The Little People’s Page

New Zealand Tablet, Volume L, Issue 16, 26 April 1923, Page 39

The Little People’s Page

Conducted by Anne

i ill My dear Little Folk, —How do you like this cold weather \f. I am sure you are all playing every winter s game you can t think of. to keep warm. You will be pleased I know, to " welcome our new friend from far away Western Australia, and will read her letter with interest Would some of you it like to write to her and tell her about New Zealand? No , room for more a$ there are so many letters waiting.—Anne. ‘p| Dear Anne, —Just a few' lines to let you know that I . this is my first letter. I will be twelve on June. 27th next, | and I am in std. V. I have two other brothers, my elder brother is fifteen on September 8 and he is in Std. IV. |= My younger brother is nine on April 19 and is in Std. 11. We are getting very bad weather just now. My younger | brother and I go to Saint Teresa’s School, and my elder brother goes to the Public School. As I have no more to say I must close. Yours truly, Jim Butler, Bluff. * Ipt (Have you had any snow yet this winter? Glad to t hear from you. —Anne.) Dear Anne, —This is my first letter to you. I am in Std. 6. I go to St. Teresa’s Convent, Bluff, although I if am not a Catholic. I will be thirteen on April 4. I hope to get my proficiency this year. However, I will go back to school next year if I do not. 1 have not much news t Anne, but I will tell you more next time I write. I will wwite again soon Anne; good-bye.—Your loving friend, . Eileen Barnes, Bluff. i|| (Welcome into my big family Eileen. Write again when ■ you have time. —Anne.) Wy;.. Dear Anne, —Already several of my classmates have written to you now I too must ■do so. You have heard about our weekly competition which is splendid fun and makes us look forward to Friday. Since we returned to school in February the Greens have been the better side. It is not very pleasant to be sitting in the desk doing thug© long tots while the winners are outside having a grand play— is what we poor Blues have had to do so often .that we were beginning to feel “blue” like the mayor in the “Pied Piper.” Well last week we beat the Greens—you should have seen their faces, Anno, when we came top tin arithmetic, writing, and composition and got a total (if > 72 points more than they did—they point take a beating very well Anno, I have a brother and sister older than f myself, both are in standard IV. Mv wee brother Jackie has just commenced school. Did you like school alien yon | were a little girl Anne? Perhaps you never were a little | girl because we do not know' whether you are a lady or f a man. All the same I don’t think you are a man but 1 I think “Maureen” is— can tell by your answers to. our y-letters. Good-bye now, dear Anne, with best wishes for Easter from your little friend, Grace I. Blacldock, South f Dunedin. * If - ■ (Now Grace my precious, it doesn’t matter a scrap | whether lam a man or a maid. Yes, 1 liked school when I was little. Anne.) ■ Dear Anne, —This is my first letter to you. lam in | Std. 3, and am nine years old. i have not heard of you yet. My brother is bigger than me, and he is'in Std. 6. We are going to have a lovely concert in Taihape on St Patrick’s Night. My mother does not get the Tablet as | she used to. I have no. more news to let von know so •.“Good-Bye” dear. Your little friend, Margaret Brookv Taihape. ’ (I have such a lot of new Little Folks these days do 4you like reading our letters?—Anne.) fy _ Dear Anne,— is my first letter to you. It is , Saint Joseph’s month and we are having an altar for him Ham in standard Your friend, Nome Bradley, Taihape Hi' (Did you put fresh flowers on your altar every day in | March? Yours is a very nice letter. —Anne.) fcv Dear Anne,— I am just writing a few lines to know' how you are keeping. I read the Tablet every week I go to the Convent at Taihape—Your friend, Gerald Donoghue, Taihape.) fe (I am quite well thank you Gerald, how are you Do you like the Little- Folks’ letters.— ifi; Dear Anne,—l am sending you this nice little postfcard, for an Easter present. I wish I could get an Easter egg and send it to you, but they do not sell them here, and I have never seen one yet, but I have heard of them — Fr °™ °V e of your friends, Tessie McMahon, Cronadun. fir. (Thank you my Tessie for the pretty post-card and the good-wishes. Tell me how you .liked the egg. Have you ever heard how, in some far-off countries people who love children make big nests of pretty eggs in their gardens, | and then they let the children have an egg-hunt Sometimes they use real eggs prettily colored, and sometimes : sugar eggs. Wouldn’t"we have a fin© hunt together.— Anne.) '•

Dear Anne,—l noticed lately that a Children’s Page has been added to the Tablet. We girls' are interested in the children’s corner of the 'Record , the Far East, and The Imeldist, and each paper has its loyal supporters in

our college. I thought I would like'to write to you, dear Anne, and tell you something about our school-days in West Australia. New Zealand is, nor altogether an unknown country to us, as so many of our teachers came from there. My brother Jack is a pupil at the Christian Brothers’ College, Perth. Many of the Brothers have been in Dunedin. A loi of St. Dominic’s girls have Cousins or brothers at the Marist Brothers’, New" Norcia, so we hear a great deal about many of the large schools in New Zealand. Dear Anne, lam sure it’s warmer to-day in Dongarra than in Dunedin. There is a lovely blue, sky and no wind — just a glorious day for the beach, but we don’t go to the beach on Sunday afternoon. The beach seems to be the property of motor loads of people who come in from Geraldton and the surrounding districts, for our beach is one of the most beautiful in Western Australia. We had great fun yesterday morning, bathing at the front beach and were sorry when it was time to pack up and return home. We boarders are having tea down the river bed this evening. We have a lovely camming spot in the Convent ground. The gum-trees are very old and have iovelv long branches to swing on. Fancy twenty-six of us all 'on one branch and some of us are not light-weights either. I wonder if you will have any 'more Westralian writers in next week’s Tablet. Now, dear Anne, I rim at say good-bye,Your loving Westralian friend, Mollie Punch, St. Dominick’s College, Dongarra, W.A. (So very glad to hear from you Mollie. you’ve no idea how good it was to get your letter from the*’ “ever-so-far-away. Yes, you get more sunshine than Dunedin does, but, have you ever seen snow and know the fun of iceskating? Some day perhaps you may come over to see us but don’t come in the winter or you'll freeze right up. rite again.—Anne.) Dear Anne,— Just a few lines to tell you that this is my first letter to you. My name is Alice Gilroy, I am in standard five at school, and thirteen years of age, my birthday is on the seventeenth of June. I have three sisters younger than myself, and also two brothers younger, so you may consider that I ant the oldest in our family’. I have longed to write to you, but this is my only chance to write. The weather is not very pleasant just now, down here, but we hope it will clear off soon. Well dear, Anne 1 wilj close now.— Yours truly, Alice Gilroy, Bluff. (Thank you Alice for finding time to Write for you must he a very busv girl. At least I hone von help' at home as well as doing schoolwork. Lucky girl to have brothers and sisters. Anne.) i Dear Anne, —This is my first letter to you. lam in Std. 3. My sister is in Std. 5. We do not get the Tablet. .do not know you but sister tells us about you. These Sisters are Sisters of Saint Joseph.—Your new friend, Mary Gorman, Taihape. (I am glad you like our page and manage to hear all about it. Perhaps Sister will read your own letter out to you one day.—Anne.) Dear Anne, — I think it is 1 wrote to you again. M have had a Mission for a fortnight which has just concluded to-day. It was given by the Redemptorist Fathers, Rev. Father Campbell and Rev, Father Duffy. We received the Pope’s Blessing this afternoon and the church was packed. There was about four hundred Commu"ions this morning, that shows what good the Mission has done. I am very sorry the Mission has ended. The Missioner asked us to pray for them as they have important work to perform. T will keen my promise and pray for them. Your loving friend, Clare Fitzgerald, Gore. (Mind you pray for the Missioners, they need prayers badly enough. Glad the Mission was a success. —Anne.) Dearest Anne, —I must write to tell you that we have had a most beautiful Mission which has just ended today. Rev. Father Campbell and Rev. Father Duffy conducted it. During the first week of the Mission I got a -prize which was a Holy Picture. The church was packed this afternoon and Ave received the Pope’s Blessing. Dear Anne, as my Sister is telling you about the Mission I will close, but, I must first ask you a riddle; “A human being called Anne, but is neither a woman or a man or a hoy or a girl”—what is it? Your loving' friend, Rose Fitzgerald, Gore. (Why Rose, your riddle is so easy it makes me laugh. The answer is—“A Mystery.” —Anne.) <X><> The Pure of Heart “How beautiful is the chaste generation” (Wisdom, iv. 1. [From Pearls From Holy Scripture for our Little Ones by M. J. Watson, S.J. Dedicated to the Children of the Catholic Schools.] / > To all who love and preserve purity of heart our Lord will be as the sun, which gives light, warmth, and life to the earth, because He will enlighten them by special graces, comfort them with the warmth of His love, and enrich them with the" gift of a stainless, angelic life. If, then, my dearest, you wish to give joy to your Heavenly Father, to your sweet Saviour Jesus, to our Lady, the Mother of God, and to the -blessed angels and saints who will be your friends and companions in heaven, work and pray with the' help of Divine grace to keep your soul pure and innocent, that so you may be, day by day, happy and blameless in God’s presence.