SMILES AND UNTIDY SHOES

Otago Witness, Issue 3596, 13 February 1923, Page 5

SMILES AND UNTIDY SHOES

MISS C. M. TAYLOR AND HER GIRLS. SIR JAMES ALLEN’S ADDRESS. (From Our Own Correspondent.) . LONDON, December 23. It is very evident that Miss C. M. Taylor, M.A., headmistress of the Northampton School for Girls, has the interest and welfare of her pupils at heart, and it must have been gratifying to Sir James and Lady Allen to hear the address made by this very successful New Zealander at the annual speech-day gathering at the school on the occasion of the prize-giving. Sir James was there to give away the prizes, and he, of course, made a speech very appropriate to the occasion. He was presented by one of the pupils with an etching from her own pen: it was a picture of the school, and its reproduction was used as the cover of the day’s programme. Hteviqwing the progress of the school during the year, Miss Taylor made the interesting announcement that they were also seeking a school song. Still more interesting was her statement that various attempts had been made by the girls themselves. So far the acceptable song has not been written, but it is still Miss Taylor’s desire that the song shall be both written and composed within the school. Miss Taylor is also ambitious for a school orchestra, and lamented the fact that the only instrument the girls take any interest in is the piano. The Boys’ School had a quite good small orchestra, and there is no reason why the Girls’ School should be behind. “Whenever I mention the violin, the flute, or the ’cello I meet with no encouragement,” she said. “Even when I mention a school orchestra no one urges me to go on. I have been told that such a thing is quite impossible; that it cannot be done. But is it really impossible? I cannot see why we should not have a school orchestra. ' If she were to give a personal report—a report of her own doings lor the last year—it would b© simply an account of learning to know the school. Perhaps they could imagine that when any girl’s name was mentioned there came into her mind the impression she had made, and how in summing up there was a difficulty of balancing one thing against another. “I wonder,” she said, “how you could balance a charming smile against untidy shoes?—(Laughter.) Can it be done ? I suppose that a charming smile may make one blind to little untidy ways, but life would be even more delightful if all the girls were first scrupulously neat and then smiled charmingly. What would you think of a girl who can write good English that is pleasant to read and who can appreciate good style in literature, and 5 ; yet so little appreciates/ good style in walking that she walks with her shoulders hunched up and her hands deep in her coat pockets?”—(Laughter, in which the girls, joined.) From all this they would realise that the most charming among them had their faults and the worst of them had their good points. With regaid to the training the school gave in clerical work, Miss Taylor said she had had to refuse many requests that girls might be allowed to begin work in these subjects simply because the requests had been made before the girls were old enough or sufficiently well equipped by general education She could not possibly countenance the idea that a course in shorthaid or typing was a substitute for a good education. — (Applause.) If a girl was to have her chance of being worth keeping in a clerical post, her special training must come after the foundation of a good general education. — (Laughter.) It was her hope that every girl would stay at school until she was at least 16. It was not her intention to make admission to the Sixth Form an easy thing. It was a fine ambition for a girl to have to hope tobecome a prefect, and a prefect was chosen on her whole school record. Speaking of the recent inauguration of school houses, Miss Taylor said the school had been divided into four groups or houses, each containing girls drawn from parts of the school from the third form to the prefects. The school had taken up the idea with enthusiasm, and the intention behind the plan was that in all school activities, both work and games, it might make it easier to girls to know each other better and to be more interested in one another than was possible if they kept too closely to form classifications. The Lady Mayoress reminded the girls: “ Wherever you go people who know you belong to this school are watching you. and I want you to be so proud that you will never do anything at any time to disgrace the school. If you are always proud of your school, then your parents, your mistresses, and this good old town will always be proud of you.” •EW ZEALAND GIRLS AND ENGLISH GIRLS. Sir James Allen knew of no safer anchor apart from a man or woman’s religious faith than the traditions of one’s own school. He then made some interesting statements concerning the Maori race, saying he never thought of the part New Zealand played in the war without his thoughts reverting to the race. Maori girls were not quite the same colour as English girls, but they were not black. They were a very nice colour, and many of them were very handsome. There were schools in New Zealand just like this one, and the Maori girls were educated along with the white girls, there being no distinctions or differences between them. The Maori girls of New Zealand were, after all, their sisters, and if ever the Mother Country got into trouble they would be as solidly behind Great Britain as their brothers were.— (Applause.) Sir James had tried to find out the difference between the New Zealand girl and the English girl, and he had come to the conclusion that the former was more selfdependent, and had her mdnd centred on the practical side of life. On the other hand, the English girl probably had her iff sal set on a

higher standard. In fJ'ew 2ealan<f they tad a university course in domestic science, having realised that the work of a cook or a maid in the home was worthy for anybody to do.—(Applause.) If English girls were unable to get a Bachelor of Science Degree in home science, they would be behind New Zealand. There they looked on the home as the basis of their lives. Let them establish the standard of the home as high as possible. It would keep men out of many temptations if they could be attracted to their homes. The girls were the future of the race; they had the making of men. Every man knew how a good woman could turn the whole tide of his affairs. He could not conceive that in this school there conld be any (deal but to create a perfectly pure, good woman. If that were done they could look to the permanence of their race. There was no other way for it but by the health and the vigour and the character of the girls brought up among them. “ You have more women in this country than men,” he added. “We have more men than women. I am not inviting you all to come out, because you might be disappointed—(laughter),—but I want you to realise that if any of you do go out as exchanged teachers or in any other way you will receive the very heartiest welcome.”—(Applause.) One aspect of the relations of New Zealand and the dominions towards English educational institutions of intense interest to him was the fact that teachers in New Zealand were extremely anxious to learn something of the outside world. They realised the limitations of teaching in New Zealand alone, without possibilities of experience of the older world. Teachers here also realised their limitation, and so there had been arranged an interchange of teachers between the do minions and the Mother Country. Some of the Northampton girls might want to become teachers, and them he would ask not to forget that there was such a thing as the exchange of teachers with New Zealand and the dominions. At the instance of Alderman Campion, the girls unanimously agreed to ask Sir James to give a message of love and friendship from them to any secondary school in New Zealand with which he might come in contact.