The Little "Fair Players" guild.

Fair Play, Volume I, Issue 23, 2 July 1894, Page 17

The Little "Fair Players" guild.

My. Dear Young Friends,— To‘those of you who ■ have sent liv your names desiring to - become members,of. our ( Guild, I would, say,; “ Welcome, a hearty welcome” ; ancl to those of. you who have thought of joining, and* have ribt yet • done so, I would say;’“ Join our-Guild' at -once;* and 7 , feel:the:joy of working! fofc. others*’’ v . ; .- , .Apd,.noy r ,' my- dearsj tijat I thipli.pf.ut, Ijhaye to scold'- you fort npjf sending in ydur names earlier, and so,’ as : a 1 warning to ■

thdse who' are joining next month; and to'induce them to send in'their coupons at the p beginn/itng—not the. end the. month,' liwill idecree your fate. Your names will nothe in Fair Play for July. - , , ■, > “Oh, Aunt Dinah, you are a, fraud”, !.hear one boy say. Sut, my dear hoy, Xam not a fraud at all; you must bl&me yourselves, er—and ' thO Editorif you'like, but mind he dties' not' hear you, for- cannot you imagine: him to be a very severe, large-nosed. gentleman, with, goggles through which he peers.at.you as if he would read.you through ? Well, he may be like that, and if he is, you would not like to make him ahgry, : would you'? : 'Neither did r,-;sd when I took your coupons and'asked Hiih'to insert your names, he said; “No, Aunt Dinah, these names .cannot. -appear, in July’s issue,; for-1 can. scarcely -spare you a page, much , less two, which you would want .if all '.those,. names were printed.” And with; that;l had to restcontent. But be : assured, fellow Guilders, that 1 in Fair: Play’s; August, .issue your .names will be. there. “ What a;crabbed old Editor,’\.did.lilmara'‘.little;'girl say ?. Not; at all; dearie, only a smart, business, man,', who-h'as not time to. bandy, idle words, but who has really a kind heart, arid will be-a good friend to you, if yo.u . will let him. Now,: just one word about .seeding .in the, coupons , early nett month. Meanwhile, please use,all your influence, to induce others to join—in Sunday-school,; day,school, work-room, workshop,, wherever, you see m hoy,or.girl .whom you think, wohld be a good member (we don’t want careless ones) get them, to'join, and at once, for, young. Guilders, ; remem,bec.that in so doing, you may bring a ray of sunshine to brighten some dark little.life. 1 . ...... .

Our pretty cards of membership, you may expect: to,Receive during. July,* and from then, soon after receiving names, each new member will receive , one.. , . . ( , And ho# ouhchief business ithrh' must *be ; discussed. The competition 'for July wilt be for- the 'best; home-made: scrapbook: In order.. to makeiclear. exactly.: what. I mean, by, homemade scrap-.b,ook', t. will, go into, .detail, In the first place, donot thiftk for a moment.that I'mean you to go into'a shop, andpay 2s. 6d. for a hew 'scrap book; nothing of 1 the kind. Any sort uf-a book will do, preferably one with;a hard back, which.you may.make look bright and pretty in apy 7 .way ; which may suggest itself to your minds,, and w ( ork to, fill it with pretty pictures from book or'paper, Christinas cards, birthday cards, and scraps', for a few of which you may : have to sacrifice some of the pennies you’ at present- spend in lollies, and having made this little sacrifice you wilLfeel happy in the thought thatyou- have brightened the long-weany hours of some boy or girl in : our big hospitals; Thefarranging of your books I leave to your own good taste (for I know some boys and girls, have wonderfully good taste.) Those of you who have scrap-books which you would-'like to- give, of course may use them, biit so as to make the competition a. ifair one, and give each .member, an equal, chance," tbp.prizes willnotbe. given for thsilaigept or ; best,lco)ting .book,Jbut,§)E whi<?ft, the nicest.and .most "artistic tap.te,is displayed in; the arranging, and ggperalgot-um' ‘ Dp youi DSsyfor it is hlabomfor the afiaclel'alre thgo fcf ourihospiialS/hbmes’ fdP destitute chfidren,'' 7 ari'di‘'khidited-'iiistitutioaS,randr!perlia|)B.' later I may ask our girls to do something for the dear old people

at the homes for the aged and needy. Wherever we decide to send the scrap-books anacknowledgement of in JPtlar. We shall tnp spfftd-bbplcs in not later than 20th of J valuable books, first, .eoremlly chosen to suit the age and 'Nowit%%faiK we have finished our business, which; by the \yay has b,epn Jfa|hprienotby, so now for. a UftlVchat.' The Bune\tHovfj|m which to start this page, makes me-wonder what is; your ohlef winter pastime in New Kealahd. Of' course, 1 younave football, but then that is only for big strong-boysjand-isonly a pastime for day-time, not evening, andthinkiog-of these things I could almost wish we hadsompof land. “No thank you; i Ahiit'' , l)mahi” fhdw spme of our ypung people i say, M wegbtooldweatherenougti;”‘\Vhy,^du r db : hbt , khbw what cold is, you little colonials; but tnen jin the glorious,frosty weather when King* Frdst- goes s - decking all the bare brandies of the’ trees with glistenin&iipipleb and r coVerinjg the grbund with beautiful Isriotin A t^io 1 girls rush' out' of' sohbol,''and 1 ’ slide,' dbwriwHich they" spin* like* so mimy expresstfa&slithpy don’t feel the cold, apa oh! the fun, andthp tumbles,*trad tosses and,scrahiblihg--rit is .gloriouß sport, an£ poor ,dd Aunt,Dinah, whose hair is going grey npw, feels qqifce young again as she thinks of it. ,v\..- “ But what about the- poor people in that sort of weather ?” I hear some thoughtful and* kind-hearted little girl ask. u Ah, yes, my dear, what.,indeed 2 I r think- after, all that you Now Zealanders are b'etter' withput. ft/.fbr' though" King. Frost, is looked’ upon’ by the thoughtibss, the well-olad, - and well-shod; as' a" jolly* old 1 fellow, he id a‘ bitter enemy ■ to the poor. If it were possible for him to come: to the former, without' making the latter feel his presence so. bitterly, I could wish you colonial boys and girls could make his acquaintance, but as that is impossible,. I: think after all you are better without him.” “But, Aunt Dinah, even iff we .had snow an^ipp,''that would, not give us something to ocoupy our time in the evenings,” I-can hear one- rather critical young Guilder say. You are quite right; with the exception of moonlight nights, when most girls and boys get leave to stay out a little later, say till nine o’olook, and so again it was the thought of your having so little to do in these winter evenings, which' first' suggested the Guild tP ray mind. And; now, don’t you think, under these conditions; that I ought reasonably expect a. good number, of diligent workers among .our membprs. By the way, do any’of our mem* bers' belong’ to the Boys’ Brigade, I wonder. If so, they will be employed l one or two ’nights a week. Now, my dears, I think I must:draw to a close, feeling glad and sure that our Guild it going;.to be a big < success, and a source of pleasure and profit to both ourselves and those we work for. Please don’t forget our mdtfco: We sympathise.” Believe me to be your loving