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ue es P w‘\.‘:‘ 4 1J ®Q, 47 ~Lâ€" S A | n M { é U ) E> _ dip; is â€" \ ’ nv,:’) BR C ane [ * â€" i ‘Ga \ C1 t \ & \ «> 5 U 4 ~ C J C ‘ *,,// wNYo cours » OR many years, women‘s clubs in Canada, United States, Britain and other countries have used a prayer for the opening or closing ceremonies of their meetings. Sometimes it is simply read by one member, at others it is repeated in unison bg all those present. They have usually called it Our Creed or The Club Women‘s Creed and as such it is widely known and popular on this continent, especia].lg' in . small towns and rural districts, Widespread usage has resulted in some changes. The author gave it a title: "Collect For Club Women," when it first appeared in an obscure corner of a well known American magazine. Mary Stewart wrote the prayer in 1904, while she was principal of Longmont high school in Colorado. We are indebted to a Canadian woman, the late Mrs. Alfred Watt, M.B.E., for a true and correct verâ€" sion of the prayer, as here presented, and a little of the author‘s own personal story. Mrs. Watt came back to Canada in 1939 to attend and speak at the eleventh biennial conference of the Federated Women‘s Institutes of Canada, in Edmonton, She it was, who had carried the Women‘s Institute idea to Britain and later became president of the Associated Country Women of the World. Mary Stewart, while visiting in England had spent some time with Mrs. Watt at her English home. Etrors had crept into the various printâ€" ings of the prayer, especially in the first and secondâ€"last lines. These errors marred the beauty of expression and the clarity of thought of this prayer. The author e?ressed concern about the garbled versions which + were being circulated, In the studio of Robin Watt, the artist son of ' Mrs. Alfred Watt, Miss Stewart personally supervised his work of | copying out the pra(i/er, down even to fine points of placing a comma or a period. Reproduced here is Robin V&gtt’s copy done by hand, ( under Mary Stewart‘s close supervision. The title, it should be noted is set in type, to identify it. . "It was written as a Trayer for the day. I called it a ‘Collect For Club Women,‘ because I felt that women working together with wide inâ€" terests for large ends was.a new thing under the sun and that, perhaps they had need for special petition and meditation of their own. This must have been true for the Collect has found its way about the world, especially wherever English speaking women get together. Indeed it has been reprinted in many forms in many lamfs.” It was officially adopted by the National Federation of Business and Professional Women‘s Clubs, meeting at their second convention in 1920, at St. Paul, It was read into the printed records of the Congress ofthe United States by Senator Tobey of New Hampshire, at the .. * closing session in 1949. Mary Stewart held a number of special teaching posts in Colorado and Montana, In 1921 she became a junior guidance and placement officer in the pioneer period of U.S. employment services. She conâ€" ‘ tinued to write for American newspapers and magazines. Her Alma Mater, the University of Colorado, in 1927 conferred upon her an | honorary degree in recognition of her distinguished work in education; social and civic service.