Havergal College - Magazine Yearbook (Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada)

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Havergal College Magazine for their special contribution in the building up of national life, and for their help in arriving at an adequate solution of the prob- lems which confront the awakened peoples. But if women are to take their right place in the new move- ments, it is obvious that they must be educated, and this fact is being recognized in the East as well as in the West. The leaders of the new political movements in China realize that the develop- ment of women ' s education is one of the most urgent necessities for China and, in India, Hindu and Moslem reformers are dis- cussing the question and are themselves founding schools for girls. In these circumstances, the leaders in the East naturally turn to the West for help, and to Western women has come the supremely important question of the kind of training that shall be given to the women of the East. Shall they receive a merely Western edu- cation, and thus bring to their nation an ideal of human life which is not interwoven with the old national ideals, or shall they remain true to the best which their nation has always desired for its women and yet add to the old ideal the new social and intellectual freedom and the spiritual forces which Christianity and Christian education can give ? With the entrance of Western science and Western civilisation the old faiths are rapidly losing their hold. Shall the women of the East receive an education which will bring to them material benefits but which will offer them nothing to sat- isfy their deep religious instincts, and which will give them neither spiritual ideals nor moral power with which to cope with the strangely difficult conditions of their lives ? The opportunity now before English women and others of giving help to the women and girls of the East can hardly be over- estimated. ' Not only are Western teachers needed to serve on the staffs of schools, both for kindergarten and form work, but they are even more urgently required for training Indian and Chinese teachers who shall be able to educate the millions of Indian and Chinese girls — teachers who will be enthusiastic over their work and who will not merely try to cram the children with facts out of Western text-books. The influence which Christian teachers might have at this moment in moulding the destinies of the Eastern nations is, without exa ggeration, incalculable. Moreover, English women who give their interest and thoughts to the needs of India, China and Japan are not thereby neglecting home problems. The social perplexities of England will not be truly solved so long as an attempt is made to deal with them in isolation. Social prob- lems today are closely bound together throughout the world ; they are part of one great movement which is confined by no geographi- cal boundaries. If Christian ideals do not raise the moral and spiritual standards of the East there will come flooding back upon 22

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Havergal College Magazine in the wind, or on a little wood of larches with their delicate out- line standing out against the blue-grey sky. At our feet might be golden daffodils dancing in the sun, or bluebells mingling with the young spring green; and, at peace with ourselves, joy and de- light in our weary town-laden hearts, we would turn back walking through lanes where white and purple violets hid in the hedges and young birds twittered in their nests. We would stop and listen to the song of thrush or blackbird, or to the murmur of the wind in the trees; we would lie on the earth and fill our being with the damp, sweet smell, and the threefold joy of sight and sound and smell would be such as the 1 dweller in cities alone could appreciate to the full. But when, our mood having changed, Ave move away and return to the roar of London ' s traffic, the joy of contrast is so strong that, though our senses may be still vibrating to the memory of some sweet spot or delicious scent, we rejoice again in the grandeur and dignity of London ' s beauty, and in the inspiration its beauty holds for us. But perhaps it is at night that we most feel the fascination of London (all is wonderful at night for those who can feel the magic and mystery of the dark), or in the half-dim light as we wander by the Thames when the mist clothes the riverside with a charm hard to define, but which never fails to meet our mood. It transforms everything around so that our imagination has free play and fairyland is before us. Wonderful tints of blue and gold dwell in the sky, and below at our feet flows the silvery Thames. All swiftly flowing rivers have 1 a fascination, but there is something about the Thames which moves us very deeply. Perhaps this is due to the literary and historical associations which it evokes, or to the fact that it flows through some of the most loved scenery in England, widening and widening till it ends in infinity soon after passing through the heart of London City. One of the most beautiful poems in the English language has a refrain which I should like to quote in conclusion to these few remarks on London ' s charm: Sweete Themmes mime softly, till I end my song. -L. M. ' Grove. THE CHRISTIAN EDUCATION OF WOMEN IN THE EAST. Among the vast changes which are taking place in the world to-day, few movements are more significant than that which is bringing freedom to the women and girls of the East. Tn India, China and Japan the influence of Western civilization has already put women into a new position, and the need is being recognized 21

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Havergal College Magazine the Western world influences which will increase the social diffi- culties at home and which will render the problem well-nigh im- possible of solution. It is at their own peril that the Western nations act if they take to the East a new civilization without Christianity. The Christian education of women in the East is thus a sub- ject both complex and urgent, and it is one which calls for the best thought and study which educated women in the West can give. A conference to consider the problem was held at Oxford early in September last. Addresses were given by the Bishop of Oxford, Professor Cairns, Miss Powell, Miss Richardson, the Rev. W. Temple and others engaged in educational work at home and abroad ; a full report has been published. At the close of the conference a small committee was formed to conserve results and to act as a body of reference. The honorary secretary is Miss de Selincourt, formerly principal of the Lady Muir Training School, Allahabad, and any questions may be sent to her at Annandale, North End Road, Golders Green, London, N.W., England. The aim of the committee is not to form any new organisation or society but to enlist fresh interest in the work of already existing mission boards. Miss de Selincourt will be glad to give details of educational posts that are at present vacant in the East and to explain the a Short Service Scheme by which teachers and others who cannot take up permanent work abroad may give valuable aid for a year or more. Great opportunities for helping the women of India are also open to English women who go out to stay with friends and who have had no technical training, and the interest, sympathy and thought of those who remain at home are no less needed. In this critical moment of the world ' s history the women of the East are appealing to the women of the West, and there is not one of us who may not, if she will, take a share in the response to that appeal. FAMOUS, BUT FORGOTTEN. Twelve neat brown volumes, strong in the binding of sixty years since, stand in dusty leisure on the top shelf of our College library. Inside, an equally neat label proclaims their presentation to the St. John ' s College Ladies ' School Library by Dr. Thorn, the year of the benefaction not being specified, though probably much later than 1853, the date on the title page. Charming steel engravings, on a surface mellowed to the softest creamy brown, and excellent print for the excellent sentiments on every page, have failed, however, to attract the readers of either institution 23