Prodigal Sons.

Otago Witness, Issue 1797, 30 April 1886, Page 13

Prodigal Sons.

.Editor Witness, — I have a son, an only child, who has been some years ih New Zealand. He fell in with bad companions, has been very foolish, and lias thrown away his chances of getting on in the Colonies. I hear of him occasionally, through friends, but I have not heard from him for some years. He never writes to me, or to anyone else — a poor return for all the care and trouble I have undergone on his account, and for all the money spent ou his education and up-bringing. I am not alone in this matter. I know of others who are. iv the same position, and I believe there are many who, like myself, seldom or never hear from their sons in the colonies. I need hardly say that this must be a source of great sorrow and anxiety to many parents in this country ; and must also be a barrier to the getting 1 on iv the world of those who are guilty of thin omiahiou of their duty. It is a blunder as well as a crime. Tho links of sympathy and affection that bound him to his old home got gradually brukuii : in many cases the prodigal sou falls into bad habits, and generally »iuk-> in the social se;du, and becomes unable to take advantage of tho many opportunities for getting ou that New Zealand affords to the well-doing and industrious colonist. If this should meet tho eye of any such, I beseech them to amend their ways in this matter, and to write to their parents before the, day closes— to-morrow 'it may i>e too late, those to whom they should have written may have passed away.— Yours, &c, W. A. London, March 6.