CHILDRENS MISSION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18025, 25 February 1922, Page 10

CHILDRENS MISSION.

HAPPY HOURS ON BEACHES. KEY. PALGRAVE DAYX'S WORK PLEASURE' AND GUIDANCE. Takapuna Beach, always a favourite rendezvous for the littlo folk during summer holidays, has teen the scene oi much activity and excitement during the last week, for the Rev. E. Palgrave Davy, one of the best friends New Zealand children' have ever had, lias once more erected there bis banner, and its' motto, " Happy Hours on the Beaches," has been.the slogan which has drawn thither hundreds of boys and girls. These happy hours have been made possible by the tuct that the afternoon school session has been dene away with during the present month, so that instead of the usual desultory games and solitary wandering by the seashore, ail the small people 6t the neighbourhood have been brought together under the bright banner planted beneath the big pohutukawa tree half-way along the beach. Sand design competitions, treasure hunts, " cathedral " building, story-talks, riddles, races, and games—all these form part of the delectable programme Mr. Davy has arranged for the delight of the children. A visit to the beach one fine afternoon this week proved most interesting and enjoyable a revelation as to what may actually be accomplished by this form of community entertainment and instruction of children. Sand design competitions had just started. To right and left of the Union Jack, which blew' out straight and strong in the stiff seabrCwo stretched a line of nearly 200 children, those of nine yean* and over to one side, those under on tlie other. Here waa no haphazard building of tottering, futile sand-piles usually misnamed castles, rmt wonderful sandmodels of all kinds rf things, churches, fortresses; houses, battleships, clocks, even of Rangitoto itself, The young artists worked each in his or hqr Utile square, worked industriously with spade and bucket and hands, and when their design was' completed they decked it with all manner of odds and ends picked up from the beach, with shells, seaweed berries, seaweed, tiny stones, with flowers, matches, and small treasures brought from home. - Some Original Effects. Some truly original and delightful effects were achieved, and when the judges passed upon their rounds they were hard put to it to pick out the winning designs. In one square they came upon a piece of work most realistic, and of poignant appeal, a small "kewpie" and a tiny glass dog standing side by side, gazing at a large, flat gravestone with a twig of pohutukawa at each corner; a little farther along was a small church with ft bunch of feathers in its spire arid a tiny black cat with glass eyes sitting firmly on the roof, evidently intended as a token of good luck. The prize went to a most elaborate castle, with battlement*, towers, moat and drawbridge complete, while a tennis court, with miniature net, a garage, rockery, flower garden,' and paths of seaweed berries wag awarded second place. At 3.30 a whistlo sounded, and 200 children came racing up from the sands and the waves to where Mr. Davy stood beneath the pohutukawa. And ttien it was that oiio realised the great possibilities and purpose of these happy hours on the sand. While some of the children had been building 6and-picturea others had been at work on the "cathedral," semicircular rows of shallow sand-trenches, and here the. children now seated themselves while their leader talked. At once the onlooker became aware that here indeed was a leader and a lover of children. From the very first moment he held their rapt attention, telling them stories, asking them riddles, making them laugh and eing, leading them in simple, child-like prayer. ■...»"

Popular Throughout Dominion. For several, years past..Mr. Palgrave Davy' has conducted these sand services as one of the features of the New Zealand Children's Mission, of which he is the organiser and superintendent, and he is known and loved by boys and girls Worn Auckland to farthest South. _ It is Uire» years since last he raised bis banner On Tak'apUna Beach, which he declares is the best beach in New Zealand for this work, and since then he has* visited the beaches of Wellington. Cbristchurch, and Dunedin. also all the splendid beaches of Sydney, where he spent last summer. So popular became his work there, .and so gratifying its results, that the 1 scheme has been taken up by two, other workers, and the sand services will become a permanent feature of beach life for Sydney children during coming holiday seasons. The sand services represent the moral and spiritual element in these happy hours on the sand. Mr. Davy, in his wide knowledge of the child mind, knows that nothing can be accomplished unless the interest of the child is first secured, unless teaching is given in a form which can be readily understood and appreci. ated. So he tells them simple Biblej truths in a simple way, so that the smallest child on the beach grasps his meaningi and he wins their affection and trust by his ready understanding of their childish viewpoint. Search for Hidden Treasure. Then, having said their little prayer and sung their childish hymn, he sets them ofi' again to play, this time in search of hidden treasure, buried most discreetly by an assistant while sharp eyes have all been centred on their beloved leader. Deep in the sand have been buried numerous treasures, which will take much patient and diligent search. But soon there will come racing back a company of boys or girls, with three or four lucky ones waving aloft the coveted prizes,,and all the others will look up with eager eyes and then set to their digging .with renewed zest. And so, with the finding of the last parcel, the afternoon comes to an end, and the children make their way slowly back home, bearing with them little puzzles to solve by the following afternoon, riddles to ,laugh over, competitions to think about, ana the recollection of good and kindly words to assist in moulding the characters of men and women to be.