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Mary Stewart Collect N INSTITUTE member suggests that we publish in Home and Country something about the origin of the Mary Stewart llect, sometimes called the Women’s In- itute "creed," but which, as any reader can 9, is not a creed but a prayer. The member ggests, too, that we reprint the Collect and , courage Institute members to memorize it. e think this is an excellent idea and that mething might also be said about our Motto ; d the Ode and the Women‘s Institute Grace. Mary Stewart, author of the Collect, was rn in 1876 in the State of Ohio. With her rents she moved to Georgetown, Colorado, ; d, as she herself has written, her childhood as spent “high up in the Rocky Mountains, imbing over stony hillsides, hunting wild owers, playing along tumbling streams.” ater through her college days she tells us er eyes still lifted to the hills while her mind 9 plored the classics. It was while Miss Stewart was principal of i e high school at Longmont, Colorado, where z e friendly women made her a member of I eir Fortnightly Club, that she composed the ollect. She tells us: “It was written as a rayer for the day. I called it “A Collect or Club Women” because I felt that women orking together with wide interests for large 7! ds was a new thing under the sun, and that erhaps they had need for special petition a d meditation of their own. This must have een true, for the Collect has found its way bout the world wherever women, especially nglish~speaking Women, get together. Indeed I has been reprinted in many lands.” Mary Stewart has an enviable record of cholarship and service. She helped to or- anize the National Federation of Business nd Professional Women’s Clubs and was an thusiastic supporter of woman suffrage, From eaching she went into the National Employ- ent Service as assistant director general; ter she was made assistant director of edu- ation in the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and ontinued in this work until a year before er death in 1943. Her Collect For Club ' omen, quoted below continues to spread its \ essage to farther parts of the world: Keep us 0 Lord from pettiness; let us be large in thought, in word and deed; et us be done with fault finding and leave off self seeking; May we put away all pretence and meet ach other face to face, without self pity and without prejudice; ‘- ay we never be hasty in judgment and always generous; ' each us to put into action our better impulses straightforward and unafraid; MMER 1954 111' Collect, Ode and Grace Let us take time for all things; make us grow calm. serene, gentle; Grant that we may realize that it is the little things that create differences; that in the big things of life we are at one And may we strive to touch and know the great human heart common to us all, and 0 Lord God let us not forget to be kind." The Institute Ode The Institute Ode is so well known that it need not be quoted here. It has been brought to our attention however that where the Ode is printed on Institute programmes it is fre» quently broken into two stanzas of four lines each. The correct form is one stanza of eight lines as is followed in the Hand Book. The origin and author of the Ode is not known. but is has been reported to the In stitute Branch that it was used by the Sons" of Temperance" Lodge in its early days in Stroud, Simcoe County, in the late "70’s. Motto And Emblem In Muriel V. Powell’s book “Forty Years Agrowing" We read that while the first ob, jective of the Women‘s Institute was the im- provement of the rural home, it was fre- quently said in these early days that the home must be raised to the highest possible level because “a nation cannot rise higher than its homes." Miss Powell writes: “No doubt it was this idea that prompted the women to adopt in May 1902 the motto “For Home And Coun- try’ suggested by Laura Rose Stephen, then Laura Rose, the first government lecturer." The motto was chosen by a committee con- vened by Mrs. Adelaide Hoodless. In February, 1903 a committee was appointâ€" ed to arrange for an emblematic pin for In- stitute members. Again Laura Rose’s sugges- tion was followed and an emblem was deâ€" signed from a signet ring she was wearing. So we have our Ontario Women‘s Institute pin â€"a small oval in blue and gold with the letters O.W.I. cut in the oval, a small maple leaf at each end and the words of the motto engraved on the oval banding. The Institute Grace The Women's Institute Grace was composed by Mrs. Clara Linttell Deakin, of City View and Merivale Institute. The tune is the Old Hundred; the words: “We thank Thee, Father, for Thy care, Food, friends and kindliness we share; May we forever mindful be Of Home and Country and of Thee.” It would save a lot of confusion and faltering singing it every Institute member Would memorize this Grace. 21