SUNBEAM COLUMN

Grey River Argus, 27 November 1920, Page 5

SUNBEAM COLUMN

Greetings, Sunbeams! Greetings from Uncle Tod. To all the world, Sunbeams. Good thoughts to all the world. We have been up in our magic ai ship. We have seen this globe of oui whizzing u round the sun. We know : is not the only globe travelling aroun the sun. We saw other planets, som closer to the sun and some furthc iway from the sun than our earth. Br is we live on the earth, and we don ; know yet 'who lives on the other plai ?ts, we will talk about our earth mos 1 iy. Now, Sunbeams,, in our last lette we were introduced to a great bi ivord. called < c environment," and w isked the. Sunbeams to write that bi tvord down in their book. We' said tha word would explain many thing: Sunbeams it is a wonderful word, an unless you make a special- feature c the word, you won't understand ver much of the remainder of this stor We^told you that when life, first cam on the eanth probably in the form c little tiny bits of moss, like plant that thej- were only combinations ( gases; and were -to-day Sunbeams, : you take a glass of clean pure wate and let it stand and stand and stan soon a greet film will appear, and the slowly tiny green colours will come c the grass, 'and if this is examine under the liiieroscopo you will sec is tiny plant life. So, as the wor got copier on the outside, so this li: appeared. And some went to the hi tops and some went to the valleys ai so they changed in form. Up on tl top of Arthur's 'Pass, there is a litt flat with a little lake on it. If yi can get out of the coach and walk ov to the lake, you will find some litt tiny trees that do not grow high than about 18 inches. And, Sunbcan they are brothers to the great b kauri trees of North of Auckland. B they are in a different environment the Auckland itrecs, so tuicy nev grow big. So that's how we get diffc ent trees and different fruit in diffc ent parts of the world. So, for m lions of years, Sunbeams, all 'life < this globe was tied to the grour Trees, flowers, and shrubs are tied the earth, and must get. their feet soil or they would die. Then cai little things, little jelly things in t water, which broke pff from the veg tation, and became free swimming i dividuals. We* have to-day, Sunbean all these iitle first forms" of life, you take . some fresh water in a gla; aii'l you cut up some bits of straw an< ' drop it in the glass, in three days, i.{ you took one of mum's hat pins and dipped the point into the water and lifted a drop of thai water and put ii under a microscope, you would find i! teeming with life. And strange to say Sunbeams, if we each did the sanu thing in different parts of the Dominion^ we would each find we had the sanio forms of life in our *vatcr. But, Sun beams, those living in a 'cold climate and those living in a hot, wouM altei as they developed. Now we must rusl on, or we will never get to the er.l m our story. Perhaps we never shaU Sunbeams, because that . allorat'on ii. character or species is still {i«'iug on Well, Sunbeams, i-iillions of yi ars roll ed on and this old globe kept goJMj. round and round, fau-siug «':<y annight; and round and .ociu H ha sun causing spring, sunimiu 1 , autumn, A\in - tcr, and kept going to one end of th; tub, or eclipse, and then, to, the other, causing lif.e to appear and disappear ai cither end of the world, until to-day Sunbeams, we find the old sun in \tlu middle of the tub, and the earth with , great big snow caps on the top and bottom, called North and South Poles and life flowing south, Sunbeams. Well, then, Sunbeams, that is how life first came to earth. We don't know where it came from, but we do know how it came. Some Sunbeam will ask, as 1 have asked, how do men know these things, seeing there were no men and women in those days to write books \ \\ r eli they know, Sunbeams, because the earth, as it contracted and became cooler, closed each page in its folds and stones, and these men, Sunbeams, spend their lives in unfolding the history of the past to us, and they arc splendid men, Sunbeams. Better than all* tlu soldiers or sailors or kings and queens. In your School Journal and school books you will bo taught about some great robber king or sea pirate, am! you will be taught that these great fighting men saved the world again and again; but Sunbeams I want to toll you that your schoolmaster or schoolmistress is doing more for you than all the wars that were ever fought. Oi course, Sunbeams, it may be that they are not teaching you all the truth, but they arc developing your latent powers, and soon you will think for yourself and although you will find oiH that -your teachers worn wrong in many respects, yet they have helped you to think for yourself. Teachers like everybody else, Sunbeams, are victims of environment! If you have a Wesley an teacher, that teacher will have a different outlook to a Presbyterian teacher,'and* a Eoniftn Catholic teacher to a Protestant teacher, and so on. So you will ask, Sunbeams, how are we to know the truth if they all toach differently. Of course, they don't actually, Sunbeams. If you and I, Sunbeams, travel in the train together and you sit on thfr front seat and I sit on the back seat, and we both look out of the same window, we see what is passing in a different way, but we are both going the same journey. And, Sunbeams, if you look out of one window at one side of the carriage you would see* quite different scenery to what I would see* and if we both wrote a book about our travel in the train, we would both tell fi different atory. And then the people who ] bought the book would say: ".Oh, these two people went in the train to Tiniaru. They both Went in the same train at the same time, but each of them tells a different story. TJjielc Ted says Jw> saw a cow. ' The Sunbeam says she saw a haystack. Now one of those two mu,ft be telling lies." So some would believe the Sunbeam, and some would believe Uncle Ted; and sonic wouldn't believe cither. So we would have the Sunbeamitca find the Tedites and the Neitherites, and titey would form three different religions, and thoy would fight and quarrel to prove that they were each right. Sunbeams, that is how we get the different brands of religion. Later on, wo shall come to these questions again, Sunbeams, because Uncle Ted must go very careful Ctf /some Grown-up Sunbeam will write to ths Editor and say: "Please stop my paper ; I ftm not going to have my children taught fHofts silly stories." Oiice, little Sunbeams, I wont to the West Coast and a lady said, to me: ''You must come up and see my. little girl before you go home, Uncle Totf. She loves. you ; and sh& always mentions

yon in her prayers, and she does so" long to see you. " So 1 went to see the dear little Sunbeam. She was out in the yard at the back when I wontin, and her mother rushed to the door j all excitement and sung out: "Myrtle! j Myrtle! Here is Uncle Ted!" And a' sweet little cherub came flying up the, yard, rushed into the house, but stopped dead still when she saw me. "TTiis 1 is Uncle Ted, dear, ''said her mother. ] But Sunbeam only stared at me with < wide eyes and looked as if she was going to cry. ''Won't you shake \ hands?" said her mothers but tho Sun^ t beam shook her head and said: "It is 1 not Uncle Ted. Uncle Ted has got long ] white whiskers." And she ran away j crying, and her mother could hardly, £ pacify her. You see, Sunbeams, that g little pet hatt "built up a picture in her ] mind's eye of an old chap with white t whiskers, and it was the only Uncle \ Ted she wanted! So when she saw j me, she was angry and sorrowful, because she had lost her Uncle Ted* of; her dreams. And it was not my fault,' Little Sunbeams, ana it was not the little girl's fault; and it was not the cl mother's fault; so itsjwas no use blam- 1 ing any one. And, Sunbeams, perhaps < your mother or father has built up a a picture of how the world came into . being, and how the grass came, and the \ trees and the flowers; and, if I dare } ro tell you the truth, as revealed by { science, they will run away and cry ] ami say, "I will stop my paper, be- ] •ause Uncle Ted is telling the story , different to what, it was told to me!", But, Sunbeams, I wnnt you to remem- t her about the train journey to Tim- ( aru. And I want you to remind mum j uf the train journey. I want you to remember avc arc all journeying the. iiime way, but we get a different view, according; to the window we look out. i!f we are in the dining car, with lamb md green peas on the table, we see he. country we are ' passing through' T[uite different to the woman in the - ;ocond-chiss carriage with four .ehilIrcn and bread and butter. It's ac;ording to our outlook on life. And I >lead with all grown-ups who reads .hese letters not to condemn me if I I tpset some previous notions you had, Hit to try with me to tolerate truth in dl her nakedness. I have always been •shamed at the way we lie to tho chilIren on the question of sex. I have ilways felt ashamed at the lies we illow tho children to be taught at Sunlay School. We know, in our hearts, .hey are not. true, but we are too weak o demand the truth. Send Good Thoughts, Sunbeams! Fill the world with Good Thoughts! We are only on his journey for a short distance. Every now and again he carriage door opens iml one or other of us drop out, and you go on alono. Make the journey as pleasant as possible for each other, 1 Sunbeams, and when Tlie carriage door, 'opens, go out singing: "For they are

Jolly Good Fellows," because, Sunbeams, wo all came from the same slurring point, and we are all part of each other.

UNCLE TED. -r. tt 1 m Mi]lerton., Dear Uncle Ted,— l am quite tired ot waiting for the sun to shine to try looking through the cardboard One flay it shone for a little while, but not. very bright and on. looking through the hole in the cardboard ,it just look--3,1. hko a round mirror. I hope it will not be long before we see it again I ike the sun, Uncle Ted, but I suppose every .one does. Mum sends you ? ood thoughts, Uncle Ted,, 'and s'avs she likes your stories very much, and lopes you will tell us lots more about he earth. Good thoughts, Uncle Ted 0 yon and all the world. Your lovng Sunbeam, EDDIE.

. tt Westland. Dear Uncle Ted,— The other day roy lad was reading the "Argus." wh< !n 10 sudednly turned to me, and said: 'There you are, I was right -after :U1 ibout the Welfare League,, and here is mother proof of it. In olden times hey tried to corner Christ by asking ;i;:i, 'Is it lawful to give tribute unto 2a'sar?' and now they are asking the Ldbour crowd are they in favour of Lenin's policy; and all for the same purpose. Truly, if they were to nsk no that question, I would surely say to lltom, "Get thee behind me Satan!" Giood thoughts to the worll. Your leving niece, TE WIFIOT.

Ho-Ho. Dear Uncle Ted, — It has puzzled me to get at ' the meaning of that Wrd environment you speak about, but I suppose it means all our surroundings, especially those we no!;c-,e, such :u people and work and books. I can understand an Eskimo girl having ideas different from mine, but I reckon we'd have a lot of ideas alike, as I read human nature is the same the world over. I suppose dog nature and horse nature is too. I'm sorry to read how little children are starving in Germany and Austria, and I suppose that will make some big differences in them right enough from what they would liave been if they got plenty to eat. Do you think, Uncle Ted, our environment is making us much different from what our parents' environment ma do them? I read in a book by a soldier named Butler that the best education was to go out and get one's own living completely from nature, ,as he did in North America. Do you think living in cities is a good environment? I .would sooner be where I can see bush and sea and birds and such things. I

lived out in a tent once in the bush ] a week or more, and when I came away ' I felt after getting; home I'd like awfully to go back to the tent again. J never felt the same before or. since. I don't understand what I missed on leaving the lonely tent, but perhaps it was only the change that did not wear off in the time I was in living in hush, though at first I was not sorry to leave the tent. Mother was out with me, but I kicked round the bush myself all day, and likely watching the thrushes and torn-tits and tuis and hearing the Maori-hens squeal out at night. I often wonder when I hear people say, "It is too slow, here." They soem to want, others to make it fast for them. I'll try and puzzle out more about that word environment, when you explain it more. With good thoughts for all. Your loving niece, MARY ANN.