JOYS AND LAUGHTER OF LITTLE CHILDREN

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume L, Issue 8002, 6 June 1922, Page 4

JOYS AND LAUGHTER OF LITTLE CHILDREN

SOULS THAT RISE 10 A GLORIOUS OPPORI UNITY, (Some thought- by Tangata W henna.) 1 rumetime.-. think that there is trie aspect of civic duty that we aie all prone to neglect, especially we dwcllm in stnadl towrs, It may be thsb the small ms’ of our surroundings, the sordid petty menaces mi cur daily live;: sct-.'c to blind us to our higher duty to ouivcdvcs, to our ledlow-eitizun, and to those wdio i :-rne after us. Wo arc apt to think that, we aie good citizen:: if wo pay cur rater promptly, it we do our duty to those dependent upon up, and observe the letter and spirit of Hie law? and regulations by which wo are bound, But above and beyond. all these things there is one, nob a duty you will ray, hut a glorious privilege, a transcendental honour, reserved chiefly for the rich, bat whereof the rich may reap Urn honour, and cherish the envy of their fellow ■an e.;Vy unniixsd with 1 iltmicss, b.cni?'' of an lioncur accorded by popular reclaim to tlu-?~ whose souis have risen to the g I oritur opportunity, whose minds have Ix-en in tune with the thoughts of youth, and whoso hearts have re rnonded to the joys and laughter of little children. In the course e f a long life and during year? of wandering in many lands, and sojourns in divers cities, I have found that in the life cf to-day it is not the o or tho statesman to whom the popular mind turns with pea ns of praise. Not to such gees out (he f-tendy. unselfish, adulation of the tired weary mother, and care-worn nurse, as they pee their charges regaining health and strength, what lime they mingle in the natural romps of happy childhood, on the gra-E-A’ lawns cr sunkissed beaches, Um kindly gift of age to youth, of the wealthy to the poor, of the childless to the children, The happiest memory that (he writer has of a childhood spent in a white stone city on a, distant Grand, is that of a children's park, fituate on the sandy bank of a shallow river, almost in the heart of the city, garnished with noble shady froes, with nooks and corners, with liberal furnishings of seats and swings and bars, it was indeed a noble gift. To me at that time it ' oraed that the grey-haired old couple whom we were told had given the park for us to play in, were a very ordinary pair of people who must lx> fond of children. Such L the carelessness of childhood. But ths thoughts of days spent in that park have never left me, and (he memorp cf that grey-haired couple have ever been with me, and I have -rnt to know them a? the chief benefactors of that city. Long years afterwards my footstep- returned to childhood’s home and my first care was -L> ?e-Y (he playground of my childhood. I thought that ever}' nook and corner was the came, 1 sat on the same seat, "with vistas of winding paths, anti envied the little ones building their sand castles of the same identical pattern that 1 had built fifty years before. The grey-haired people that T had known were not there, but at the Principal entrance was a noble arch setting fogth that this park was a igift to the city'for the love of little children, and I thought that to but few of ns can such merit be accord1. In some of the cities of onr own la,nd can be found glorious gifts of citizens gifts of beach and plain, of meadow, hill, aid forest, fit heritage from those who had ever in mind the glorious dignity of the race from winch wo have sprung. Not oulv in our citic* are such gifts to bo found, but in (he smaller towns, nay, in some of tho smaller villages, men, have made wise provision for th > catering for the demands of childnpcd. It has been wisely observed