GIRL GUIDES' RALLY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20113, 26 November 1928, Page 11

GIRL GUIDES' RALLY.

AN INSTRUCTIVE PAGEANT.

IDEALS OF THE MOVEMENT.

STRIKING SCENE AT DOMAIN.

The beautiful surroundings of the Domain formed the setting on Saturday afternoon for the largest rally of Girl Guides ever held in Auckland. Over 2500 Guides and Brownies participated in a programme of displays lasting 2£ hours, and the large crowd which thronged the slopes was given a wonderful insight into the work of the organisation in its char-acter-building of the community's young womanhood.

Although the display took the form of numerous separate presentations there was underlying the whole rally the dominant appeal for the higher ideals of life sought above all by every Girl Guide. Youth is the time of hero-worship and in handing down through the ranks of the Guides the traditions of past heroes and heroines a most important factor of appeal has been grasped in its full significance. Those who witnessed the display must have been assured that when in years to come the same girls who built a pageant of colour on the lives of the great come to build homes they will carry in their own lives the higher thoughts they idealised in youth. The materialism with which the display was presented was but a cloak for the deeper truths which form the very foundation of the Guide movement.

Organising ability marked tho whole rally, which proceeded without a break. The Domain was at its beist beneath a bright sun and the nunicious banners and (lags waving on the ground in a slight breeze lent a colourful note. Following the arrival of Mrs. W. R. Wilson, chief commissioner for New Zealand, and Dr. Buckley Turkington, Auckland provincial commissioner, the whole assembly of Guides marched on to the ground, apparently in haphazard fashion. At a given signal all fell to the ground, revealing a wonderfully accurate map of the world, showing in bright relief against the grass. This map was used to good purpose. Twenty-three flags were planted in British possessions. Then miniature streamers on wheels realistically traversed the trade routes, after which 56 trefoils were planted by Brownies in countries wherever Girl Guides are organised. Taking Care of Teeth.

This instructive display was followed by tho grand march of the Guides and tho Brownies trot past the official stand, where Mrs. Wilson took the salute. "Clean your teeth every day," a Brownie health rule, was then illustrated in a E itched ba'tlo before tho "ivory castle" etween red-coated germs and cleaners and sentries armed with brushes. By the aid of the brushes the cleaners drove off the germs mi an illustrative battle calrulated to appeal more to young minds than a deal of verbal instruction iu dental hygiene. Tho Guido law pageant portrayed great men and women, who typified tho virtues of honour loyalty, usefulness, friendliness, courtesy, kindness, obedience, cheerfulness, thrift and purity. Excellent costuming marked this pageant, and with each new portrayal somo part of the modern Guide's activities was shown simultaneously. It was noticeable that no life was portrayed for its exemplification of physical prowess alone. Although some had performed great deeds, the men and women who stepped out of tho past and beckoned to ' the Guides, live in memory for their moral and spiritual qualities. It was this structure of high ideals that contained tho real meaning of the pageant. King Arthur, wi'th his knights, stood in silence apart from a group of athletic girls who played team games, and although the girls seemed not to know they were watched by the spirits of a past glory, nevertheless they typified the very honour which Arthur charged his knights to seek and hold. There was a simple tribute to Captain Scott and his party, typifying loyalty. Although great deeds were performed by this noble band one imagined the salute accorded the group around tho sleigh by hundreds of Guides was a tribute more to their moral qualities. Usefulness and Kindness. Grace Darling and Florence Nightingale were chosen to typify usefulness, and these two looked on from a distance while Guides carried out ambulance and lifesaving drill with remarkable alacrity and precision. The representation of friendliness produced a picturesque showing. Damon and Pythias, "who counted to die for one's friend but a small thing," were presented as a great example of personal friendship. As they stood in cloak and toga girls dressed in national costumes linked up in a universal sisterhood. While Sir Walter Raleigh walked forward with "Good Queen Bess," as a supreme example of courtesy, a miniature camp was erected on one side of the ground. Tents were placed in position in no time, and a Guiders' camp was almost replete for occupation. St. Francis of Assisi was taken as an example of kindness, and from tho midst of his band of monks homing pigeons were released as a symbol of his love of animals. A slim, lonely %ure in sailor's suit, representing Jack Corawell, tho boy hero of Jutland, summoned the Guides to follow him along the path of obedience. An example of thrift was the presentation of Quaker girls at work, and alongside them tho home-building activities of the Guides were depicted. "Old King Cole," with his jolly court, represented cheerfulness in excellent fashion. Tho pageant concluded with the symbolic representation of purity, typified by Joan of Arc. A girl on a white horse, bearing a white standard, bade tho Guides: "See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil." Those who took part in the various settings then marched back to the ground, making a colourful scene, the rally concluding with the singing of tho National Anthem.

Music was provided during tlio afternoon by tho band of tlio Ist Battalion Auckland Regiment.