NATIONAL DECAY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 15055, 26 July 1912, Page 4

NATIONAL DECAY.

Sir,—Canon Mao Murray and *® IB: hellene" deserve cur thanks for ■$&■$ tt|| teresting contributions in your qjftamg'i Wm' subject 60 important as national Haas should at once arrest our attention.-, Jjji K$ us, therefore, know what is rag national decay, for we cannot - iSarstto KSi ignore it. When our . eyes, mi*' |«w|jfl mouths,' and throats ..-have !; so csuli i»- | matter with thorn that each nupplM»>;^t m&rate field of activity for higMy-hwMd** Em ports something must bo ■ W»Bs _ '"Rs f'.-iv medical officers who examine rwrass u| homo and in New Zealand oomplsio pnt*£.-j I difficulty of obtaining a moderate A of physical fitness in 50 per cent, qi ibr j ;, recruits. Our spiritual paster* te't) ci&l ~| .;] there is a lack of robustness in the twfejj 4 character. Wo live in an ago of r HqjmSj>|& 1 Intellectually the leading aaii<x&'<£seffism are well abreast with Old Greece loW'-.M; tality. In the modern <ran ditdons'|»SHHHE life there are many causes of pnawllfllra generation, inseparable from l2e;4J£ ] §V)ki wk cities, i :' Our brains and our SM|pfflfc : S] are kept at high tension in the THJOSHfV struggles of our strenuous lives., .|tap||ißS wo minimise these evils? _ To wls«&w?|p can wo profit by the hiiforyJotj:GsTO/|)| The Greeks were alwaya. immoral. '"Am**:! S decay is the sure ponalty for din»g*nailt? [m physiologic laws. The loss of D»«aaH* |M by the Grecian States ' preceded' mM) , ; HI generation of the Greek people. Jtjgj]!. M casual ■•■ connection i with their V 'IWpf 11 The Greeks did not lose their _g*6*s£fffi 'because they were immoraL .:. ■ Tfl»i*w : :i» imporuint point. The Afghans, ;1| negrinii, and the Berbers have moral for centuries, but they "* noS * i'|l#fl generate. The Greek,. who Jong **«:«:« loss of Grecian pre-emineh»jSow .t» HI butt of Roman satirists, fell, the viefcfflf* g|| the unrelenting Nemesis which w; w g ■ w:J simplicity call nature. He was § fcasw* .U| product of the vices which hatof.rogiMJ luxury, the daughters of Moab and »»*WJI vats of Asia; Minor,' The later ©*8 ■& writers throw a clear light <»J^ffißS : 4! Bead the following from the VrMggy|j| Anacreon:— . , », Take silver, Hephaestuu, and moip;{|ji|.^ .:'■■'■ Skill, ■''■'■■.'. l-'^>' ; '''' : ''-J: , --'" > ''^~l4^-Ha^raMw! And make rae-not annor!'th»|-tW#?| makes me ill! , , „ 'i.- f, But a jolly round goblet of WWB dMR ~j£ As large as you can, to hold pWMfwlE' ,fj No carvings of stars, or of : ,«sQSffl«» sides, s i # Nor Orion the Kill-joy, no •tPW&gMMM But give us vine branches,- ;.^B^^ jrrccn And round laughing clusters as «?*»» | seen! in the middle, wb«» i««Lm» I And just in the middle, where ..lasses *t , clinking, '. • f^rai Fair Bacchus himself, as a grace JKP« 51 drinking. ■'-ffeilffelp^iS The truth is, both Greece and Bfl«* 9* f. drunk.' The Grecian :/ States wow *"£ many of them were .no large*! W»Sfflis lish county. At a time when &>*J&S$ a series of personal portant that the individual'- PpOSMEBBk everywhere be raised to the standard of physical efficiency. _*H|Bffl wero designed to this end. « weapons of precision have .PtJK.".' training in a somewhat lower 'j it occupied in the military system «*•; Greeks. The prizes to the «J>£2£-7 Grecian games were of small intnaSJ and a cash amateur was untawwa-.. f hellene" and Canon MaeMutrty «*-., draw our attention to the ' o ?*2^jj& 1 | our sports. A few attain to w a f®fal majority congregate to barrack &?J£MJSm noise. This is not sport; it is W&fflm Those who resist our territorial ! take a serious responsibility VffQL&jffl selves. The physical and nwal-agjgßßl which are a part of every .^ c^'^,v< : - system are designed to raise St***.'. of discipline and fitness, not oraippgSgl of the nation. The value of < ¥ , *sSs'i'l training receives an i™? o "*??^^^^' l from the early history of t^°.Vt S i« I J«)J ' | lamentable to we a nation fiHg^gH government, and no g° ver . Ma WiS'wip:B efficient which is a compromise best and the worst, and a resultants " *,-m tending forces. K jjU|ki§f »«■ "It almost .seems as if «W.?#Hig party government had outlived i» "% ness." "Philhelleno" may, be ''fe'Ji;:' haps it has. But the evil? of ***!,£ complain have grown under every government. A shrewd Engbsta* a w ,, t ,, the following lines:— . * Mrf^M-yi l .' For forms of government f letJOoJs «* ,*,; That which is best administer*!. .» - , Was he not right? . '. /AJjbsijai There remains a minor RomwmmmM importance. Canon MacMuffay SfWmi Athenians, the Spartans,; the the. Macedonians together as « r!s **;j p « I ■• rulers and the officers of " th S-'*22Hgs* wero Greeks. Alexander Argive descent previously to the Olympic Games, but .-toft peoplo "wero Illyrians, with aa *!r~i\ht from Asia Minor. They wcr M&3ißi same race as the Athenians exhorted, the Spartans whom S'' 'or the Thebans, who prospered 'r^Sf- ■* triumph of Epaminoodas. , ,|H|