GIRLS’ RALLY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18510, 22 March 1922, Page 8

GIRLS’ RALLY

ADDRESS BY MISS STEVENSON. The downstairs portion of the Burns Hall was well filled last night, when a muss meeting for girls was held under the auspices of the Y.W.C.A. Dr Marion Whyte presided, and welcomed tho visiting leader, Miss Jean Stevenson, in cordial and sincere terms. Miss Stevenson then took charge of the meeting for the next half hour, and led the girls in what modern parlance calls community singing, being assisted by an excellent little orenestra. The girls themselves chose the songs, and joined togetner in the singing most heartily. The next item, the recitation of “ Now Zealand by Miss Kathleen Glendinning, was really an introduction to a song ceremony in which several girls took part. Representing such things as the spirits of service, knowledge, love, and inspiration, they prepared the way for the address which was to follow. Jdl the girls then joined in “God Bless Our Native Land.’ 1 Miss Stevenson’s address followed. Miss Stevenson said that though her subject was “A Girl and Her Country,’’ she was really going to talk to them about a girl's part in a new world. As citizens we all held certain beliefs which were our national ideals, and they were one thing which wo would have to make new. Once, she said, she used to think that Great Britain was a great nat ion because it covered such a lot of territory on tho map. But it was not territory, or power, or money that made a contiy truly great, but the quality of life to be found in thoir citizens. Where everyone was able to work and receive a fair reward for their labour, and to use their leisure wisely; where there was the best typo of family life, and where the people were able to enjoy tho best in art, and literature, and music; and where there was happiness and contentment and health—there the country was truly great, though it might not cover much territory or rank among the nations as a great power. To show how this true greatness might bo achieved by a nation, Miss Stevenson described a French’s girl’s estimate of the new spirit that came to her country in the war as a result of the practical expression of the ideal embodied in "la patrie”—how everyone found tho necessity to work for their country, and how they found that all work was of equal value, since it was all necessary. From this arose the realisation that all people were of equal value, a now appreciation of one another, and a new spirit of service and responsibility. These ideals Miss Stevenson urged tho girls to put into practice in their own daily lives, stressing the point that in God’s sight all service and all people were of equal value. .She pointed to tho words on the association’s triangle—loyalty, service, comradeship—which she said were the ideals that she wished the girls to take away with them. Her closing note was the Will of God carried into the humblest tasks, which were all necessary to make the right kind of a world. The girls followed the speaker with evident attention, and then joined in their song, ’’ Lead On, O King Eternal.” A reception was tendered to Miss Stevenson in the afternoon by the board of directors of tho Y’.W.C.A., at which a large number of association members and personal friends of Miss Stevenson were present. The Mayor (Mr J. S. Douglas) cordially welcomed Miss Stevenson back to Dunedin, her native city, and spoke in appreciative terms of the work of the Y.W.C.A. Miss Stevenson, in a brief speech, traced the development of the Y r .W.C.A. from its very beginnings in 1852. Existing as a concrete expression of a social consciousness on the part of women, it underwent many changes in accordance with the changing conditions of their lives, but through it all the association aimed that girls should be splendid in health and vigorous in mind, with an inspiration for service.