JOY FOR THE SICK.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVI, Issue 142, 15 December 1908, Page 3

JOY FOR THE SICK.

JUVENILE COMFORTERS. WELLINGTON'S MERCIA BAND. MUCH WORK, SCANTY LIMELIGHT. They are all girls, dainty parcels oi frisky, fluffy humanity, tied up with blue ribbon. And they have white daisies in their hair and saJ volatile on the soles of their airy slippers. And they dance for the joy of dancing and comforting people whose poverty or ailments close tho theatres and music-halls against them. The poor and tho sick cannot go to those places where the footlights, and the music and the heroics and tho non-heroics make people forget that time is measured by seconds and j split seconds, but pleasure goes to the poor and sick on tne lips and feet and in the sunny eyes of the Mercia Band. Pain may gnaw at the heart, but who I can be sad when eighteen fresh and I lissome feminine rompers whirl through giddy mazes and sing and take their parts cleverly in droll littlo plays? PRACTICALLY STRANGE TO THE "GREAT 8.P." Few people who spend most of their time earning enough lor the butcher and baker, reading a "dime novel," listening to the band at the park, and doing one or two other things that make up an average day for a member of the great British public, have heard of the Mercia Band; but "the children," though their history dates back only a couple of years, are well known to folk whosa days are passed far away from the fretful stir of city life. The juvenile performers aro heartily esteemed by inmates of the Ohiro Home, tha Home for the Aged Needy, the Convalescent Home, and other institutions where the little ones make a delightful break in the regulation programme of days where corned beef comes as sure as Wednesday, and hash may bu as intimately associated with Saturday as real cream with milk (in places outside of Wellington, so tha cynics say). | HOW THE BAND BEGAN. I Two or ihrec years ago the band had its boginning in tha enthusiasm of Miss Adline Toler-Curtis, who gave her time and skill freely for the training of the little artists, who make a lovely stepladder, ranging from eight to fifteen springs. Her first idea was to put the children through the rhythmic paces for the gladdening of lone sailor-men ail tho concerts promoted by friends of the Missions to Seamen. Tbs "turns" of the daisied girls were so well appreciated that a wider field was mapped out for their lively feet. The sailors were not deserted. They were to have their share of the inspiriting dancing — they are to have a treat of it on the evening of Ist January — but Tt, was thought that other lone folk, even more in need of healthy entertainment than tho mariners, should not be passed by. Therefore the bright army was organised into the- Mercia. Band by Miss Toler-Curtis, and received a commission to go and put to flight gloom and despondency and the weariness of darkened days in the places where those things would most likely be lurking. > ALL ENTHUSIASTS. The joyful units of the sunshine army delight in their heart-easing campaigns. As soon as they hear that another held is to be woa they are eager to bo on the march. To them practice is not a bore, not a drudgery suffered because imposed by the superior will of adults; it" is a thrill, for they know that in their stepping they aro learning to trample upon pain and despair. Graceful movements to soothing music, winsoma song and gentle words that caress the ears of the tired are their weapons,, and they do know how to use them. They have not looked for reward or for praise, but they have seen thanks welled from the heart to tho eyes of those people whose minds and bodies they have eased. Somo ol tho performers' ciders have received much limelight for little work; the children have done much work for little limelight, and the few beams thai have fallen on them have not been of their seeking. Two or three of them are sad now. They have danced on from childhood's estate ; they have reached sixteen summers, and the age limit for the Mercia Band is fifteen. They have grown to like their mission so well that they aro loth to leave their slippers for juniors to occupy. AN EXAMPLE FOR ADULTS. On Christmas Day, whon most little girls between the ages of seven and fifteen will be trying to comfort more or less unresponsive dolls, or solacing themselves witn sweets, the Mercia Band will probably Be at tho Ohiro Home to give a happy hour or two to the old folk there. Tho little ones' unselfishness should be an inspiration to adults who are now busily making plans to ensure a merry Christmas for themselves and members of their households. There are orphan children, stricken with incurable ailments, at Mother Aubert's Home at Island Bay ; there are friendless people in the Hospital ; there are aged men and women, feeble or sick, in varipus institutions, and all of them, old and young, look to Santa Claus to bring them something on 25th December. Will they look in vain? Not if the citizens meditate about the self-sacrifice of tho little girls of the Mercia Band.