A FINE DISTINCTION.

Colonist, Volume LX, Issue 14657, 11 March 1918, Page 2

A FINE DISTINCTION.

"SOLDIERS PIOUS, NOT RELIGIOUS."

■•■• (By Will Lawson.) •■? "I am not saying that the soldier is very religious, but he is very pious, if yoti can understand the difference. He * deeply feels things, and you will, soon [ a find out if you are with them at tiie'd front, that there is a difference. . . |. a They get a sober attitude,• they hate! people to make a great deal of protes-j s tation, but if you saw the way they E avail themselves of tho Y.M.O.A. sing- l songs and Sundays, there' would not be a any doubfc in your mind as to their !<. necessity, and their acceptability to the I men."—Brigadier-General Sir. Robert v Anderson. \ "They get a sober attitude, they hate C has seen Allied troops in every held of! war could be endorsed, if that were ne- I cessary, by a visit to the isolation camp f at Trentham. There, on Sundays, and it :on other- evenings too, the quiet valley I j lis filled with the harmony of men's _ voices, taking part in Y.M.G.A; singsongs arid Sundays, it is impressive I £ ;to hear, and it shows with vivid -relief .< i the difference jxnnted oi.t by Brigadier- i ; General Anderson —not very religious* ' but very pious. Of the value.of tt\> , j aing-eongs and Sundays there." is no; I doubt whatever. It rests with you; 1 I whether the soldiers—our soldiers —at'; the front have those happy sour and., healing gatherings or not. There is !, barely'sufficient money, in the- V.M.C.A. |. ; Funds to maintain their, livar work for! J four months, more. That .there is noj< waste of these funds may be proved by.] j the certified statement that, while iti costs somewhere about £250 to train j3 t Skhd equip -each soldier for service, the!] I V.M.C.A. provides- him with homelike i ] j comforts,. free entertainment, and free! stationery vi every camp at home "and abroad, and free...refreshments in -the |] trenches,'for the"modest sum of £1 per*! ] soldier per year. Remember this and'] the need of more of these £l's on Red Triangle Day. • The largest building used for social purposes in any military camp m the Empire is. the Huge V.M.C.A. Red TriangJe hut at Blackboy Hill camp a-few miles out of Perth, W-.A. It is 270; feet long by 50 feet wide ,-and will seat!. 4,300 men. In one year during the' war, the total number of men in attendance was 500,0U0. ! • ———.-«_»«,.. .

I The Great Western Railway system extends over 3008 miles, thus faking first place in the United Kingdom. The North-Western comes second with 1960 niiles. ' A remarkable feat .has'been perform.cd by a young Gisborne girl—Missj i Dorothy O'-\l.eara —in driving a heavy j car about 1400 miles in a fortnight i without a mishap. Tins party travelled from Gisborne to liotorua, via Opotiki, thence to Auckland, Waitomo' Caves, Mokau, Mount Messenger, New Plyi mouth, Wanganui, Palmerston North ; and Napier, and then back to Gisborne. jThe worst road experienced was that I ■i between Napier and Gisborne. For aj : girl to manipulate a car along the tor- : tuous road in the Motvi hills is. no mean achievement (states a Gisborne exI change). Some very caustic and sarcastic comments have been made by a writer in the "New Zealand Times'*' on the execrable taste shown ?>y so many N&rr Zealand women in their street dresses. A visitor to the races returned to Wellington full of the general, bad, taste of the dressing .among the squntocracy, as the "Bulletin" would say. Short skirts nearly to the knees, donned by women of forty and over;.skirts so short that even with the longest boot a portion o* stockinged calf still shows, or, worse ■still, short skirts showing a large expanse of silk hose covering bulky limbs and thick, ankles, were the prevailing mode. In watching a holiday- or street crowd, one sees the same incongruity; m dress. "Sports" coats, worn for street wear, silk stockings accompanying '• brogue" shoes and tweeds' and skirts eight 01* ten Indies oft the ground on middle-aged women. Tiie stage is supposed to reflect the piwajlin"fashion, and if that is so New Zealand women should profit l Jy a study of tn* drew.es' worn by stresses who have visited -as recently. Ada Reeve wore evening gowns which' showed her feet, and no more. None of Maria Tempest s irccks are more than five or six inches from the ground. In such cases the -ankle- is all that'is seen, and not always-that", and the frocks have a delightful .appropriateness to the' position and age of the wearer; We have "--much to learn of the art of dressing in this country. ,"