REACTIONS TO WAR

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVIII, Issue 21558, 22 January 1940, Page 10

REACTIONS TO WAR

COMPANIONS IN DISTRESS It is strange how adversity draws people together, writes a correspondent in the “Manchester Guardian.” A few weeks ago, as newcomers to the district, we were on nodding terms with our neighbours, but our acquaintance with them had not penetrated beyond their doorstep. Then in quick succession came the crisis, the evacuated children, and the war. Perhaps it was the children who broke the ice for us. Our own little refugee from Newcastle brought in his Tyneside friends, and his new Westmorland friends, and soon we found that we were entertaining all the neighbouring children. Visits of parents in search of children led to return visits to borrow drawing phis and discussion on the difficulty of obscuring lights. Mr B. was found to work for a firm who supplied blue paper of a quality excellent for darkening windows; Mr T. had a roll of gummed paper; our own contribution to this system of co-operation was a knowledge of painting electric light bulbs blue and red. Everybody suddenly found that they were coming and going in each other’s houses, lending and borrowing, commenting and chattering. From being semi-strangers we burst forth into bloom as members of a happy community. Despite the catastrophe causing it, we can truly say that the social life of the community has improved noticeably since the crisis began and life is fuller and more pleasant and friendly than it was before. It is a pity that it should take something as terrible as war to break down the reserve of people, but at least we are assured that already one good thing has come out of the war.