CORRESPONDENCE.

Colonist, Volume LVII, Issue 13794, 15 June 1915, Page 6

CORRESPONDENCE.

WHITE FEATHERS.

;<To the Editor of "Tho Colonist.") : ;Sir,-^-Several 'of our boys who hay% volunteered for active service and have not been accepted, and others who have a just cause why they should not volunteer, have received white feathers from persons not plucky enough to send their names along with the feathers.. Now the men who are sending them must be moulting, and the lads who are getting the benefit of it should supply the tar and see that the feathers adhere to their rightful owners. Would the girls who take the trouble to find one feather just go on collecting feathers Until they get enough*to make a nice comfortable pillow, and send it to the Red Cross Fund for the benefit of the sick and wounded? This would be doing some good, whereas the indiscreet and spiteful sending of white feathers is foolish and unwomanly, wounding the feelings of men who are anxious and willing to serve their King and country, but cannot do so in.the firing line. If these wotikl-be feather recruiters are really in earnest to stir the fighting instinct in men whom they consider cowards, let them use a sharper weapon than a feather, say, their tongue. Any fool can anonymously send a white feather, but it takes tact and a little courage to ask a person to fight for you and be a hero when you don't even consider him a man. We have no cause to be ashamed, and much cause to be proud

'of our Nelson boyis. They have answered and are still answering the call to arms like true men and Britons, and their mates in the trenches who are looking to them to come and give them a spoil know they are not looking in vain. In fact I. believe if we could make wings of these wasted feathers and guarantee them for far and fast flying, cur lads would rush them and alight right where-they are'wanted —at the front. We can't all shoulder a gun or use the bayonet, but there's lots of other little; weapons which can help in this great fight, such as knitting needles, crochet hooks, and even an ordinary bagi needle and string can help to make a sand bag, and sand' bags can help to shelter our gallant fellows;.so if the girls who are sending feathers want something better to do there are lots of dear old ladies and soldiers' mothers willing to teach them how-to uso the above small weapons—for a great cause, and the lines below might also help them. I am., etc., -M. B. SQUIRES. ; If you are sighing for a lofty work, If recruiting dominates your mind. Just watch yourself and see you do . not shirk The common little ways of being kind. If you would help to make the wrong things right Begin at home, there lies a lifetime's toil, Weed your own garden fair for the world's sight Before you plau to till another's soil. —(Author unknown.)