FREE CHURCH WOMEN'S AUXILIARY.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 170, 11 April 1908, Page 11

FREE CHURCH WOMEN'S AUXILIARY.

• A NKW MOVEMENT A . -A new and far-reaching movement for women was to bo launched at SouthWrt last month, under tho title of " The Froe! Church Women's Auxiliary." Tho movomentAwill include many branches, of service. The Rev.' T.- Law, sccrotary of tho Free Church\Conncil, stated recently that tho Girls' -.Guild will bo its first work, and. the further development of that formi of servico will',provide' scopo for tho onlaryed' committee. ' Then social work of all kinds will cotno, within its radius. For instanoo, tho growth of femalo intemperance is a matter for grave consideration, and constitutes a reproach and da.ngor to tho nation. This is a matter upon which women must speak and act. It is not usually recognised that tho housing problem far more affects women than men, and t.hti Christian women of our land ca.n, if they, TrilJ, do much to brighten tho future for thoso who scarcely know the meaning of tho word ' homo. 1 Our Councils axo already doing much work of a social redemptive character, and it is felt that this would fittingly como within tho sphere of tho new movement. Then thore is need for work in tho direction of tho Fed&ration of Mothers' Meetings, a.nd generally assisting such orga-' nisations. Tho need for Women's Auxiliaries has been felt not only nationally, but locally. Indeed, Women's Auxiliaries aro' already working in many places in conncction with our Council, and aro proving of th 6 greatest value in assisting in tho great causes needing help arid, in bringing together in sympathy tho Freo Church wom'on. Tho Leeds Council has had a Women's "Union sinoe 1896. In Birmingham, a Women's Committoo has charge of a very promising social rodomptivo work. The new movement is to bo an integral part of tho National Council's work, as tho very term Auxiliary implies, but tho utmost freedom of action will be left to tho workers. It will bo a-women's movomont pure and simple, run. by women for women."

SWEDEN'S FOREMOST WOMAN." ■: Miss Helen Zimmern 1 contributes ■ to tho "Putnam's Monthly"' a most' interesting character sketch'' of Miss Ellen Key. Ellen Key was born in Sweden in 1849, and her paternal ancestors were of ScotchCeltic origin. Her father; who was an enthusiastic believer in Rousseau, applied the theories of "Emilo" in the rearing of his children. While still a mere child, Ellen, who is tho eldest, cvinced liter maternal instincts in her protective earo for her younger brethren. Her parents put no check oh the development of, her ego, and recognising her. need; for' privacy gavo her, at ■ tho ago of twelve; a room to herself. As a mero girl she read Ibsen's "Braiid'' and "Peer Gynt," and from this timo forward was, as she herself phrases it, "in love." •, ' THE.SPARK WHICH STRUCK THE I'LAME. . . ' • ' At, the.ago of nineteen her father, was elected to tho Swedish Parliament and the family migrated for tho 'winter 'to Stockholm. : Ellon became his private, secretary and shared his patriotic dreams and. hopes, and more than ever was resolved to work for the : education of her compatriots." Bjornson first; recognised her capabilities, and he told her , mother that . Ellen would prove her parents! greatest glory, and that sho 'ought, abovo. all, to bo a wife. When she was thirty, .financial made it necessary for her'to'.leavo her forest home, aud, for years sho' was condemned to livo in a noisy city, working as a teacher.. In. her leisuro hours she taught'in tho Workers'. Institute, and she also arranged an. informal sort of club in which ladies and workwomen met on equal terms. . For years she lectured on-' art and . literature, touching only tlirico on polities, and only once on the woman, question, and then only in regard to tho legal position of married women; The spark-which struck tho flame and caused her to ' enter, upon- that pioneer- path which has made her famous was an incident duo to tho inlluonco on tho younger generation of tho d6ctriiies of Darwin. These theories had aroused a-desire to overthrow established things and'model the world anew,' and a long-forgotten law was oxhumed to punish the radicals. Ellon Key, whose jnotto is tho free development of personality, constituted herself tho defender of theso imprisoned youths, and instantly sho becamo tho storm-centre of tho movoment.

"JOY IS PERFECTION."

: When sho took up a militant attitude she began to withdraw her sympathies from tho cause of woman's rights on tho ground that its advocates had lost sight of the -main objects to bo attained and - were wasting'their efforts on side-issues. At tho samo timo sho declared sho could no longer call herself a Christian, as the Christianity 'of to-day was a coriipromise and tho Christian ideal was not followed either in church or home. Happiness, was what tlio world must seek. To the young she says, "Bo seekers of happiness, but. seekers of happiness making the highest demands on happiness." Sho holds ; that man is good at tho core, and if allowed ireo coijrsG will develop his personality and put it at tho servico of humanity. Sho contends that m order to bo a true altruist ono .must bo an individualist; The true ideal combat that we aro engaged in is for the conception that joy is perfection. ; HER IDEAL OF EMANCIPATION. I 1 rom first to last she has always maintained that in the life of woman the heart has.ever the first place; and it is.for this heart tnat she demands all possible, liberty and freedom to develop. Holding that the woman s, movement in its present phase makes, for a new form of oppression rather than for individual freedom, hor contention - is , that it has approached the question from the,;wrnng side. Ellen Key's ideal of emancipation is an enlargement and enriohment-of- soul, based upon'a larger and deeper understanding of her natural, mission. -..Women, sho says, possess a ' sort, of ..sixth sense: which enables them to see .at: cortain moments highor than.systems or.programmes, and this distinctive, faculty should bo recognised and utilised. . Whenever a woman has J dared to revolt, has-sho-not called now I movements into being ? AVitnoss, for fi example, Elizabeth Fry .Florence Nightingalo, Josephine Bntler, and Harriet - ■ Beecher Stowe/ It is this inherent, instinctive forco that has so long boer cramped which cries- for liberation. .- Tlie next step to legal equality with ' men must be, according to Ellen Key, 'women's right to freedom on the' ground of their ; dissimila- . rity. She is : not oppose(l to the' ' notion.that women should labour, but counts motherhood as work which should be publicly remunerated, if need be.- Sho contends that every , soul has a right to be arbitrary. Hor books,' "Lovo and Marriagd" and. "The Century and tho Child," contain tho sum-total of her life's thought. She has drawn up a new marriage code . that contains excellent points, says Misa Zimmern, and which were it speedily adopted would solve many socalled insolublo problems and conduce to enhanced domestio happiness. ;

JUSTICE AND THE CHILD. Says, an English paper:—Mr. Hamilton Archibald, the child psychologist, who is transforming Sunday school motEods,.;is just now'; engaged in psychological investigations of great interest. Ho is tryirig to ascertain the normal child's attitude towards law, and has gathered data I .which.be is carefully tabulating from over; a < wide field. ,A sample question ho is-getting put by teachers is' this. 'Two. burglars break into a house. Ono i-s : caught by this police. The other escapes. Tho penalty for burglary is five years' imprisonment. The l children are asked individually, "What punishment would you: give "the burglar?" It might be expected that children would err on tho merciful side, but ,Mr. Archibald's data proves quite tho contrary. Of about 500 children, 00 would hang him or kill him somo other way, 300 woulu give him torms of imprisonment.beyond tho five years, and only a very few would treat him mercifully. Mr. Archibald insists that children should be told stories and left, to find tho moral, and ho tolls of a littlo girl who said to her mother, "1 am glad, mother, that - our minister hasn't any morali."