II* PLACE AUX DAMES As I pointed out in my first article, no Branch will be really effective—though it may, perchance, be technically effi- cient as a Station—nor will it exercise the far-reaching influence which should belong to it unless it has a strong and well-organized Ladies' Life-boat Guild.

As our appeal to the country has become more and more fully developed, so we have realised with increasing force that the mainspring of that development lies in the enthusiasm and devotion which women are ever ready to give to a Cause which so splendidly embodies the spirit of heroism, humanity and self-sacrifice, and in the co-ordina- tion of the efforts which this devotion inspires. It was the recognition of this truth, and of the parallelism which * The first part of this article appeared in the June issue of The Lifeboat.

exists between the noble work which women launchers on the coast have done for a century past and that done by hundreds of their sisters in launching our appeals to the hearts and minds of the million, which led to the establish- ment in 1921 of the Guild.

At the Annual General Meeting in April of that year the Prince of Wales, who presided, referred to the'wonderful services which women have given in the past, and recommended the establish- ment of the Guild, the objects of which are " to bring into closer union and co-operation the women whose personal service on behalf of the Life-boat Cause has already done so much to commend it to the support of men and women of all classes, and through their help to increase their number." " Thousands of women," he said, " in every part of the United Kingdom have shown that they are moved by the same spirit of mercy and helpfulness as actuated Grace Darling and the women of many a little fishing village scattered around our coast. These women have, in their own way, rendered magnificent service to the Life-boat Cause. With- out them it would have been almost impossible to organize successfully these appeals, which bring the claims of the Institution to the sympathetic attention of the million. I feel sure that you and they will welcome the Institution's decision to form a bond of union among all these women in the establishment of the Ladies' Life-boat Guild." The Influence of Women.

This step has served to focus and organize women's work throughout the country with the most beneficial results to the Institution, and the keen interest taken in its work by H.R.H. the Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, the Patron, by the Vice-Patrons, the Duchess of Norfolk and the Duchess of Portland, by the President, the Duchess of Sutherland, and by its devoted Hon- orary Secretary, Lady Florence Pery, has led many other prominent women to take up the Cause and become the Grace Darlings of their respective Branches. But there is an immense field of work, and the personal help of women of position and influence in every part of the country is greatly needed.

I have no hesitation in saying that with their help the revenue of the Institution can easily be increased so as to keep pace with the growing expenditure which the transformation of our fleet from one of Pulling and Sailing Life-boats to one of Motor Life-boats involves.

In my first article I mentioned House to House collections and social functions of various kinds among the main forms of appeal which could be carried out by any Branch. My special purpose in these notes is to draw attention to the fact that only by the establishment of a strong Ladies' Life-boat Guild will an Honorary Secretary be able to carry out such efforts, not only with comparative ease, but with success. The whole point is, then, how best to form a Guild, either in connexion with an existing Branch or as the framework of a Branch itself.

The key to success lies in two French phrases. As in so many undertakings, " C'est le premier pas qui coute." If you get the right start you have almost won through. But there is another French phrase which is singularly appropriate in this connexion, and that is : '' Cher- chez lafemme!" Our French friends, whose admira- tion for the fair sex is inevitably tinc- tured with Gallic irony, have coined the admonition as an expression of their belief that if a man has got into mischief anywhere, anyhow or anywhen, a woman's charms, a woman's persuasion and his own vulnerability to these subtle weapons are at once trie explana- tion and the excuse. Our humour is notoriously of a kindlier, if less pointed, character ; and so our admiration for women is not coloured by a criticism which is itself a delicate compliment.

We, therefore, would interpret the phrase " find the woman " in quite a different sense. Having considerable experience of the charitable work done in several European countries, I have no hesitation in saying that Britain stands easily at the head of all in the magnificent generosity with which men and women of all parties, including, especially, the humbler and poorer folk, respond to the claims of charity and to the cry of humanity in distress ; and I am convinced that the social position which women have so long held with us is in no small degree the reason of this national generosity. And so it is that our interpretation of the French phrase may be put thus : Wherever there is a call for help from suffering humanity, for consolation and comfort from the unhappy, for healing wounds and furthering every good Cause, there we must, indeed, " find the woman " ; for it is she who, with her heavenly gift of sympathy, her ready power of distinguishing the real thing from its shoddy imitation, will prove a host in herself. Above all, woman's instinctive admiration for courage, combined with gentleness, and tenacity under the supreme test of difficulty and danger leads her to recognise at once the claims of the Life-boat Service, and she will often be found to " pull a stronger oar " for that Cause in placing its claims before her fellow-citizens than even our doughtiest Honorary Secretaries of the sterner sex. One. hesitates to mention names, yet there are some women who have done such notable service that it would be almost absurd to omit their names when paying a tribute to the work of the Guild, and, without in any way implying that there are not many others, I cannot refrain from referring to such names as Miss Alice Marshall, of Oxford; Mrs. Astley Roberts, of Eastbourne ; Mrs. Gomm, of Margate ; Lady Ann, of Derby ; Mrs. Holding, of Leamington ; Lady Findlay, of Edin- burgh ; Mrs. Kilgour, of Aberdeen; Mrs. Polly Donkin, of Cullercoats ; Miss M. E. Taylor, of London; Mrs. Bran- dreth Gibbs, of Leigh-on-Sea; Mrs.

Beamish, of Coventry ; Miss Moser, of Shrewsbury ; and Mrs. Reed, of Exeter.

Organisation of a Guild.

The first condition of a successful Guild, then, is to find a lady of position, character and influence, to place before her the greatness of the task entrusted to the Institution, and to enlist her sympathy and active support as Presi- dent or Chairman ; at any rate, as the nucleus around which the local Guild will form itself. The next step is to arrange with her for a meeting at her house, to which she will invite a little group of women likely to be interested in pro- moting the Life-boat Cause. The group will be larger or smaller in accordance with the scope of her acquaintance or her views as to the desirability of pro- ceeding from small beginnings. But I would strongly urge that at a very early stage of the formation of the Guild it may be made as representative as possible of every social grade. As a matter of fact, apart from such leaders as I have mentioned, and whose names are well known to the thousands of supporters of the Institution, the bulk of the actual personal work, especially in its most arduous form, is done with splendid generosity by women in the humbler stations of life, and I would say that no Guild will be thoroughly suc- cessful in its undertaking unless it enlists the support and the warm co-operation of women of this calibre.

Hundreds of factory girls in Lancashire, of fishermen's wives and daughters on the Northumbrian coast, of shop assistants in London and Manchester have turned out at five and six in the morning on Life-boat Day and in connexion with House to House collec- tions, determined to do their part in the actual work of collection, though they were faced afterwards with a heavy working day and the fatigues which it brings with it.

The First Meeting.

I do not wish to go too much into detail with regard to every step in the formation of the Guild. But it will greatly assist and hasten the successful establishment of the Guild if the fol- lowing points are attended to :— (!) Have a typed Agenda sent out to those who are invited to attend the first meeting. This gives point and a busi- ness-like purpose to the Meeting, and will often ensure attendance where a mere invitation will not do so.

The Agenda would be quite simple, and would cover the following points :— (a) Chairman's opening remarks. The essential point should be that the Guild asks for personal service from women in furthering the Life-boat Cause, not for financial support, though it welcomes the small donation which covers the cost of the badges, leaflets, etc.

(6) Brief statement by the Honorary Secretary or District Organizing Secretary.

(c) Election of President of the Guild.

(d) Election of Honorary Secretary or Joint Honorary Secretaries.

(e) Distribution of Badges and Cards of Membership.

(/) Discussion of methods of service, and personal request to individuals to accept responsibility for one or other, or more, of the various forms of service indicated in our leaflets.

(g) While tea is being taken the closer consideration of such points as Life-boat Day, House to House Collections, Bridge Drives, Dances, etc., etc., can be discussed.

(h) Arrangements for the date of the next meeting. (It is extremely important to secure continuity of effort and touch with the Chairman by regular meetings from time to time to report progress and to consider details.) (1) Vote of Thanks.

(2) The leaflet showing the objects of the Ladies' Life-boat Guild should be placed in the hands of every lady present, and she should be asked to take a Prince of Wales' Collecting Card, and, in any case, to undertake some definite form of personal service, however small.

Special attention should be drawn to the reference to the Guild in the Prince's speech at the Annual General Meeting in 1921. (Copies supplied.) (3) Where a Branch of the Institu- tion already exists it is important that the Guild should act in co-operation with the Branch and that there should be no duplication of accounts. In such cases it is desirable that a Resolution should be adopted to the effect that all funds collected by the Guild be accounted for and forwarded to the Honorary Treasurer or Honorary Secre- tary of the existing Branch.

Of course, the Organizing Secretary of the District will always be delighted to help with advice and, if possible, his or her presence in the important matter of the initiation of the Guild.

I feel so convinced that the whole secret of success lies in the proper formation of the Guild under responsible and influential leadership that it seems quite unnecessary for me to deal in detail with the method of carrying out the various social efforts referred to under No. 4 in my first article. I propose, therefore, only to say a word or two with regard to the organization of House to House Collections. These Collections are in many ways the easiest, cheapest and most valuable way of obtaining financial support. They involve no paraphernalia at all except the leaflet accompanied by the envelope which is left at the house concerned; although in some cases the Branch likes to use the Collecting Box instead of the envelope.

I am, however, strongly in favour of the Envelope Collection rather than the Collecting Boxes ; and for this reason. The normal method of carrying out the House to House Collection is for the Chairman of the Guild to call together the members a week or a few days before the day on which it is proposed to distribute the leaflets with the envelopes. At this meeting streets are allocated to the lady collec- tors, and generally fifty to 100 houses is a fair average number to allocate to a member of the Guild. The en- velopes are generally distributed on the Thursday or the Friday, and are collected on the Saturday. The great advantage of the Envelope Collection as compared with the Collecting Boxes is that the envelope is left with a leaflet, giving a brief survey of the work of the Institution, and it is left by a lady who makes a personal call, which obviously means a considerable sacrifice of time and trouble. The householder has time to read the leaflet, and the family can make up their mind to put their joint contribution into the sealed envelope without feeling that their contribution is too small. They appreciate the personal call of the lady, who is, in many cases, well known to them, and they themselves are brought into personal touch with the Institution by the fact that their name and address is on the envelope.

House to House Collections.

A word of caution seems called for in connexion with this important method of raising funds for the Institution.

Nothing is more likely to be abused, and has, indeed, been more abused, than the House to House Collection, and there is at the present moment an effort afoot to place the permission for House to House Collections absolutely in the hands of the Municipal Authorities, whereas, till now, House to House Collections have not generally needed police permission.

In any case, therefore, it is of the utmost importance that only responsible women be asked to undertake this work, and the more care that is taken in this matter the more likely the organizers of the Guild are to get together gradually a splendid group of women who have earned the respect of their neighbours, not only for their public-spirited work, but for the generosity and integrity with which they carry it out.

I would remind Honorary Secretaries and workers that leaflets dealing with almost every aspect of the Institution's work are at their disposal at any time ; that draft letters and appeals can be prepared at Headquarters at a moment's notice and reproduced in the numbers required, and that letters to the local Press signed by the Honorary Secretary or by other local Officers can easily be provided. A leaflet (No. 1.) giving a complete survey of the various methods of publicity and appeal has been prepared for the use of Honorary Secretaries, and is available on applica- tion to the District Organizing Secretary.

In concluding these jottings, which I submit with great diffidence to our Honorary Secretaries and workers, I would like once more to emphasize the immense debt which the Institution owes to these generous men and women, among whom I number personal friends, and to remind them once again that the personal touch is just everything in their work for our Cause, and that in default of the spoken word even a few lines added in their own handwriting to the appeals prepared by Headquarters would add 75 per cent, to their per- .suasiveness. As I have insensibly been led to borrow phrases from our gallant Allies let me conclude with one more : " Vogue la galere ! ".