Welsh Journals

Search over 450 titles and 1.2 million pages

Some of the Pembrokeshire Institutes visited St. David's for the first time, and a Merioneth Institute had a trip around Snowdon; others spent a day in Chester, and others in Hereford. By means of such experiences to many life's out- look is entirely changed, new scenes and especi- ally places of historical interest leaving a marked influence on their lives. One would like to give an insight into other aspects in the activities of our various Institutes, although it is almost impossible to do them justice. For instance, one Institute invited ali the children to a St. David's Day party, whilst another gave a supper and entertainment to ih*3 ex-service men. Another provided milk for -.e sick folk in the village for a period of three months, and a successful soup kitchen was opened in another village, providing school children with soup daily from November to March. The foregoing record illustrates the benevolent side of the movement, the Institutes in many places being real assets to the community in general. National savings are a feature of many Women's Institutes; lending libraries are also started, and by means of these the spirit of thrift and the love of reading is cultivated. Again, one Institute took such an interest in public affairs that it decided to run a candidate for the Board of Guardians, and the good canvassing done re- sulted in her coming out at the top of the poii The talents of the members are so varied that many Institutes have now formed glee parties,. and this adds greatly to the success of their meetings. Also they go in for dramatic clubs, Wales and the Cause of Peace. By T. Huws Davies. A GREAT Russian writer, in a very striking short story, has described the tragedy of a man who, on the day of the Crucifixion, was so concerned with an attack of tooth- ache that he never even dimly realized that any- thing in the nature of a great human event was happening in those sad and crowded hours. Ben Tobit-for that was the man's name-is a symbol of many of the greatest calamities of history,-those which are mainly the consequence of a failure to realise the significance of a great time and a great opportunity; and there are in these days indications that our world is settling down into a Ben Tobit's frame of mind, con- cerned primarily with our immediate aches and pains, and thus losing sight of the overwhelming significance of the drama of our days. The citizens of Europe have, during the last eight years, passed through the most cataclysmic experiences physically, intellectually, morally and spiritually. They have seen the complete col- lapse, if not of a civilization, at any rate of most of its normal activities and functions. Its life is and last winter Sheridans' Rivals was per- formed. A short Welsh story written for ner members by the secretary of one of our Institutes describes rather well the effects of an Institute in her village. In the first act a woman from tiio village refuses to join the Women's Institute, saying that she did not like some of the members who had joined, did not know others and did not wish to; in fact, she could not see anything at all in the Institute; it was, she declared, simply a place for gossip. Several of the members, however, persisted in asking her to join; and in the second act these appear on the stage, each one saying how happy she was since she had joined, how busy they were kept, how friendly everyone was, how much more interesting life had become, etc., etc., until at last the woman decides to give it a trial. In the third act the woman appears wearing an Institute made skirt, a blouse made out of an old coat-lining, wash- leather gloves and hat trimmed at the Institute, also a basket made there, and says how surprised she was to find that all she had been told was true, that the members were really nice and friendly, that she had learnt all kinds of handi- craft, and had splendid hints on spring-cleaning, recipes for cakes, remedies for colds, etc., and declares that it was the happiest winter she had ever spent, and that she had made ever so many new friends. She ends up by urging all the women to join and to live up to the motto on the membership cards, which is- To do all the good we can, In every way we can, To all the people we can." broken, shattered and maimed; its material wealth is squandered, its industry and commerce almost ruined its intellectual progress has been disastrously arrested; its moral and spiritual life has been infected with a degradation of the most insidious kind. For generations political and social workers laboured for two great ends,-the creation of a stable political and social order, and the enhancement of the value and dignity of the individual human life. There is no class of men and women who are more conscious than social workers of how, as it were in an hour, most of the wonderful results of the heavy toil of years were almost irretrievably destroyed, and how chaos, disorder and violence entered their kingdom in the life of our civilization. In the sad and heavy days of actual warfare it was the universal confession that the ghastly tragedy had arisen, because we had all forgotten or ignored the fact that, side by side with all these efforts for the creation of a real unity of civilization, there remained in existence another system of which the basis was the tacit assumption that force is, and will be, the ultimate arbiter in human affairs. In the midst of the agonies and sufferings of the war even the most cynical politicians and diplo-