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r 4.1. CELEBRATION OF EMPIRE DAY. A YOUNG LADY'S ELOQUENT ORATION. The celebration of Empire Day-Monday last, presented a strikingly patriotic picture at the Elementary School, Pantasaph. In the morning, a goodly number of friends and neighbours assembled in the schoolroom, to witness the programme arranged to pourtray the lesson of the celebration. There were present-Fathers Augustine and Seraphin, O.S.F.C., of St. David's Monastery; Rev Lodwick Ellis, rector of Y sceifiog; and Mr S. Jones, J.P., Holywell, who presided, and in his remarks, as chairman, he congratulated the scholars upon their performance, and in an interesting way gave the narrative of Empire Day. In concluding his remarks the Chairman alluded to the general smartness exhibited by the children, and, amid loud applause, suggested a holiday, which was at once adopted and acted upon The hoisting and saluting of the Union Jack, and the singing of "The Flag of Britan," by the School Chilren, opened the programme in an effective manner. Afterwards, Miss Esther Vahey recited THE Spanish Armada." The Infants, in an action song I. Our country brave and true," and a recitation Our Flag," were captivating, and the children acquitted themselves in a charm- ing manner. An effective part of the programme was the delivery of an address on The British Empire," by Miss Grace Millar, whose composition was admired and frequently applauded. The address was as follows .— To-day, May 24th, as everyone knows, is called Empire Day," and to-day thousands and thousands of men, women and children, in all parts of the world, will be doing their best, just as we are doing, to celebrate this greatday, But, if we are to keep it up properly, we must know why it is such a great day, and also learn a little about our grand Empire itself. To-day, May 24th, was the birthday of our late Queen Victoria. While this good and great Queen was on the throne the British Empire was considerably extended, and the different parts of which it is composed were united more fiimly together. Tennyson says-" She wrought her people lasting good," and so it is in honour of Queen Victoria, who helped so much towards making our country the great country that it is now. that we keep Empire Day on her birthday. And, now, let us see if we can learn some- thing about this wonderful Empire of ours, for never yet has there been an Empire so vast, so firmly knit together, and so powerful. The British Empire comprises one-fifth of all the land on the globe, and contains more than one-fourth of the population of the world. The greatest Empires in past days were those of Persia and Rome. But the British Empire, at the present time, is five times the size of the Persian, and four times the size of the Roman Empire. This mighty Empire is composed of the Mother-Country and of Colonies, depen- dencies and protectorates, in every part ot the world. In days gone by, England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, were all separate kingdoms, nearly always at war with one another, but by degrees they have all united, to form what is known as the "Mother- Country." The conquest of Ireland was commenced by England as far as 1170, and it may be said to have been completed by the surrender of Limerick to the army ot William III. Wales was conquered in 1282, but was not completely united to England till 1536. In 1603, James VI. of Scotland ascended the English throne, under the title of James I. of England, thus unitfng in his person the crowns of England and Scotland. And now a word about our foreign posses- sions. How did we get them ? Of what use are they to us? How do we govern them ? And, can we prevent any other nation from taking them from us ? Well, we have acquired our possessions in various ways. Some have been taken by larce, as Gibraltar from the Spaniards, Canada from the French, and Cape Colony from the Dutch; some have been obtained by treaty, as Labuan; others by purchase, as Aden; some by right of discovery, as Newfoundland and others again by settlement, as Australia, As regards the use that our foreign possessions are to us. We hold many ot them because they are fortified posts, or because of their proximity to some of our important colonies, for if a foreign power obtained possession of them, those colonies might not be safe. Others are important for commerce, and by far the chief of all this kind is the great Asiatic peninsula of India. Then, there are our real colonies" or settlements," in which the greater part ot the inhabitants are men and women belonging to the Mother-Country." Of these Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Cape Colony are the principal. These great Colonies serve, too, as great markets. Every year they buy moie than one-third of the whole of the articles we export. You know, also, that in the Mother- Country there are many people who ex- perience great difficulty in finding work, or who do not receive a sufficiently large reward for their labour. Our Colonies are not so crowded as the Mother-Country, and so thousands and thousands of such people emigrate to them, to more easily obtain employment, or in order to have a better chance of success. Many of our Colonies are allowed to govern themselves, as much as possible, as this is considered to be a wise plan. Others are not allowed to govern themselves quite so much, and some of their rulers are appointed by the Home Government. Another class of col- onies is governed only by those whom the Crown appoints, and these are called Crown Colonies." But can we prevent any other nation from taking away our colonies from us, and thus destroy our large Empire ? Well, at all important points there are British soldiers stationed, to guard our Colonies. The larger colonies do a great deal towards keeping themselves and the smaller colonies secure from danger, by building warships, and by raising regiments of volunteers to repel our foes. But above all this we have our Navy, which is the largest and greatest navy in the world, and which, in time of danger, would protect, not only our Colonies, but even the Mother-Country herself. And now, could anyone help feeling proud of belonging to this great Empire, and es- pecially of living, as we do, in the Mother- Country herself ? St. Paul, speaking of the city of Tarsus, in Asia Minor, once said, I am a citizen of no mean city." And if St. Paul was proud of being a citizen of Tarsus, we, who live in England, or in any )art of the great Brit sh Empire, may indeed ay with pride, that we are "citizens of no mean country." Yes, ind-ed, we may all be road of our grand country, but let no one make u, h a terrible mistake as to think, for one minute, that we are proud of it merely because it is so big. It would be like saying, I man is a good man because he is a big man, whereas some of the smallest and weakest men have been the noblest and the most useful. What makes anyone great and noble is not what tney look like, but the good deeds they o. And so it is with England, or with any Jthèr c -untry. It will be truly great and noble only as long as it does those things which are great and noble. If Engiand does wrong, and uses its power II injure others unjustly, then, however trong the country may be, there will be no reason to be proud of it. Now, when we peak of a county doing rignt or wrong, we inean, of course the people wno live in it. .v /10 is it, MEN, that makes England do right r not? Who is it that makes it a country to be proud of, or a country to be ashamed ot ? Why it is just you and I, and all the ther people who are British citizens. You see, it is no use talking about the greatness of our country, or prettnding to be proud of it, unless we who live in the country really do something to make it great. And it we want our Empire to be still THE greatest tmpire in the world-the Empire on which the Sun nevet sets-we can help her only by becoming good and useful citizens oy learning all about her while we are at chool by always trying to do what is right, no matter h »w nard it may be to do it; by growing up to be brave and unselfish, and oy always endeavouring to do our duty. Remember Nelson's famous watchword at the Battle of Tratalgar-" Engiand expects that every man this day will do his duty "-and remember, also, that if we carry out that watchword, we are not only becoming good and great ourselves, but are helping towards keepmg up the great name of our Empire, MD let our watch ward always be-CI For God, duty, and Empire." Resuming the musical programme, the chool Children sang God bless tne Prince of Wales." A pretty and interesting per- formance was the Irish, Welsh and Scotch reels, in national costume, by the Misses Kelly U Britannia's birthday was a repre- sentation of colonists from all all parts of the. Empire paying homage to Britannia. The characteristic of each representative was given with capital effect, and called forth hearty applause. The grouped representatives at tne close sang Rule Britannia." Four infants recited very prettily God bless our native land." "The Union lack" was des- cribed in action and in song, by the children. Parties bearing the flags of St. George, St. Andrew and St. Patrick, sang appropriate •<ongs, descriptive of tne combination of the three to form the Union Jack. A very fine tableaux was presented by Britannia," with attendant soldiers and sailors, and was added to by the singing of Britannia, the pride ot the ocean." The recitation of Rudyard Kipling's Co Recessional," and the singing of me National Anthem closed a memorable celebration. Mr S. Jones, in complimentary, terms, ex- pressed the appreciation felt at the pleasing performance given by the children, and spoke of the way in which the scholars were brought up. The Rev Lodwick Ellis supported the remarks made. The Rev Fr Augustine also paid high compliment to the children. A holiday was declared for the remainder of the day.

DEATH OF MISS SANKEY.

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