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"♦ - ar Y.M.C.A. Anniversary.

Newyddion
Dyfynnu
Rhannu

"♦ ar Y.M.C.A. Anniversary. BRILLIANT ADDRESSES BY MR. EDGAR JONES, M.P. PURPOSE IN LIFE. Thanks to the enterprise of the committee of the local branch of the Y.M.C.A., Trede- gar had the opportunity on Sunday of hearing Mr. Edgar Jqn8, M.A., M.P., one of Mer- thyr's representatives in St. Stephen. The occasion was the fourth anniversary of the P.B.A. in connection with the Y.M.C.A. The meetings were held at the Temperance Hall, the capacity of which proved quite inadequate to accommodate the people anxious to hear Mr. Jones,' whose reputation had preceded him. Mr. W. J. Whitney, chairman of the committee, presided at the afternoon meeting, when the hall was literally packed with young men. The opening portion of the service was per- formed by Mr. J. M. James and Mr. A. Fear. A solo was excellently rendered by Mr. Edgar R. Davics, Ebbw Vale, and the Orpheus Glee Society, conducted by Mr. J. D. Evans, contributed a selection in beautiful style. The Chairman briefly introduced Mr. Ed- gar Jones, and apologised for the absencc of Mr. Tl Richards, M.P. for the division, with whom they sympathised in the hard and try- ing times he, with others, had had to go through lately. He needed rest badly, and for that reason they did not complain of his absenco. The hon. member would have been present had it been possible. They were all glad that the leaders in the South Wales coal trarJ-s had shown a conciliatory spirit on both airlfij, and had brought about a satisfactory solution of the "difficulties. Proceeding, Mr. Whiitiey said at their anniversaries they had had some illustrious men on their platform fi-o-x- time to time, but none more illustrious than Mr. Edgar Jones, M.P. (applause). They wero looking forward to great things from him. The Y.M.C.A. claimed Mr. Jones as their representative in Parliament (loud applause), Ho knew of no higher honour than that of representina: an organisation of Christian young men" (applause). There was a feeling abroad that ihe scheme of the Y.M.C.A. to orect premiss^ in the town was antagonistic to tho workmen's scheme of providing a new in- stitute and public hall. Ho denied that. The two bodies were quite distinct. There was noth- ing i;, common between them. The library or- ganisation stood for negative work, while the Y\M.O.A. stood for the social uplifting of the young men of the town by improving them in- vellectualiy. socially and spiritually (applause). They were not opposed to each other, but they iiould assist each other (applause). AND CHARACTER." Mr. Edgar Jones, on rising to address the meeting on "Environment and Character," was accorded a rousing reception. After ex- pressing sympathy with Mr. T. Richards, M.P., the hon. member said that while agree- ing to some extent with the pessimists he did not hold sych gloomy views as some of them did regarding the decadence of the world. While certain portions of the young peoplo were aspiring upwards there were also certain individuals who were content to run after the things down below. That was what he was afraid had fallen upon the English nation. If tho pessimists said that a proportion of these individuals mistook the high purpose of life and ran after the means to an end instead of pursuing the end itself, then he agreed with them that we were in a sorry position. Com- ing to the question of environment the hon. member said that while it, no doubt, militated against development of character, and was a millstone round the neck of the children of the slums, let them not lose hold of the great and hopeful truth that character could always triumph over environment (applause). What they needed was to dare to have a purpose in life. But they seemed to have lost the sense of purpose in their everyday life, and they needed to come back to It. They wanted the young people of the nation to have some great dominating all-controlling purpose. This was needful on the physical and recreative side of their lives. Billiards was an excellent indoor game as a relaxation from the sterner duties of everyday life, but there were many of their young men who played billiards for no pur- pose but for playing and thought of nothing all day long but of breaks. There was a great difference between stopping with the means and keeping in mi*id the fact that it served some great end. If they played billiards for the sake of becoming, skilful and stopped there, that was simply a mechanical process, and a monkey could be trained to do a (laugh- ter and applause). Take the game of football. To those cramped up in the office or in the drapers' shop or in the mine the open air free- dom and exercise of the football field was a powerful attraction, and an essential relaxation, and any one who took part in it for the sake of fitting himself for life was doing it legiti- mately, and the means to the end became the absorbing thing. But when a young man talk- ed of nothing but football, points and scores, t then he had lost the purpose of the game. What wonder if there were introduced some- times dishonourable tactics, a mean spirit, and that which was not consistent with the great jpme (applause). They wanted to get back the idea of the purpose cultivated by the great pub- lio schools of England with regard to cricket (applause). In their athletics they were mak- ing the mistake of feeding on the pepper, salt and mustard, and leaving the beef and mutton alone (laughter and applause). THE MOST MISERABLE GRUB. The same argument applied in the mental sphere. He did not advise young men to be- come bookworms. That wa§- the most miserable grub of all (laughter). They boasted of their education, but he doubted whether they were education, but he doubted whether they were getting value for their money. When they thought of the purpose it was serving there could be nothing greater than education as the great means to come purpose. But if all their education had done for them was to give them a capacity for reading filthy, sensuous books, which loaded bookstalls, it had opened a channel for evil things to noT? into the heart. It was a good thing to be .able to read the newspapers and society novels. But if they read the newspapers simply for the sake of the mis- erable gossip and slander, divorce cases and murders and other horrible things which some of them contained, then the purpose had been missed. Young men should read in order that they might acquire information as a material to serve some great purpose. How many work- ing men read and studied the problems which were perplexing them to-day, and tried to thrash them out for themselves? When they got their educational system used in that fashion they would get into the minds of the people a wealth of judglJlenkand a strength of wisdom and accuracy that would result in a movement forward which they could not get under the, present conditions (applause). Earn- ing a living and earning wages were quite dif- ferent things. They should not earn wages to rattle them in their pockets. The great aspir- ation of the Welsh nation was to earn wages in order to bring up the boys and girls not to make dolls of them for the exhibition of lace and frills, but to fit them to give one great push forward to the nation they belong- ed to. They had not been born to set the world right, but they wanted to realise that if they set themselves right the world would look after itself, and environment would look after itself. That was his answer to the question of en- vironment, How were they to determine what their purpose should be? There was no need for setting up a great course of reading, or to study what their purpose might be. They hadw to resign themselves in one simple act. as their forefathers did in the past. They had a companion who would lead them by the way. What they had to do was to get into fellowship with the Man of Nazareth, and they would know when to turn to the right or to the left path. Let them not forget the memory of the Puritans, and in honouring their memory let them take to themselves their example. Whether playing, working, or reading, whether in the higher or the lower regions they should subordinate everything to the one possessing ideal that they were going to win their way up to a slightly higher eminence than their fathers and plant a new flag for their children to carry on a stage further in the next generation (loud applause). In the evening, there was again a crowded audience, presided over by KJfh S. Ross. A very powerful address was given by Mr. Edgar Jones on "The Need of Faitli." and the huge audience was delighted. The Glee Society gave contributions' to the musical programme, and the orchestra, under the conductorship of Miss Patti Thomas, afforded much enjoyment by their selections. Mr. W. Jenkins supplied, the pianoforte accompaniment with marked effi. ciency.

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