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many causes is an award to the nurse graduat- ing from the hospital with the highest standing in obstetrics. The secretary of Whitby Institute, Mrs. Earl Ward, reports an encouraging growth in mem- bership. Last year the membership increased from fourteen to twentyâ€"eight. The Institute's bank balance also increased “from nearly nil to over $100” besides a sum now being collected for the town's new hospital. As features which might be partly responsible for the increase in members, Mrs. Ward mentions interesting meetings. one including a "pot luck“ meal. 0 o o Kippen East sends this note: “Each year we have an attendance contest. Leaders for two sides are chosen and the members are allotted to the sides. For answering the roll call we receive a point and another for standâ€" ing to answer. We also receive points for our side if we bring a new member for the Institute. Each year when the points are totaled we decide how to celebrate. Sometimes the losing side provides the program. These programs have featured charades â€" ‘Live a Borrowed Life'. “Ladies Day’ etcetera. I have noticed that our members now always rise to answer the roll call." * * * BEAUTY AS A SHIELD By Elsie Robinson 1 will hold beauty as a shield against despair. When my heart faints I will remember sights like these: BronZe cypresses that framed a sapphire sea, A desert mesa: wrapped in sunset flame, An airplane that raced the Overland Above a trail still marked with whitening bones; A path through a dim forest, hushed and sweetI Lit by one amber beam that fell aslant; Foam, silver-laced, along a curving wave; Sprawled golden hills, with shadows like spilled Wine; Tall office buildings rearing through the night Sheer walls of alabaster pierced with gold â€" And snowflakes falling on a. lonely pine. I will hold beauty as a shield against despair. Whhen my heart faints I will remember sights like t ese: The dawning wonder in a baby's face, The kindness in a weary wanton's smile, The gallant challenge of a cripple‘s grin, Seeing forever bodies that are straight; The fighting courage in a mother's eyes _ _ When she waits, braced, to meet birth‘s gripping pains; The shy adoring of a. boy’s first love, The eager beauty of his first crusade Against some wrong which he alone can right â€" The tolerance that sometimes comes with age. ##4 SUMMER ‘I 965 Mrs. Chester Nash, President Sloney Creek Women's Instilute. with Ihe Institule's new souvenir plate. The price of the plate is $2.00 if called for at Mrs. Nash's home, 2342 King 5!., Stoney Creek; 52.50 boxed and mailed to anywhere in Canada,- 53.00 if mailed to Great Britain. Proceeds are used to provide funds for Stoney Creek Institute proiects such as student bursaries and supporting two children through lhe Sure the Children plan. “One of the best planned programs in our Granton Institute was arranged by the con- vener of Agriculture and Canadian Industries and was centred around Cheese. The convener told the story of the discovery of cheese and the first cheese factory in Ontario. Then there was a description of the various kinds of cheeseâ€"Stilton from England, Danish Blue from Denmark, Roquefort from France. Goudi from Holland. Cheddar produced in our own province. A merchant on the London market provided samples of most of these and they were used for lunch with biscuits, fruit, apple squares and cheese cake. The Winter issue with its beautiful cheese tray cover arrived in time for reference . The convener also spoke on the various kinds of flour and their particular uses, with illustrations. Thus she co-ordinated her program by using manufac- tured products of the dairy and the soilâ€" products which Canada exports mainly to Great Britain." 0 o o The Maggie Johnson Women‘s Institute in Wentworth county. as is generally known, took its name from the local girl, Maggie Clark, later Maggie Clark Johnson, in whOSe memory her husband wrote the song “When You And I Were Young." Mrs. Edsal Laid- man, P.R.O. for the branch, writes that on May 12. 1965. the one hundredth anniversary of Maggie Clark‘s death at the age of twentyâ€" three, the Institute members held a memorial service at her grave in White Church cem- etery, Glanford. Mrs. Laidman also reports: “The Maggie Johnson Institute held a Tweedsmuir History Tea and an Heirloom Display at the home of 31