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it Annual Women’s Institute eers’ Conference THE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS Referring to the statement that history does not repeat itself, Mrs. Noblitt opened her pres- idential address by questioning this saying and continued to draw an analogy between the soâ€" cial and political situation in the years of the fourth century BC. in the City State of Athens, and the selfishâ€"disregard for the re sponsibilities of citizenship that seems to exist today. Quoting the Conference theme. “When thL‘ freedom they most wished for was freedom from responsibility. then Athens ceased to be free and was never free again.” The president sketched briefly the conditions in pre-Chris- tian Athens that led to the Historian. Edith Hamilton, making the quoted statement. “During the 4th century B.C. Athens was considered the representative of western civil- ization and the great despotic Persian Empire. the representative of the eastern world. With a tremendous army Persia attacked Greece and lost the battle. It was a miracle. a triumph of the spirit brought about by the conviction of the Athenians that their most precious possesâ€" sion was their freedom and their willingness to fight for that freedom even to death. After the victory, with the leadership of Pericles. a man 0f great vigour and liberality, the Athenians enjoyed a period of peace. tranquility and freedom of thought." This idea of freedom. limited to the upper classes (slavery still existed) was unknown in other parts of the known world. Freedom was SUMMER 'I 973 born in Greece l‘lt‘L‘LtUNL‘ nicn limited their own trcedom. Sell discipline “as a nu} ol Inc They believed that hmih were good. Yet never Inid men hiid so much 1rccdom. Never was freedom ol speech less reflriclcd nor the importance ol the human hclng \0 rc- speclctl, There win it continuing search tor truth. In their art. they strove to c\prc\beauty tll'ltl rctilism. They expressed \pll’llllill perfection through free llowing lines. Next-r htlS their sculpture been surprised. Nucr h.i\c buildings been more hL‘Llllllllll. nor Iitcruiiirc so superior. There wais il Willing obedience to written. in Well as unwritten. lil\\,\. In Incl. :iu excn greater obedience to unwritten In“ hccuusc of their worship of Mint nus right tind good. They served their government gladly consid- ering it than rcspmtsil‘lllil} 10 do <0 \InCL‘ It was theirs and th‘ll‘ protection against outside forces. Alhcniun an and form ol governmcm left up impact on cnili/iitium ll'lill existed until centuries later. Then came changes. During the wiir uiih Persia and tor a century later the (ircck City States. with Athens as letidcr. joined to resist a common foe. and for tl time all went well. Gradually. the Athenians begun to exercise their power and soon turned the other cities into unwilling subjects. The earliest political manifestation of this was a demand that Athce nlans be paid for public schicc. The early Athenians had never heard of such a thing. 19