THE HABIT OF HOARDING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18089, 13 May 1922, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE HABIT OF HOARDING.

BY VJVIKX. In Auckland at, least the summer this Year seems loth to jo, and winter still •lands at bay. To the poor of tho city, and those who work among them, such 3l respite is welcome indeed, since it is ever easier to be brave and hopeful when the sun i.s shining. But always in their hearts is the litter knowledge that the spectres of cold s.nd hunger, of deeper poverty and greater unemployment are still there lurking in the background. silent, watchful, waiting their chance to pounce and destroy. And ouce again, as heretofore, these grim enemies can only •he. kept in the shadow by the unremitting efforts of those whose cars arc never deal to a call for help or the cry of a little child, and by the quick response even of the many who have just "more than enough." Hence the people Of Auckland should receive with equanimity the news that the. Commercial Travellers' and ,\ arehousemen's Association is once more on the war-path, hunting not scalps, but cloth-s: and there will probably bo very few to resent the order next Saturday to «• Stand and deliver! Your money or your clothes!" For as a general rule tho people of ~nd are far from lacking in generosity. The trouble is that, being only human, they are more or less lethargic in matters, ready enough to give if someone else will carry on the tiresome work of collecting. And again, being human, they have thai instinct to hoard which is so deeply implanted in the aver-

age individual. In this respect men are usually the worst offenders. Even at the tender age of five or six the male creature's passion for hoarding begins to asseni itself. Marbles, str.mps. pencils fruit stones, rusty screws and nails, bits ot string; broken pen'snives. anything ami everything finds its way into the mysterious and capacious recesses of a small boy s pockote, and woe betide the unlucky individual who tampers with those treasured possessions! As he grows older, Ins fondues* for antiquated rubbish transfers itself to books and papers and pipes; old coats, battered hats and -worn-out boots and slippers, and the more dilapidated those possossions the more fervent his desire to dins to them. On the other hnnd. the instinct to hoard is not nearly so pronounced m the average woman, partly, perhaps, because her housewifely spirit usually loathe* muddle and disorder and a litter of useless rubbish, and partly because her love of novelty and new things makes her dislike the "sight of old dothes and motheaten articles. When she does hoard, she usually does it for one of three reasons In the first place she may be compelled by financial necessity to waste nothing and to make the most of every utmsabie scrap of material. Again, she may have. that, particular form of practical ingenuity which delights in transforming old clothes and miscellaneous odds and ends into garmerits for the small folk Or useful articles for household use or for sale at a bazaar. And lastly, perhaps most often, she treasures certain articles simply because they are dear to her by reason of their sentimental associations. Probably there are verv few women who do not possess some old' cvket or secret drawer wherein certain treasures are locked away from pry--IIV eves—a broken fan o; a satin slipper. reminiscent of long-ago nights of joy and rraictv and triumph; a bundle of old fetters pregnant with cherished memories; a spri" of lavender or a faded flower fragrant with Youth and romance: maybe even a tiny baby-shoe or a lock of hair cut from some dear lost head. But in the main, woman's instinct is not to heard, but to " clear out all this rfflbbiah! Wherefore, men o:f Auckland, be warned in time*, and if you have a particularly disreputable coat or a cherished old hat, creep out silently at dead of night, and hide it out of your wife's sight in a very dark corner before next Saturday . *