New Dundee Tweedsmuir History Book A, p. 31

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ing community life." What Stoney Creek and other institutes have done through the years since, and what leaders like Mrs. Summers and Miss Lewis are working to develop in institute work today, shows that the aims of the first institute are fundamental enough and vital enough—they just have to be adapted to present conditions, as they are being adapted by progressive institutes everywhere. THIS was borne out, too, in the message from Mrs. Conant. "I do not remember the first meeting," said Mrs. Conant, "—after all, I was quite young—but I do remember in later years my mother" (Mrs. E. D. Smith) "telling me that she worried about neglecting her family. But Mrs. Hoodless persuaded her to be the first president." Mrs. Conant recalled coming to some of the meetings as a small girl, and that when some subject of special interest to women was being discussed, the doors were tightly closed in case some man should pass and hear what was said. "The institute motto 'For Home and Country' has a depth and warmth that stirs the heart", Mrs. Conant declared. "A sound family of nations begins with a nation of sound families." Then she proceeded to explain from her observations in Europe the gulf between the meaning of home to Canadians and to the hosts of homeless people in Europe. "The 'displaced persons' plight is serious", the speaker said. "They may live in camps, always herded together. Or a family may live in one room. Family life is a travesty. Food comes in cans. Clothing comes from UNRRA. A man cannot work to support his family. Children grow up in idleness and the older ones tend to become bandits or thieves. Each nationality has its own school where children are taught about their own country, so out of school they have fights over national superiorities, and an intolerance is being bred to pave the way for future wars. Holland and Sweden are taking many of these children. Is Canada to remain heartless? "Other, older children have lived in the woods, fighting as partisans with the Russians. They have carried weapons, and killed, and are proud of it. The youth of Germany are in the same position as the youth of Germany were after the first war. They have no hope, no ideals, low moral standards. If we don't give them something someone else will. The children of Europe today will be the friends or enemies of our children tomorrow." Another aftermath of the war is the number of "surplus" women and girls left in Europe. Mrs. Conant suggested that the women of Canada would befriend these—and at the same time help themselves—by pressing for the admission to this country of those who would work as domestics in homes and hospitals. Many of these women would make most desirable Canadian citizens; also there would be more children born in Canadian homes if mothers could get domestic help when they need it. The National Council of Women is urging the government to admit this type of woman immigrant and Mrs. Conant suggested that the institutes consider supporting this action. The secretary of Stoney Creek in- stitute, Mrs. W. Lyle Nash, reported 2179 messages of congratulation on the institute's fiftieth anniversary. They came from England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, New Zealand, Holland, and every province in Canada; from Lady Tweedsmuir, the Lieut.-Governor of Ontario, Elizabeth Christmas and forty three institutes in England, from Andover, the first institute in New Brunswick, the Saskatchewan Homemakers' Clubs, Col. Kennedy, Mrs. Alfred Watt, Laura Rose Stephen, Senator E. D. Smith and the Men's Club of Stoney Creek. Mrs. Goodswan of England, an in- stitute lecturer in Handicrafts replied to the toast to the Associated Women ____of the World and thanked the Ontario institutes for their gifts of seeds and clothing during the war. The birthday cake made by Mrs. Chester Nash was cut in pieces, wrapped in cellophane and sealed with a gold seal bearing the institute crest and the inscription "From the Mother of Institutes, Stoney Creek." The candles were lighted by the oldest Irving past president, Mrs. Hamilton

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