"Wee Macgreegor."

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXXI, Issue 12480, 17 September 1904, Page 2 (Supplement)

"Wee Macgreegor."

MUST TAKE A BACK SEAT. PARENTAL CONTROL IN THE COLONIES. Recently a resident of Victoria wrote to Mr J. J. Bell, author of " Wee Macgreegor," on the subject of laxity of parental control. A came quickly, and will be read with interest. The correspondence is as followß : From Mr to " J.J.8." May 14 th, 1904. Dear Sir, —A fellow-countryman of "Wee Macgreegor's," settled in Australia, who has just read "Wee Macgreegor Again," ventures respectfully to express the hoiio that you will show us the end of this parentally-indulged boy. The moral lesson to parents is excellent, and, in this young country, should be invaluable—if read aright and understood. It is l absolutely alarming to see the weakness of fathers and mothers in Australia in the upbringing of their children, and the result threatens to be disastrous to this young nation. It is for this reason lam in hopes of your showing us the inevitable result of " John " and " Lizzie's " indulgence in the case of their eldest child. Unless your hero's little nose is put out of joint by the arrival of his younger brother, it is a real bad look-out for the " Wee Macgreegor," and I hope you will not hesitate to siiow him up! Allow me to add that I feared this second volume would be like the " second egg at bfeakfast,"'disappointing; but it is, if anything, better than the first. If vou can find time, I shall greatly appreciate a few lines from you to indicate in " whit wey " you intend to rub into us parents the " third and lastly ' of your most eloquent sermon? —Yours, etc. Woodbine, Blairmore, Argyllshire. July 2nd, 1904. My Dear Sir,—Your kind letter of Moy 14th has readied me, and I much appreciate mv distant fellow-countryman's thought in writing to me. I fear, however, that even tlie most patient of " Wce-Macgree-cor's" friends must be tiring of him, and so I do not contemplate inflicting a " third and lastly," as you neatly put it, upon tbem. When writing the last sketch 1n the second volume, I had (lie would be sufficient to indicate that ' Wee Mac" would at last have to take a backseat—where I intend to leave him. - Strangely enough, the day after I received your note. I was travelling on one of the Clyde steamers, and there overheard two ladies discussing the indulgence of Australian parents and the want of youthful reverence. It was a surprise to me to learn from you and from them the state of affairs. It is no novelty, and -is of comparatively lilt'e consequence to us, to hear of the children of other nations "bossing" their parents! It if ''another thing as regards your yotag nation, which, to anyone who thinks, inenn? so much to the mother country, and wil' mean so much moTC as time em s V.n. Australia has been very kind I to my unimportant attempt at a book, but, apart from that, I would wish Australia, : wo'l in every way. Let me thank you heartily for your troubling to write. I have had many letters—too kind, perhaps—from your country, but none so much to the point as yours.—Yours, etc.,