This column first appeared in the Victoria Daily Times on Sept. 30, 1939.
They are much the same in every city, these women who belong to the local council, picked from many affiliated societies.
There is a look of seasoned wisdom in their faces, as of people who have moved many amendments, and presented many reports, and are still pursuing the ultimate good, even though many of their bright plans that began with aspirations ended in aspirins.
I listened yesterday to the deliberations of a local council from a back seat in a pleasant hall, and the arrangements, from the purple and pink asters on the president鈥檚 table to the soft-footed warden who sat at the side door to conduct late-comers to their seats with a minimum of noise, were so typical of a well-ordered meeting anywhere, I am going to write about it. It might have been a meeting in Halifax, Toronto, Winnipeg or Edmonton.
Some people are able to detect great differences between east and west, but the women who belong to these national groups have developed certain characteristics of speech and manner. Above all, they were serious and businesslike. They run no sideshows at their meetings. All聽eyes are on the president.
Local matters were first discussed. A circus had been in town and certain features of it had been objectionable, and they had prevailed on the police to close these. A little square of ground in a crowded part of the city was now reserved for a park, as the speaker phrased it, 鈥渇or shelter, shade and meditation.鈥� Reference was made to the successful routing of the beer interest in a recent campaign, and the members were urged to take word back to their societies that names must be on municipal voters鈥� lists before Oct.聽31.
Then the correspondence was read on the garbage-disposal question, which has been before the society for years, and now I have as much as named the city.
So far as I know there is only one city in sa国际传媒 that gives self-determination to its garbage; only one city where the tin can you discard on Saturday night will meet your eye on Sunday morning, dancing brightly on the sea.
This system is not popular with anyone but the gulls. Yet it remains. However, the local council is not defeated or dismayed, and some day they will win.
When the business was over, the president disclosed the special object of the meeting. Women, she said, are wondering how they can best serve their county, now that we are at war.
Obviously, there are things we must not do. We had an example here this week, when the rumour of a flour and sugar shortage drove women flying to the stores to buy these, with the result that prices soared. We must see that such things do not happen.
The discussion proceeded in an orderly way. Lovers of peace as these women are, they speak of war as a great national calamity that must be met with fortitude and intelligence. But no man鈥檚 conscience must be invaded. The聽women who hand out white feathers to force enlistment were聽characterized as cruel and barbarous.
Why should any man rush blindly into this awful conflict, hounded by an inflamed public opinion? Let us beware of war hysteria, which shows itself in such crudities and cruelties.
One woman spoke of the position of German and Austrian people living in sa国际传媒. Many of these were admirers of Hitler some years ago, when undoubtedly he was improving conditions in Germany, but now, after his unspeakable conduct to minorities, his broken promises, their attitude has been changed.
Let us gather them into the circles of friendship. sa国际传媒 is make up of people who left Europe because of its oppressions and hatreds. They are glad to be part of the new land. Let us build up our country now, on the only foundation that will stand, the solid ground of mutual respect.
Just to feel friendly is not enough; we must show our friendly spirit. It is just a simple matter of imagination. We will know what to do if we will put ourselves in the position of a German living in sa国际传媒.
Then came the matter of food, always interesting to women, whose business it is to see that their families are fed.
Food must not be wasted, even though we see plenty of it around us. Let there be no more orchard or garden waste or kitchen waste. Many long months will pass before the trees will bud and bear, or the vines yield their increase. Who knows when this conflict will be over? England is preparing for three years.
A visitor from a country district believed it is a mistake for teachers to have maps where the progress of armies is noted each day. What good can it do to burden the sensitive minds of children with stories of bloodshed? Let them knit or sew for the Junior Red Cross by all means. That is practical and pleasant, and gives an outlet for their emotion.
A former president sounded a serious note. She said she believed we would do well to develop a quiet spirit. This whole conflict is a struggle against evil things. It is a spiritual conflict. Evil can be overcome only by the good. War is always frightful in its destruction of spiritual values.
There is nothing wrong with the women who belong to clubs and churches in sa国际传媒, only this 鈥� there are not enough of them. Remembering the last war, and how wonderfully many other women rallied to the call for workers, I hope a great effort will be made this time to lead the volunteers, through the labour of their hands, to the finer, inner, invisible kingdom where they will learn to do real world-mending.
The outcome of this war is not in doubt. No one knows how long it will take, but one thing is certain. Brutality, cruelty and oppression will be broken, and then the real work of world-building must begin. The people of sa国际传媒 must prepare for this by building up now a spiritual momentum, beginning in our own hearts.
The Allies lost their chance in 1918. We were all too full of the desire to get even. In this spirit of revenge, we allowed the food blockade to remain six months after the peace was signed. We forgot the principles of our faith, which commands us to 鈥渇orgive our debts鈥� if we want our debt forgiven.
An now we are facing a heavier bill to which compound interest has been added.
Alfred Noyes, the English poet, wrote a poem called The Victory Dance at the end of 1918, in which he gave us a lead that, unfortunately, we did not take. In it, he pictured the dead soldiers lining the walls of the ballroom where the people danced in their delirium of joy on armistice night. And as they watched the fun, the ghosts of the dead men talked, unheard and unseen by the dancers:
鈥淲hat did you think you would find,鈥� asked a shade,
鈥淲hen the last shot was fired and the last peace made?鈥�
鈥淐hrist!鈥� said the fleshless jaws of his friend,
鈥淚 though they鈥檇 be praying for worlds to mend!鈥�
