IT MEANS. TOMS-TOMS TO PARLIAMENT. STRUGGLE THROUGH THE AGES. i

(By E. J. HOWARD, M.P.)

We epeak of the swing of the pendulum. What we really mean is the rhythm of life. In plants and' animals rhythm plays a large part. As Gibbs says, music and numbers seem to be interwoven with our being. Nature repeats herself. A rhythm is, of course, just an ordered recurring movement. From the place where I am writing I can just hear the beat of the drum from a record that is coming over the air. I canno% hear the melody, but one can almost tell the time Of the' music by the' rhythm of the drum. In South Africa I have heard the beat of the tom-tom being paseedfrom village to yllage across the high veldt conveying some message from and to those iii tune; In the Polynesian islands there is a good deaf of "rhythm a;nd in consequence a good deal of happiness amongst the natives. Tn the iMelanesian islands theie is a lack of rhythm and 'in consequence a lack of music in their souls, and the result is disharmony and hard living. Those, who love flowers will have observed the rhythm in a rose. As someone has said, a rose is full of music and numbers. A wallflower has a. different rhythm and iso , has a pine cone. At first the beat of. the tom-tom 13 maddening to those who are out of nine. If you have a touch of fever iind the racing of your blood has put you out of tune, with Nature, the orient wo-three, one-two-three,, one-two-three will ;«iuse you to turn ajid twist in your' bed', and you sannot sleep.- Then tho dose of quinino slows down the brat of your heart until your blood becomes in tune with the beat of the tom-to'Sm and you are asleep.in no time. Flowers or plants that lose their rhythm die. *So with human beings. If you get out of step with your kind, if you lose the rhythm of the family or the hercL you live, a most miserable lif<? and you"are better dead. England lost America because those who worked the figures 011 the stage at that time could not understand the' rhythm of the New World. Out of Tune. Someone has described George' 111. Ac small-minded, mean and petty. Within twenty years he forced the Americancolonies into a/state of revolt. Napoleon was a man out of tune with his fellows. War was his one emotion. He lived' for war. And it is sometimes strange to remember that most of these blood-letting animals who during life caused so much blood of the other fellow to flow died in feather beds with all the comforts of life around them, while the bones of their victims lined, the fields of Flanders-or Waterloo. The Kaiser will die in bed, while the millions who died or will die as the result of the Great War will have their bones scattered to the four winds" of heaven. ,

...When we think of Hitler, too, we rilust not forget our own dictator, Cromwell, who walked across the stage and played his part, leaving a trail of blood, -and who did it in tho name of religion. Ask the ordinary person to-day to name the great men of the past, and invariably you will find them name men who died in bed after saturating the earth with other men's blood. You, Mr. Reader, who live the orthodox: life, who travel the same road daily, who think the same thoughts unless it has suited some wire-puller to change your thoughts, try to name the great men of the past.. Will the name of tlio Christ come to you first? The man of sorrow, the rfnemployed Carpenter of Nazareth, the man who died on a crude cross of timber because he fought for the poor ? Who will come to your mind 1 Napoleon or Cromwell or such as they. The English Hitler. Cromwell was our Hitler. Our historians tell us: "When they submitted, their, officers were knocked on the head, every tenth man was killed and the rest shipped to Barbados." And Cromwell rubbed it in .by saynig, "I aiii persuaded that this is a rightedus judgment of God upon these barbarous wretches,, and it will tend to prevent the effusion of blood for the future." We must hot be unkind to the memory of all these great men, because after, all it was the 'unthinking mob who forced them "to the front- Napoleon was a little man. But he was farsighted .enough to see what the mob wanted. They .were hungering for blood, and so the French' Revolution ga.ve tlfe young corporal his chance, and also that of the people. So for twenty years lie drenched Europe in blood. This little man revelled in misery. He had lost the rhythm of life. He worked for and wanted cliaos.' His only chance to rise was in a state of chaos. He knew his mob. He ,knew that he had to frighten the herd, and he did. - Coming down the Queensland cattle track at one time, we met a large mob of cattle. I do not know the number, but in the twilight there seemed to be. millions, but of course the water supply .would not let a mob of a million cattle travel. Two men whose names are now written large in the history of- Australia, Kemp and Kidman, were in charge. The cattle were thirsty but quiet, i :i It. started to rain with a sudden spout -of rain. The drought had broken and that mob went half-mad and they raced and roared through the, night. Parliament and King. We humans are like that, and tlie struggle for rhythm has been a long, hard struggle."' The Speaker of the House of Representatives is not so called just because he presides at our meeting of Parliament. As a matter of fact, I am in the chair as many hours' as, if not more than Mr. Speaker. But he is called Mr. Speaker because lie lias been set apart to speak to the King or his representative on behalf of Parliament and the people. It was a long struggle between Parliament and the Kings. The Kings did not concede at any. given point in the story, but bit by bit the Parliament won" out and to-day we appoint a Speaker at the beginning of each Parliament, and he demands from the Governor-General all the rights and privileges'won down through the ages by the people from the Kings. Let all men remember this long fight when they' feel inclined to pooji-pooh the parliamentary machine. All our forefathers won for us passed on to us. We have a duty to , posterity and we must not let posterity down.