ORPHANDOM

Waipa Post, Volume 43, Issue 3354, 29 September 1931, Page 5

ORPHANDOM

TE AWAMUTU CLUB'S VISIT TO HAMILTON. APOSTLES OF OPTIMISM. Thirty members of the Te Awamutu Orphans' Club paid an official visit to the Hamilton Orphans' Club on Saturday night. Representatives from Te Aroha Club were also present, and the visitors were cordially welcomed by the chairman of the evening, pastpresident Bro. C. L. Macdiarmid. The items rendered by Te Awamutu Orphans' Choir, and by Bros. Papesch, Linehan and Patterson were greatly enjoyed.' In responding to the welcome on behalf of Te Awamutu club, the president (Bro. A. J. Sinclair) dealt with the psychological effect of Orphandom during a depression. There were some muddleplates in the community, he remarked, who contended that, when times were difficult, an Orphans' club was an unnecessary luxury which should be placed on the prohibited list; but it was only when the going was hard that an Orphans' club could best fulfil its true mission as a cultivator of optimism. It was undeniable, he said, that Orphandom provided a mental relaxation 1 which was a more exhilarating tonic than any concoction which could be put in a bottle by the most skilful chemist. (Hear, hear). Orphans were the apostles of optimism., expert gloom-chasers, the fellows who never said "die." BLIGHT OF PESSIMISM.

The blight of pessimism, he continued, was almost as great an evil in the country to-day/ as unemployment, because it was the father of defeatism —a bogey which should not be allowed to raise its head in this Dominion. All pessimists, he remarked, who had been associated with the Orphans' movement in days of prosperity became ex-Orphans in days of adversity; but they must not be blamed for their defection, because it was due to the operation of that great natural law, the instinct of self-pre-servation. (Laughter.) No pessi mist, he said, could possibly exist in an Orphans' club, because he was speedily attacked by a malignant form of mental dyspepsia, induced by the cheerful fare invariably provided in the club. The pessimist had therefore only two alternatives—either he must get out, or he must stand by and see his pessimism suffer a lingering and painful death. Unfortunately, there was a type of individual in the community who nursed his pessimism as if it were an only child. If, and when, these pessimists got to Heaven, he remarked, their first act would be to lodge an injunction with St. Peter on the grounds of fraudulent misrepresentation, because the place, in their opinion, had not the carrying capacity. (Laughter). They were the type of men in the community who. if they were asked to look at a doughnut, would not be able to see it for the hole; and invariably it would be found that they wore a belt as well as a pair of braces for safety's sake. (Loud laughter). Men of that type, he said, were a drag on the whole community, and it would be found •.••that the most optimistic people in the country to-day were the men on the land. Admittedly, they were battling against terrific odds, but most of thenr'were game fighters who would win through, and it was a privilege and pleasure to be associated with them. He concluded by giving the best description he had been able to find, in two short lines, of the difference between a pessimist and an optimist: "Two men looked out through prison bars; The one saw mud, the other —stars. A feature of the'entertainment was the work of Bro. J. Papesch, of the Te Awamiutu Club, who has lost his sight. With Bro. A. W. D. Patter- * son, of the same club, he played a saxophone duet, and as an encore, two pianoforte duets, in imitation of a player-piano. Later in the evening Bro Papesch, was heard in two songs. Fine choral items were given by the Te Awamutu Orphans' Choir, under the baton of Biro, vicePresident J. North, undoubtedly one of the best male voice combinations in the district. ,