THE WOMEN OF SWEDEN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23203, 29 May 1937, Page 25

THE WOMEN OF SWEDEN

A TALK BY MRS HAROLD SKINNER AT THE WOMEN'S CLUB

A woman with a swift appreciation of things "rich and strange," and a retentive memoP' Mrs Harold Skinner, who recently returned from a year abroad, is also gifted with the art of creating for her listeners a complete scene by means of a few ably-selected words. She addressed the Civic Circle of the Otago Women's Club on Thursday afternoon and gave her audience a rare treat as regards travel talks. Before dealing with the subject of Europe, Mrs Skinner spoke about London and England—London, where she had not been since war-time, "when all the city was in darkness and only the pencil streaks of searchlights striped the night," and where now everything was glittering with lights and skysigns after dusk. Mrs Skinner also told of a famous luncheon at Hull, at which the Abyssinian Emperor was present, and of how interesting and upsetting the'occasion had been. Lord" Cecil was in the chair, and Dr Martin, Minister for Abyssinia in London, was one of the 'speakers. At that luncheon Mrs Skinner realised how cultured and enlightened a person Haile Sellassie was, how noble had been his plans for his country, and how ashamed it made one to think that those plans - would now never come to fruition. She also perceived that pacificism, though an ideal, was not yet practicable, unless all nations put down their arms simultaneously the big nations could not afford to put down theirs or the small nations would take advantage of the situation. Britain was regarded by Europe rather as a policeman who kept law and' order; and, while civilisation was in its present state, she could not adopt the system of disarmament without breaking faith with practically every country in Europe. The account of Sweden, whither Mrs Skinner's husband, Mr Harold Skinner, had been invited in order to lecture to the Geographical Society, and where both he and his wife and their son Dick were the honoured guests of the university, sounded almost like a fairy tale. That little European country, shut away from its neighbouring countries, and subject to a long, trying winter and very little change, can set an example in civilisation to the whole world. Thrown upon its own resources, it has come to depend upon itself and be definitely

creative, and the result is a cultural leadership which the rest of Europe recognises. The beauty of it all, Mrs Skinner said, is the fact that progress never marches ahead oi_ the natural characteristics of the Swedish nation; the result being that in everything the national traits are always preserved. Sweden is the land of the Vikings, the country where altars to Freya, Odin, and Thor are still standing, where mounds over the remains of the heroes of the time of Beowulf are yet to be seen, and where the mead that the people drink is made from an old Viking recipe handed down through the ages. It leads all countries in art and science, and yet has managed to retain the courteous manners and customs of a past chivalry. Stockholm is typical of Sweden—the old Stockholm, a little mediaeval city with cobbled streets, heavy stone buildings, an ancient palace, and wine cellars in which travellers may eat, drink, and make merry, and the new Stockholm over the bridge, modern to a nicety, and yet Swedish still. In the new Stockholm stands a Town Hall that is a marvel of architecture, following no particular style and yet achieving an appearance completely satisfactory. The people trusted the architect to such an extent that they gave him carte blanche with the building, and the fact that on several occasions he changed his mind accounts for their unusual but delightful hall that is the pride of Stockholm today. The royal family in Sweden are real patrons of the arts and sciences. When Mr Skinner gave his first lecture in the country he received an apology from one of the princes who was unable to be present. They are also very much interested in university life, and at Upsala ..the university town of Sweden where each nationality of students used to have its own " nation house," many of the beautiful mural decorations were done by a prince of the royal house. Royalty has also patronised an openair museum, probably the only one of its kind in the world. This, a long peninsula running out into the Baltic, was originally a private hunting ground, but is now used as a preservation of old Swedish lore and characteristics. Actual buildings have been taken up and placed there, with people, in the costume of the period to which the buildings belong, occupying them. There, the history of Sweden for generations may be read, not from, books, but from places and people themselves, and the fact that there are two open-air dance floors, one for modern dancing, and one for the teaching and practising of old folk dances, and that the latter is the more popular of the two, proves how fond and proud the people are of their historical past. The open-air museum is a meeting place for all classes of society and for any visitors who come to the country. The civic activities of the Y.W.C.A. in Sweden interested Mrs Skinner very much. Whatever the Y.W.C.A. there does that is worth while is subsidised by the Government, so that many of the best reforms in the community have originated in the association. For instance, there is an admirable creche for children, the teaching of handcrafts to slightly sub-normal girls, and a school for domestic workers which seems to have solved without any effort the problem of domestic service. In Sweden, no housewife will employ a girl who cannot produce a certificate of efficiency, so the whole standard of housework is elevated and ennobled, and girls are trained for it as for any other profession, and, as in other professions, pay for their training. The school is equipped so that every type of home and every sort of work may be understood, and the girls are proud of their qualifications and eager to practise them. Mrs Skinner described the hospitality of the Swedes, who turn dinner parties and the entertaining of their guests into an art, and whose aim is to give a. semblance of the " feasting in Valhalla" which was the ideal of the gods and heroes of other ages. She concluded her account by quoting from a private letter sent to her by her hostess before she left Sweden. This letter, dealing with the gift of a piece of statuary in which three children were looking upwards into the sky and which Mrs Skinner had happened to admire while she was over there, described the flight of the wild geese that the children were supposed to be watching. Couched in gracious and simple language, with nobility of sentiment and sincerity of affection apparent in its every phrase, it gave the last description necessary for the understanding of the fine type of people inhabiting the country that Mrs Skinner had so sympathetically been speaking about.