1913 School Magazine

GIRLS' GRAMMAR SCHOOL MAGAZINE.

13

:Dec., 1913.

there-the representatives of forty dif- ferent nations, of every colour and race and creed-living for a week und'er one roof and feeling that we had become a world family. The object and purpose of the Federa- tion is to lead students and the boys and girls of our secondary schools to an unders1tanding of the character of Jesus Christ, to the desire to have formed such a character within them- selves, and to promote keen and in- terested Bible study. At Lake Mohonk, w here this conference was held, we met with the leaders of school movements in Finland, Germany, France, Canada, South Africa a nd var,ious other places, and it is .an interesting fact that th;e work amongst girls in Finland is more like ,that in Australia than in any other place,and yet we are, probably, fuI"- ther apart than any other two countries in the movement. This week there came a 'letter from one of these Finnish girls telling me that this year therje have been two school camps in Fin- land, one of 40 and one of 100 girls. I was at one such cam'p in Canada at Lake Couchiching, and there for ten days we had just the happiest time ' with boating, swimming, sports, etc. Girls from schools all over Canada came tog8ther there, and one of the features of each day was the Twilight Talk given by one of the officers when we were gathered together, after tea, somewhere on the shore of one of the la~es, to watch the sun setting. Then, as it was getting dark, about nine o'clock, we would lOW home, often stopping with our boats tied together, to sing songs across the water. It was very wonderful to find that at the other side of the world, girls are meeting together in the same way and for the saime purpose as we ' are doing here 'in Aus- tralia. This , p~st year eight school camps have been held in different parts of Australia, and there are strong- branches of the movement in many of the large schools of Sydney, Melbourne ' and Adelaide, some just now hein~ formed in the Boys' schools of Brisbane. The work of each individual unio'll is to promote throughout the school, in all its activities, the formation of strong Christian character in the girls. This

Hospital Notes. I N 1~07, when special ' apflea~s wer~e - bemg made for the hospItals, It ' l was suggested to the girls tnat if each gave ld. a week, the school " ~ would be able to endow a cot. They unanimously and heartily took up the suggestion, and ever since it is very :seldom that any .girl has failed to "put in her penny on Monday morning. The surplus has been used in various ways. One child was provided with ,an outfit, a banking account was started for anotner, and last year's surplus was mostly devoted to the purchase of two two-horse rockers, and of a wonder- ful boat, which the little convalescents -can rock quietly in, or easily propiel from one ,end of the verandah to' the other, feeling a kind of "fearful joy," while really they are p'erfectIy sa;£e. The secretary says these have given ·great pleasure to the little ones. Then the remainder was spent on wool, which .was made by some of the Third' and .Fourth Formers into little bootees for the 'babes for the cold weather, and ,on material which is being made up ,by the Remove and Second Forms in ,their sewing lessons. Only the other day, an old girl writ- ing from Scotla~d a sked, "Do they still put their penni es into the hospital box ~wery Monday morning?" A.M. "To the Girls of the Brisbane Grammar School. 'Dear Girls,- Miss Williams has told me that iI .may write a letter for your new maga- zine, as I want to tell you something about a movement that is doing much -work amongst schoolgirls in Australia and New 'Zealand and throughout the -world. This movement is known as the World Student Christian Federation, is a world-wide organisation, and has branches in eve:r:y University and in ' many of the large schools of each coun - try. Just . this past year I was present at a World Conference of this move- :ment held in America, and we were