The Book of Ideas

              silver. This of course would not apply in countries where very little money is available or where currency restrictions prevent money being sent abroad. Contributions to the Lady Aberdeen Scholarship Fund are not an alternative for 'Pennies for Friendship.' Both Funds must be adequately supported if the work of the A.C.W.W. is to progress. 'Links of Friendship' or 'Letter Friends' can be passports all over the world through A.C.W.W. Any Member who travels in any country where there is a Constituent Society will find that introductions given by A.C.W.W. will take her into the homes of fellow members and give her an insight into the life of the people there. A Member of the A.C.W.W. travels as a Member of a great International family, not as a tourist. Many Members never travel, but they can extend a welcome to the stranger within their gates. The visitor will be eager to learn, will tell her hostess about her own land, and both lives will be enriched. An experience of one who, years ago, had a 'LINK of Friendship' with the Broadwater C.W.A. of Victoria, Australia, shows folksy, interesting letters, pictures, magazines, photo albums, small gifts, clippings and even visits were exchanged. In 1962, the entire Alberta Delegation to the Melbourne Conference was invited to be the guests of this 'Link' and were taken into the homes of the Members, to meetings and the colorful countryside. For Christmas, after the Conference, the 'Link' sent a parcel of small wrapped gifts~ne for each of the Alberta W.I. Members. How do you get a 'Link'? Write a letter to the A.C.W.W. Headquarters; new address: 17 Old Court Place, 40 Kensington High Street, London, W.8, England. Tell them what country you prefer and about your location, your Branch, interests, occupation, hobbies and any facts that will help them link you with what promises to be a congenial group. While you are writing, maybe you would like to enclose a dollar for a year's subscription to "The Countrywoman," the attractive little bi-monthly magazine which keeps all Constituent Societies in touch with the pulsing life of A.C.W.W. throughout the world. You can also send three dollars as Contributing Member Dues for a year, which entities you to the magazine, "The Countrywoman" as well. Here is something to think about by Dwight D. Eisenhower-"It is not enough that we know where another nation lies. It is not enough that we know something of their institutions, their history and their traditions. We must gain some upderstanding of those people as such. I have never forgotten my shock, once, when I saw a very modem-looking village, deserted in a far comer of Africa. It had been deserted because the builders put running water into all the houses. The women rebelled because there was now taken away from them, their only excuse for social contact with their own kind at the village well. "I suddenly understood that 1 didn't understand others. I had been guilty of the very great error of putting into their minds and hearts, the same aspirations, the same kind of desires, that 1 had. And it simply isn't so." The Alberta Women's Institutes are a Constituent Society of A.C.W.W., thereby joining with others in work for improved rural conditions as they affect women the world over. At the Dublin Conference in 1965, Mrs. Aroti Dutt of India was elected President of A.C.W.W. The next Conference is scheduled to be held in Michigan, U.s.A. in 1968. 21