SOCIAL AND PERSONAL

Evening Star, Issue 21742, 9 June 1934, Page 23

SOCIAL AND PERSONAL

Women’s Christian Temperance Union. The monthly meeting of the Dunedin Central branch of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union was held on Tuesday last. Sister Nora presided, the president (Mrs Hiett) being absent on account of illness. Despite the inclement weather conditions there was a fair attendance of members. Devotional service was taken by Mrs Alexander. Correspondence was received from the Hon. J. G. Cobbe, Minister of Justice, in reply to a remit sent by the union in reference to the appointment of women police j also a letter from Miss Kirk, J.P., acknowledging congratulations from the union on her appointment as dominion president of the Women’s National Council. After routine business was dealt with the Rev. E. S. Tuckwell, 8.A., addressed the meeting on ‘ World Peace and International Understanding,’ and the part the League of Nations had taken up to the present to attain this ideal. The speaker said that the League, despite some weaknesses, was a big advance on anything that had gone before in the way of trying to promote world peace and goodwill among the nations. Mr Tuckwell gave a comprehensive survey of the position between China and Japan in regard to Manchuria, and the events which led up to the withdrawal of Germany and Japan from the League of Nations. He also traversed the progress of the Disarmament Conference, and said it would be a ghastly tragedy if the conference failed. The world was suffering from a fundamental malady-, and that malady was fear. It was fear and distrust, aided by the agents of the armament manufacturers, who are always present, lobbying members of the conference, which prevented the nations from coming to an amicable agreement. At the conclusion of Mr Tuckwell’s address he was accorded a hearty vote of thanks for his information and interesting talk. On the motion of Mrs R. Alexander the following resolution was unanimously carried: —“Realising that the private manufacture of and traffic in armaments are the main cause of the repeated failures of the Disarmament Conference to come to an amicable agreement, and that the private profits of the armament manufacturers are the greatest menace to world peace, we affirm our entire opposition to and condemnation of the traffic in arms for private profit, and urge the Government of this and every country to do all m theiz* power to put an .end to such traffic.’ 1

Alfred Tennyson. The Poetry Circle of the Otago Women’s Club had for its speaker on Tuesday evening Air G. W. Johnstone. He spoke to them of Alfred Tennyson, and those present felt it to have been a privilege to listen to bis Holy thoughtful and inspiring address. Johnstone prefaced his; talk oh lennyson by quoting gems from the various poets he had dipped into in his search for his subjects. His final choice, however, fell 1 on Tennyson, because of his desire to place this poet back on the pedestal from which this modern age had somewhat rudely pushed him. Much modern poetry, the speaker contended, lacked depth, background, and balance, and, though it had been the fashion of late to sniff at Tennyson, contempt for the old, because it is old, he held to be no recommendation for the new, nothing being really dead which made one fee! alive, and Tennyson, he said, was still a force to be reckoned with. . Mr Johnstone traced the poet’s life and work from his Cambridge days to the days of his world-famous In Alemoriam,’ his Laureateship. and Oxford D.C.L. He told of his, struggle against fierce and unjust criticism, and how the sal© of his 1832 edition of poems totalled only 300 volumes in two years. Tennyson, however, so guided the taste of his time that in 1850 five large editions of his ‘ln Memorial!! ’ were sold. Ten thousand copies of the ‘ Idylls ’ sold in a week in 1859, and of 1 Enoch Arden,’ published in 1866, 17,000 copies were sold on the morning of publication and the critics were forced to acknowledge his genius. Tennyson, ‘with his broad, swelling, vowel sounds and stately language, demands richness of voice, a fine musical ear, and rhythmic sense, and in these essentials Air Johnstone was admirably equipped for his task. Among the poems from which the speaker quoted, largely from memory, were ‘ Locksley Hall,’ ‘ Alerlin and the Gleam,’ ‘The Palace of Art,’ ‘Lotus Eaters,’ ‘ Ulysses,’ ‘ Morte D’Arthur,’ finishing with the poem that for ever placed Tennyson among the immortals, his ‘ln Memoriam,’ that magnificent tribute to Arthur Hal!am.

Air Johnstone showed Tennyson to he a deeply religious poet, who was heart deep in the problems of his age and who brought steadiness and comfort to innumerable hearts and minds among his contemporaries. He clambered by all sorts of broken roads, and finally saw that loving trustfulness is the one way to God. His message was pray, labour of love, have faith, and you'll win through, and he believed in the power of humanity to rise and uplift. He believed that all that is dark and mysterious now will be illumined deathlessly. It was a vast creed, the majesty of which all human thought and human necessity could never exhaust. Airs Hervey, in proposing a vote of thanks to Mr Johnstone, said she found difficulty in finding words to express the pleasure and appreciation that all must have felt; to her it was like coming down to earth after a sojourn on the heights. Perhaps the speaker found his most eloquent thanks in the rapt silence which pervaded; at all times one could truly have heard the proverbial pm drop.

St. Philomena’s Pupils’ Association. ■ Outside, a dear, frosty night—inside, warm lights, the cheery glow of log fires and a polished floor reflecting the swing of dainty frocks—the place of rendezvous was Tudor Hall on Tuesday evening, the occasion being St. Philomena’s College Ex-pupils’ first annual ball. Once again Mrs Barling excelled with her floral decorations—the association badge forming a prominent feature of the decorative scheme. The chaperons for the evening were Mrs Oswald M. Smith, in black satin frock with sequin trimming, and Mrs Geo. Martin (Invercargill) , wearing black lace. The president, Miss May Daniel, in a handsome gown of black panne velvet, and carrying a Victorian posy of violets and daphne, assisted by the chaperons, received the guests. Among the happy throng of dancers were noticed: —Mrs W. J. Goughian (black embossed velvet), Mr and Mrs J. Scott (midnight blue chiffon velvet), Mr and Mrs L. Bleach (Ranfurly, black velvet, sequin trimming), Mr and Mrs R. Hungerford (green satin beauto), Mr and Mrs T. P. O’Connor (green crepe), Mr and Mrs J. Lamb (brwwn crequelle crepe, gold velvet cape), Mr and Mrs A. Fitzgerald (Invercargill, blue chiffon velvet), Mr and Mrs B. Baughan (blue satin). Air and Airs Scully (Invercargill, black lace and georgette), Airs 11. Fraber (black georgette), Air and Mrs P. Lemon Tblack ring velvet), Air and Airs E. A. Turnbull (Atiddlemarch, powder blue satin), Airs E. J. Doogue (black satin beaute), Misses Doreen O’Sullivan (sapphire blue velvet), Alargaret Tylce f salmon lace and tulle), Geraldine Toomey (lime green georgette), Kathleen Whelan (cherry windswept velvet), Nan Rodgerson (white organdie). Nora Collins (pink georgette), Nessie Doocey (grey crepe and scarlet),’ Catherine Browne (white satin), Ella Aleikle (strawberry organdie), Kathleen Hogan (green lace and net), Sylvia Daniel (shell pink net), Veronica Robinson (green silk velvet and silver lame), Anne Price (blue and white checked crepon), Alargaret Love (black silk velvet), Eileen Austin (white satin and net), Frances Fox (black velvet), Eileen Williams (white satin beaute), Molly O’Sullivan (red silk velvet), Dorothy Ramsay (apricot marocain), Nancy Phelan (shell pink satin and silver lame), Imelda Tylee (powder blue georgette), Maureen Carroll (flame chiffon velvet), Molly Baker (blue lace), Alolly O’Malley (Winton, ivory georgette), Eileen Smith (white satin), Alollie Robertson (pink organdie), Ellie Brown (white embossed satin), Aloira O’Neill (Invercargill, black ring velvet), J. Wynoss (white lace and tulle), Con. Leonard (wine 'celanese), Zita Traynor (moss green embossed georgette), Ivy Blacklock (emerald green georgette), Edith M'Tigue (old gold satin), Betty Blacklock (powder blue crepe, lame trimming), Alary Ryall (pansy velvet, lemon wrap), Eileen O’Malley (Balclutha, bine anglaise lace), Rita' Egan (blue silk velvet and silver lame),, Pat. Toomey .(pink spotted net and tulle), Shelagh Atooney (gold lamel, Peggy Fraber (black floral georgette), Alessrs T. J. O’Sullivan, W. F. Sligo, A. J. Dowling, J. V. Toomey, E. Alurfitt, R. Kennedy, M. Nicbol, D. Alorris, V. Browne, C. Fraser. A. Hogan, T. Matherson, W. C. M'Donnell, N. Jolly, G. Jolly, J. Banntyne. C. Kenny, J. Robertson, J. Faulks, L. Swallow, B. Butler, W. Al‘Aievey, B. Stevens, AI. Al‘Connell, C. Aloss, F. Toomey, R. J. Wilson, T. Robertson. A. Harrod,, C. AT‘Lean, L. Ford, L. Lemon, Al‘Dowell, J. Duthie, L. Jones, At. Beaumont, G. O’Connell, F. Smith, H. Ryan, C. Holmes, R. Fraber. FOE NEW ZEALAND’S GOOD; Every cup of Coffee you drink helps the milk producer and benefits New Zealand. Coffee uses more milk. Milk is a food. Gregg’s make the best Coffees. With Gregg’s Coffee milk makes the most wholesome and tempting of all drinks.—[Advt.]