TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 10636, 21 April 1900, Page 7

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

At a time when the plans Tha Ameer of the Russian war party and England, with regard to Afghani-

stan are more than open to suspicion, the assurance which comes from the Ameer as to his friendship for England is gratifying. As long ago as January, the Ameer accorded an audience to Mr Frank Martin, the only European now residing in Cabul, but he has only lately given permission for his remarks tbereat to be made public. The Transvaal war formed naturally the principal subject of conversation, the Ameer remarking that it had cost him several sleepless nights, as he recognised the possibility of Russia taking the opportunity to advance throughAfghani•tan on India. He did not appear to think that this move would benefit Russia, for a war with tlie Afghans would mean a general rising of Islam, which would spread through Russian Asia, insecurely held by the conqueror. Russia, despite her experience in dealing with Asiatics, and some natural gift for the business, based on similarity of temperament, w hated, so the Ameer said, in Russian Asia, and with all her power, he declared, she could not fight Afghanistan and India successfully. Reverting to the TransTaal war, ho expressed sorrow at the losses of our troops, but criticised tbe fighting arrangements, especially frontal attacks on •-enemy entrenched and hidden, while our men advanced in the open. He asserted that fee could send fifty thousand troops to help in th* Transvaal and would do so willingly, except for the fact that Ms men were not •ccustomed to ships, and even if numbers did Hot die on the voyage those who reached South Africa in safety would not be fit to take the field for a month or two. "But England's troubles are always roy troubles, her strength is my strength, and her weakness soy weakness, for are we not allies? England must remember that I am always ready to fight for her on fond, here or in India." If the Ameer remains of that mind and is as good as his word, tbe Russian invasion of India ia indefinitely postponed. But it is always difficult to understand the. Afghan, who certainly may be classed with those race* described by Kipling as "half devil and half child." The devilry may be knocked out of him, but the childishness, the responsibility, and the treachery combine to make his effective management a problem for clever beads. Still the Ameer, as he was lately told by the Indian Government, has been faithful for twenty years, and the best guarantee for his remaining to is his apparent conviction that he is better off under English influence than he would be under Russian. Prompted, possibly, by a hint he had received from the Indian Government, that he had better buy •mailer quantities of war material (in which he ha* been heavily investing) for fear the Englishf Parliament would get suspicious, the Ameer compared tbe Parliament with the Cabul public Turkish bath. Mr Martin confessed he had not seen it, whereupon the Ameer advised him to go. Mr Martin did »o next day. "It was full of men, and the high dome overhead reverberated with calls for towels, soap, etc., and loud-voiced conversation, until the meaning of any individual words and the words themselves became lost in tlie confusion of sounds and %jt added to tbe uproar." The Ameer's comparison was unkind, but who shall say it was wholly unjust?

Probably no thinking fathers Children's or mothers hav#«ver lived who Ideals. , have not at some period of their children's lives admitted to themselves how very little they really understood of their little one's thoughts and aspirations and ideals. Now and then heredity may furnish come momentary feeling of complete sympathy between parent and child, aa when the latter betrays pleasure or pain under circumstances which recall to the former a flashing memory of similar j feelings under the same conditions in their '■■ own king-past childhood. But when we older children "put away dukUsh tiings," we put away involuntarily and perforce childish thought* which we would give much to recall when the voices of our children call us again, unheeded because unheard, to enter into their thoughts. This must be tbe experience of most parents; happy they to whom is given tlie all too rare sympathy with childhood which attracts all children to them. Tlie study of the child is one of the profoundest studies anyone can undertake. It would he trite to emphasise by argument its importance to the welfare of the individual future man or woman, and of the race as a whole. Of such value is the knowledge to be thus obtained that at Home a Child-study Aasociation has been instituted. The title is self-explanatory, but it may be said that the body devotes; much time to the systematic observation of children, "with a view to gaining greater insight into child-nature and securing more sympathetic and scientific methods ot trainiug the

young." It seems hardly a subject; which lends iteelf to statistics, but one of the members of the Association recently presented to a meeting in London some interesting figures, showing the results obtained from au examination into the ideals of London school children. She had obtained answers from a thousand, all girls, of whom 600 belonged to the labouring and poorer classes, while 4CO were children of tax-paying citizens and attended higher grade schools. Roughly speaking the pocrer children showed a desire for toys and things to eat, while those better situated, having all their immediate needs in this direction satisfied, wanted such luxuries as jewellery and bicycles. The fact that twelve per cent, of the poorer children desired pianos is not attributed to any love of music but to a feeling that the possession of a piano was a social distinction. Nearly one half oi the better class expressed a fondness for animals, a feeling which was very much smaller among the others. Neither did the latter bother their heads about health, beauty, goodness or knowledge, all greatly tfesired by the richer children. "Goodness."' indeed, seems to have been about the last quality wished for by most of the poor class. Perhaps the craving for such material tilings as toys and food stifled aspiration." for the better life, but we are not sure that any healthy child ever really thin'ts of wanting to be good, though it may make fitful efforts in this direction tinder the stimulus of penitence for a punished fault. The lecturer noted with interest, in view of tie advance of women into public life, that not a single girl expressed a wish for the gift of eloquence. Nearly all the better class children yearned to travel, one even expressed a wish "that she could go to the North Pole and another that she could "go somewhere where nobody else has ever been." Given the opportunity here we have a future rival to Miss Kingsley. Many also wished for eminence in the world of art, one as a portrait-painter, another for tbe power to "write books and plays like Shakespeare"—a truly ambitious miss, rivalled by a third who set her heart on composing music like Handel and Mendelssohn. A fourth wanted to be able to play a difficult piece of music without previous practice—a wish probably born less of a love of music than a deep-rooted hatred of weary hours of practising.

We are not sure that Lady Other ftlaigaua has not embodied in her Ideals, article in "Good Words" the result of investigations pursued in company with the observer quoted above. The scene of her enquiries was a large London Board School, when, as a change from essay-writing, the children were asked to answer the following question—"lf a farry were to offer you anything you like, what would you choose, and why?" The answers to such a question were extremely varied, as might be expected from a large assemblage of children of widely differing conditions. The hopes of some went no higher than "a little dog" or "a nice workbox," while more pathos than amusement in the wish for "new boots and underclothing." The child to whom these things represent tbe unattainable — the best that even a fairy could bring her — knows too much of the hard realities of life. Another's wishes raw in a very different direction. She wanted "a _~e carriage with four lovely wMte horses, So I could drive to theatres, parks, and balls." Then, as if this was too limited, seeing that a fairy was to be regarded as the giver of gifts, she took a higher flight, aflding, "I should like to live in a pallace and have all that my hart desires. I should like long life and helth and no troubles or worrys." Barring the -palace, which suggests draughts and flunkeyism, there is not mu_i fault to be found with this- wish-, wMch is certainly compT—tensive. Another little woman's wish was for a comfortable bouse, "with everythink in; it to make it mcc, properly furnished and clean ami tidy, and white curtains all over." There speaks the domestic mind, giving promise of the good housewife. "I would wish for mother's life" wrote another, probaibly in childish ignorance of how ranch hard work and worry went to make up that life. The prize for the best answer was finally awarded to a child who declared in favour of "money." A fairy, she argued, could not give her good health if asked for it. Witmoney—of which fairies evidently have lots—she could travel in foreign countries and "help along poorer people." "I would also try and get savages civilised —help them on in the wide world. I would also have a -home built for girls and boys whose mothers and fathers are drunk nearly all day long, and do not care about their children, and have them brought up well, perhaps that would prevent „ lot of wicked crimes who are so frequently happening. Then I would, feel happy fof being able to have done some good in thei world." For practical and widespread philanthropy the day-dreams of this precocious child are hard to beat.

Not for more than a "St. George generation has a St. for George's Day come MerrieEngland!" round when the whole British race were animated by a more martial spirit than imbues them now, and if for no other reason Monday next, the amriversary of the patron saint of England, should be honoured with greater ceremony than is usually accorded to it. English people, as distinct from Scottish and Irish, do not pay the attention to their patron saint which is the fortune of St. Andrew and St. Patrick. And yet the 23rd of April has a double claim on them, for besides being St. George's Day it is also the anniversary of the birth and death of the greatest Englishman of all time, Shakespeare. Certainly it was the day of his death, and there is good authority for believing that he was born on that day also. The doubt existing upon this point is a trifle compared with that which surrounds not only the birth but the actual identity of St. George. Some authorities declare that he was born in Cappadocia. in the third century, and after a nefarious career, aa an army contractor—his "line" was the supply of bacon—out of which he made vast profits, he became Archbishop of Alexandria, where has Busgoyernment in & few years brought about his murder by a mob. Other writers with whom it is comforting to believe, rests the weigbt of evidence, have it that St. George was a great Christian soldier, born of noble parents in Cappa- \ docia, who was tortured and put to death j by the infamous Diocletian. It is at least undeniable that more than twelve centuries ago. and for centuries succeeding, St. George was honoured by both. East and West as a martyr. Cburches were dedicated to him from very early times, and the crusades added immensely to his renown. He was sa|d to have fought for Godfrey of Bouillon at the battle of Antioch. and to have appeared before our Cceur-de-Lion before Acre as a harbinger of victory. He became the great soldier-saint. England honoured bim no less than Eastern 1 Europe, and long before the Conquest the Saxons had dedicated to Mm alone the 23rd of April, a day he shared with other saints ia tha calendars of the Greek and Latin __rc_e». Orders of

chivalry regarded him as their special patron, and England, Aragon. and Portugal adopted him as their tutelary saint. King Edward 111., about the middle of the fourteenth century, created the Most Noble Order of St. George, or the Garter, and about the same time founded St. George's Chapel, Windsor. At this time, and for many years later, English soldiers wore as' a badge over their armour the cross of St. George, red on a wliite ground—the 6ame cross which forms the vertical and horizontal lines on the Union Jack. The story of \St. George's struggle with the dragon, represented on the reverse of English sovereigns, is as old—we almost said—as the hills. It as certainly very old, and probably had no better ground tlian any of the other battles with dragons which were the common experience of the saints and heroes of Christendom. A Society of St. George has been founded in England, to bring about a more general recognition of England's patron saint, and by this aid to encourage a spirit of patriotism, much as British soldiers were wont to cry "St. George!" in olden days. At such a time as the present the 23rd of April certainly calls for more honour than is typified by a bank holiday.