THE BRIDES OF MANY LANDS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 261, 28 July 1908, Page 5

THE BRIDES OF MANY LANDS.

' lii the Concert Room of the Town Hall yesterday evening Mrs. Harrison Lee clc'liVered a lecture-.entitled ."Brides of Many Lands." : There was a fairly largo audience, and' it listened with 'evident appreciation. ,\1 rs. Harrison Leo had many assistants. Beside her were seven girls dressed in the picturesque'bridal costumes of! different lauds, and it'niay bj6 said in passing that the English wedding garb was the most charming of all. Behind these were many little girls dressed as bridesmaids, and forming a pretty picture v.'lieii they, were grouped'around l tho English brido .to sing tho chorus to her isorig. l :'Those who took tho parts of brides •TV-qro the Misses Heath, Osborne, Marsh, Cummins, Beddows, Ewen, and l'ettio. Miss Ayres-acted.'. as accompanist as each bride sang an appropriate song. ; It is not Mrs. Lee's custom to deal very weightily with any subject. She rathermakes it :a" starting-point. for:'excursions.into various other questions, and'slio ] lightens the way' with many shrewd and witty stories, some of which are very sharply pointed. Taking the brides for her text, she had a good deal to say about the ideals of home. life. She pointed out that .the parents of to-day, wero responsible for, the homes of the future, and she urged that 'the daughters should bo brought up skilled in the arte of homemaking, one of tho chief of these being the art of selecting and preparing food. She is sorry for thoso; girls who,find themselves at the beginning of.theirtnowjlifo confronted' with all sorts .of difficulties, for which they '■should'have been; prepared, by a . sensiblo training. "■ V ' ' . ■

And not, only.; ,u;as thostraining, of tho daughters" essential, to the "making of-a home*, but .the training' of tho .sons, and this was a duty, the, importance of which the forethoughtful parents-would realiso very fully. •England 1 had : been forced'.to see that. The importance of training tho children had been forced upon tho notico of England during the lioer War, when in one district of Manchester,:' out of ■ 11,000.- men examined with a ■view 'to military, servce, 7000 had been 'rejected as • physically unfit. After the sitting of a Royal Commission to inquiro into tho cause of this national deterioration 14,700. doctors signed a petition ,to Parliament asking that tho school, children of Britain should bo taught the physiological effects of alcohol.' Tho Liquor party tried,to secure a counter-statment, but only 16 medical mon of note could be found, who would sign a, statement that "under some circumstances the alcohol was practically, harmless."