"WAKE UP, AUSTRALIAN MOTHERS."

Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume I, Issue 5, 1 November 1910, Page 4

"WAKE UP, AUSTRALIAN MOTHERS."

King George's Call to Women. Address ly Bishop of North Queensland. At his third Accession Court, His Majesty King George V., m reply to an address from the Convocation of York, said " The foundations of national glory are set m the homes of the people. They will only remain unshaken while the family life of our race and nation is strong, simple and pure." The King writes his own speeches it is said. Any one who has heard him speak will believe that he is sincere. And it is common know.edge that he not only believes, but practices what he speaks about the sanctity of family life. But the following paragraph from an American magazine is worth treasuring by every loyal Australian. " Scandal has passed him by," the writer says of our King. "He gives no opening whatever. His home life is as pure, as unpretentious, as much a matter of intimate homely joys as that of any household m the land." This is true, every word of it. And it is worth preserving, because we m Australia are often sceptical about mere talking. We read so many speeches to which Hamlet's cynical definition is applicable. They are "words, words, words," and nothing else. But we are ever ready to appreciate action, and —so at least they said of our soldiers m South Africa —we can follow a leader m whose sincerity we trust. Shall w© not follow King George's lead ? And by greater care of our family life, preserve and strengthen the foundations of our national glory? A great leader of England's Imperial policy wrote to me the other day saying " The King is already showing that Australia is greatly m his thoughts." Can it fail to strengthen the King's hand to know that Australians are ready to follow his personal leadership m what so truly is for the welfare of the people committed to his charge ? I am not among those who are for ever bewailing the evils of their own times. In the boys and girls of Australia there is some of the best material m the world for British citizenship. The hardships of life, particularly m the Northern bush, develop m them self-reliance, fortitude, and adaptability of character. Children who m England would be m the nursery, here are mustering horses and cattle. But these same boys and girls, from the very freedom of their

lives, are laid oppn to more temptations than are possible m the sheltered English life. They are often more unfitted to withstand temptations, because the home counts naturally for less under cloudless Southern skies than it does where bleak wet winters drive the children indoors. And when children have seldom submitted their wills to the reason of another, they are not often as men and women capable of directing their wilful passionate lives according to the dictates of their own reason. "The parents' are at fault," it will be said. Yes, the parents are often at fault. But why not spend our best endeavors m Australia on the parents of the coming generation ? They are children still, merry, self-reliant, troublesome, but they will soon be men and women. And now they can be trained to become m the future good husbands or wives, good fathers or mothers. Without doubt the one person who can best train each child for future responsibility is the mother — and, above all, the mother whose children have not yet grown above her shoulder height. The souls of the children are so tender, it has been said, that they carry for ever the first shadow that falls over them— the shadow of a mother. Then, wake up ! Australian mothers, to the counti*y's need. See to it that the " family life of our race |iid nation is strong, simple and pure." This is a work that none can do so well as you. In many cases none can do it but you. It need not necessitate wandering from house to house. It can be done just where you are at home among your own children. But it must be done m deeds as well as m words,. It must be stimulated by solfsacrifice, love, and lofty ideals for your children and for your country.— To be continued.