ABSENT OFFICERS.

White Ribbon, Volume 30, Issue 355, 18 February 1925, Page 3

ABSENT OFFICERS.

The following are extracts from letters written by Mrs Don and Miss Henderson. Mrc Don writes as follows: I went to Niagara with Miss Lusby after the Convention; and then went back to Washington and there had an interview with President Coolidge at the White House. I was also entertained at dinner in the hoiaie of Mr Wayne Wheeler, and there met Colonel and Mrs Haynes.

The Annual Council of all Temperance Societies was held the first week in December at Washington, attended by some of the National Officers of the W.C.T.U., Mr Cherriugton, Mr Dinwiddie, and many other celebrities in our Reform work. Miss Gordon gave a dinner in the hotel Raliegh for the W.C.T.F. delegates, and as usual they made me the honoured guest. Then the Washington Union gave me a farewell luncheon to which Miss Gordon was invited. She spent one Sunday afternoon and evening at Miss Lusby’s, and we had a quiet happy time together. 1 saw* more of Miss (Jordon than ever before, and my opinion was deepened that she is th* most lovable woman I have ever known. Miss Lusby went with me from Washington to New York, breaking v-ur journey at Philadelphia. Mrs Boole and her daughter entertained us at New York, and gave us a royal time in that great city, that is a netw’ork of overhead Electric Tramway and Underground subw*ays. Mrs Boole has a beautiful home at Brooklyn, and it took just one hour to go across the City of New* York. I went through the locality that once was slums, but since Prohibition all that is changed. 1 visited the Bow'ery Mission and addressed a big gathering of men. and saw them served w*Rh hot coffee and sandwiches at the close, I w*ent to as many of the notable places as possible, and was entertained at a dinner party in Mrs Boole’s home, just State Presidents and some Officers being present, and the City Union gave me the very last party the last day but one. It began at 2 p.m.. and closed at 5 p.m., but w*as one of the most successful and unique functions l had been at in America. Mrs Mrs Boole has given me a Stenomoto-

graph with five sets of slides, a Lantern Temperance Lecture, 4 giant Posters mounted on muslin, and a number of huge pictures and mottoes suitable for our work. They are all packed in a large trunk and being consigned to the Alliance until I can claim it. We are to pay the expenses of freight. The rest is a gift. When I got on board I found the 3 berth cabin was for my sole use. It looked like a small department of the G.P.O. for it w*as full of packages, containing fresh a :d dried fruits, grapes, candy, large box ot nuts, numerous books, and magazines, with letters, wires and Christmas greetings, and farewell good wishes from all over the States. Mrs and Miss Boole with Clair*> Lusby, came on board with me. After a long chat, we closed the door while Mrs Boole prayed with us, and then 1 begged them to go away before the boat sailed. The reßt need not be told, but oh, my heart was sore at parting from those blessed women who treated me as though I were a kinsman and not a. stranger. There are usually 4 00 passengers on this one C. deck. This trip there are only 40; being Christmas few* are travelling. I wish I could tell you how* luxurious it is, there is only one class; each deck (there are three) accommodates 4 00. They can carry 15 to 16 hundred travellers easily. An orchestra plays at intervals. 6 hours a day. The cabins, lounges, saloon and drawing rooms are all steam heated, and it is necessary for it is cruelly cold. It wa* a glorious sunny day when we sailed, and coming down the harbour i saw the statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and many other places, but at night it began to snow and has continued for 3 days. We are buttoned in with canvas, and seldom see the ocean. 1 mean’t to answer all my letters and acknowledge all the parcels w*hile at sea, but its not easy. I have been able to attend all meals, and do some writing, but I have to get on rr.y bark very frequently for I get a sick headache with the motion.. I hope to go as far as India in the Maloja, but cannot make any reservation until 1 reach London. I do not believe it is possible for me to get to N.Z. before the last week in March, though I have decided to go out as quickly as possible. Now* that the tour of America is over, I have lost all desire to visit London or Scotland, though

both places have cordially invited me. I can nevtr hope adequately to tell about the wonderful Jubilee Convention, its pageantry, its spectacular demonstration, the tine addresses, and the outstanding women I met there; Mrs Carrie Chapman Catt (who told me she hopes to visit New Zealand in the near future); Miss Jane Adams of Hull House; Mrs Mabel Willebiandt; Mrs Pinchott; and many others, in New York I had an interview with Commandant Evangeline Booth, who told me the best stories of Prohibition I have yet heard in America. She is a great and beautiful woman, never hopes to visit New Zealand, for she is very fragile, and the sea is never kind to her; every time she has been on it she has been seriously ill. My impressions of Prohibition in U.S.A., as 1 have seen it from Coast to Coast, are all good and make me long more than ever for similar conditions in

our own land. Miss Henderson sends the following from India:— I need hardly say that I am having a quiet time here, and beyond the various branches of Mission work, there is not much to see. Jagadhri is an entirely Native town of about 15,000 people and the numerous villages in the vicinity are extremely primitive. The huts have mud walls and are of the poorest kind, the consequence is that a tiood may do serious damage, and one which occured some two months back completely wiped out 44 villages. Our Missionaries have just finished the business of distributing relief, and the people are struggling to get on their feet again. This part of India is very unlike the South. The weather just now is quite cool, and fires are necessary, but I am told fhat the heat in summer is terrible. The people, too, are in marked contrast to those in the South. Here they are much more virile and independent. A casual observer like myself, however, sees nothing of the unrest that is troubling India, Ghandi, I understand, has compromised with those of his fellow countrymen who are not prepared to go as far as he advocates, and this compromise seems to have weakened his influence. My information, however, has been gathered from the official newspapers and is probably not altogether reliable.

I am joining the Australian boat at Colombo on February 7th, and expect to be in N.Z. by March 7th or Bth. It will depend upon my being able to get a berth on the earliest possible boat from Sydney to Wellington.