Welsh Journals

THE WELSHWOMAN'S PAGE. SCHOOl: Girls' CAMPS. N.O. has sent me a most interesting account of one of the University Women's Camps for School Girls, for which I am really grateful, as I know mothers throughout the country are showing a keen interest in this significant movement. Thirty-two camps have this year been held in the British Isles, and a number in France and Switzerland. I attended the first Welsh-speaking Camp in the country, that held at Towyn from August 4-13. Forty girls and six officers from different parts of Wales met there, and it surprised me to see how the various branches of life found their share there. It has been our aim in Camp to live the principles of Christian- ity by doing away with the idea that our religious life is to be a thing set apart from our daily work and enjoyment. The Campers gathered together in groups for half-an-hour's Bible study each morning. At 10 o'clock we generally went down to the beach, and while some bathed, others read, wrote, or composed Camp Topicals. We spent one after- noon at Bryn Crug, where Mary Jones y Bala lies buried, and another at Tonfanau. We visited the cave where Owen Glyndwr was once in hiding, and then we had a picnic tea. An excursion was made to Aberdovey, and we also spent a delightful day at Aberystwyth, visiting the National Library to see the fine exhibition of paintings from the Tate Gallery, which are to be taken back to London this winter. In the evenings there were short informal talks, the subject this year being Discipleship,' One day a Welsh lady doctor paid us a visit, and none of us will forget the way in which she spoke to us on purity, and how she emphasised, not only the importance of having healthy bodies and minds, but also the fact that purity is not ignorance. The Camp was thoroughly Welsh, and it has certainly been the means of developing the Welsh spirit. The general tone of the Camp was exceptionally good." This letter deserves prominence, because the Camp Movement is undoubtedly of tremendous social and religious importance. It is a step towards that Christian unity which means so much to us in Wales to-day, and in other ways, too, it has in it the germ of great possibilities. WOMEN DRAMATISTS. All Welshwomen will rejoice in extending congratulations to the first women dramatists to gain the Eisteddfod prize of £ 100, awarded by Lord Howard de Walden. Miss Betty Davies and Miss Kate Roberts, joint authoresses of Y Fam," deserve additional praise because they strike a really fresh, purely feminine note in that play. In The Four-leaved Clover," by Miss Davies alone, cne also welcomes this characteristic tender- ness and grace. Miss Davies is the daughter of the Rev. Eynon Davies, London, while Miss Roberts is from Carnarvonshire. Both are-let Llew Tegid note this !-University graduates, and have already, in the intervals of teaching, composed plays well known in South Wales, such as Wei, wel," and Y Can- MYFANWY FYCHAN. Night sleeps there, In the deep and dusky radiance of her hair, In her soft cheeks dawn, where lilies lie awake, Her little shoulders' lawn the moonbeams take, And foam her fair hands, Rippling up the sands, Glistening on the beaches, The yellow long reaches, Where blue rivers, missing the starlit vales, Are comforted with kissing seas that kiss Wales. Dav rides fleet In the bright and twinkling dancing of her feet, And the glad song's hers the skylark carries up, From dew, and golden furze, and hid green cup; The breeze from the south plays about her mouth, Where her women hate if cuiui, the natbn perkheth. (By M. M.) pant. I like to think of the week-ends spent in composing by these two young dramatists and Miss Margaret Price, who also wrote some plays with them I like to think of the sunny Whit- Monday in 1918, when they roamed the rocks at Penrhyn Gwyr in the Mumbles, and put the last touches to Y Fam"; for these plays have all the gentle humour, the delicate light- heartedness of the open. Let us confess that the majority of our plays so far are somewhat sombre Our dramatists have sought inspiration from tragedy, and forgotten the joyful and true in- spiration of romance. I do not wish to over-emphasise the merits of these short Eisteddfod plays it would, perhaps, not be difficult to criticise them adversely; but the welcome fact remains that the first works of Welsh women dramatists recall the happy charm of early Elizabethan romances, rather than the sober downrightness of later realists. WOMEN AND THE EISTEDDFOD. Some reference has been made by contemporaries to the letter published in this page last month concerning the poor represen- tation of women on the Eisteddfod Committees. One writer briefly explains this fact by pointing out that there is only one woman's s name amongst the list of guarantors for the 1920 Eisteddfod. I had purposely disregarded this point, because to me it conveys nothing, in so far as the majority of the guaran tors are married, and surely their wives share the financial risk with them ? (At least until the economic independence of married women is established one must conclude that this is so.) Still, I am grateful to him for emphasising the fact, because one cannot but agree with him that there is amongst Welsh women an indifference to the Eisteddfod organisation, or, at least, a certain disregard of the opportunity for service which it offers. A learned professor, who has had a lifelong connection with the Eisteddfod, said to me the other day, You want some women who fought for their political recognition to fight this question. But I assure you that we old- stagers would be much readier to grant them their Eisteddfod vote than the Government was to grant them their political rights." Welshwomen, surely that is not a challenge, but-an invitation! A WELSHWOMAN IN Rumania. An Englishman just returned from Rumania said that one of the most impressive things he had heard there was a sermon de- livered in Rumanian in the Church at Bucharest by a young Welshwoman. Miss Eluned Prys, one of the secretaries of the World Federation of Christian Union Students, is now working amongst the students at Bucharest, and it was she who, after only six months' study of the language, delivered the sermon referred to. I understand that Miss Prys is going to prolong her stay at Bucharest, and Welshwomen generally will feel a deep interest in the results of her work at a most perplexing and painful period. M.M. (Contributions dealing with matters of interest to Welsh- women, will be welcomed for this page). Fragrant as it lingers, While summer's fine fingers, When day dawns and closes, flute love's long tune Among the ramble-roses, joy, and Welsh June. Hush how still Are the secrets of her whispering that fill All the dream-borne -sails that shimmer on the sea, With many precious bales for one girl's glee — A queen among kings, Laces, jewels, rings, Silks, brocaded treasure, And gold without measure- Think'st thou, poet-lover, in these gay throngs, The printer? will discover simple Welsh songs. — From Llanpollen Poems by Hugh John Eoans.