e self-reliant in a true way, and she has
found out the truth of a very old proverb, which says, "No one knows
what he can do till he tries."

[Illustration: AT THE PICNIC: "I SHAN'T PLAY IF YOU FELLOWS ARE SO
ROUGH!"]

[Sidenote: Mrs. Creighton (the widow of one of the most brilliant men
who ever adorned the English episcopate) has herself been an ardent
worker in literary and social fields. Her appeal to the girls of the
Empire lays stress on the joy as well as the privilege of service.]

To Girls of the Empire

The Call to Service

BY

MRS. CREIGHTON

There are those who speak of patriotism as selfish, and bid us cultivate
a wider spirit, and think and work for the good of the whole world
rather than for the good of our own country. It is true that there is a
narrow and a selfish patriotism which blinds us to the good in other
nations, which limits our aspirations and breeds a spirit of jealousy
and self-assertion. The true patriotism leads us to love our country,
and to work for it because we believe that God has given it a special
mission, a special part to play in the development of His great purpose
in the world, and that ours is the high privilege of helping it to
fulfil that mission.

At this moment there seems to come a special call to women to share in
the work that we believe the British Empire is bidden to do for the good
of the whole world. If we British people fail to rise to the great
opportunity that lies before us, it will be because we love easy ways,
and material comfort, and all the pleasant things that come to us so
readily, because we have lost the spirit of enterprise, the capacity to
do hard things, and are content with trying to get the best out of life
for ourselves.

We need to keep always a high ideal before us, and as civilisation
increases and brings ever new possibilities of enjoyment, the
maintenance of that high ideal becomes always more difficult. Nothing
helps so much to keep us from low ideals as the conviction that life is
a call from God to service, and that our truest happiness is to be found
in using every gift, every capacity that we possess, for the good of
others.

Girls naturally look forward into life and wonder what it will bring
them. Those will probably be the happiest who early in life are obliged
or encouraged to prepare themselves for some definite work. But however
this may be, they should all from the first realise the bigness of their
position