THE MOTHER OF MEMORIES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18553, 10 November 1923, Page 6 (Supplement)

THE MOTHER OF MEMORIES.

There are two kinds i. of anniversaries, public and private ones ':(, says a contemporary writer). Your morning paper reminds you of the first, bat the second are your'own concern, •' and so mora precious. In fact,- life is made up iof year-long journeys on a kind of mental Tjqiner-CSrcle with three hundred and sixty-five; (or six) stations, and your anniversaries are simply stations that you know. As". you pass through a familiar one you smile or sigh; and if there are more smiles than sighs upon the year's journey, that is well, although in these days there cannot but be one or two stations the sight of which will wring your heart a little. ! The anniversary of Armistice Day is the mother of a thousand memories. ; During the two silent minutes they will fly from your mind as fast as sparks from a kindling log. There will be the memory of how your heart fluttered when you read that fateful message which baldly stated that hostilities were to cease, "at 11 hours," memories of the bitter yet worthwhile years that had gone before. . You do not need to be maudlin or sentimental to remember thus. "Lest we forget" is become a parrot cry, but the only people ever likely to forget are those •who. have little to remember. , Which of us is ever likely to forget who has known even one night when brave deeds blossomed as thick as poppies in a field of corn, a night when men walked through a screaming barrage -as they would have walked through the surf •of a summer sea, a night when the whole flower of a regiment died? ; There are few soldiers who have not locked in their hearts the memory of at least v one such'night as that; and those , they love have ) seen 'it through their eyes; ,v v '.■/'.';. :3? '""" ,-■,:. So to-morrow let.us keep our memories. It is fitting that wo,should, and - they are worth the keeping. More than that. Once kept, above all else thev keep other wars" away.