Mary Benson (campaigner) Mary Benson (campaigner) Mary Benson (8 December 1919 – 19 June 2000) was a South African civil rights campaigner and author. Born in 1919 in Pretoria, Benson served in the South African Women's Army during World War II. After the war, she was secretary to film director David Lean. Benson became acquainted with the author Alan Paton, and read his novel "Cry, the beloved country" (1948), whose main theme was racial discrimination in South Africa. This affected her greatly, and she became a campaigner for the rights of black people there. She worked with Michael Scott (who, in 1946, was
O Sacred Love of the Beloved Country Stanisław August Poniatowski. The poet published it in 1774 in "Zabawy Przyjemne i Pożyteczne" (Pastimes Pleasant and Profitable). It subsequently became part of song 9 of his 1775 mock-heroic poem, ""Myszeida"" (The Mouseiad). Popular during the Enlightenment, Krasicki's patriotic poem became the anthem of the Warsaw Corps of Cadets. It has gone through many translations, including three into French. The poem is written in lines of 11 syllables, in ottava rima (rhyming ab ab ab cc). O Sacred Love of the Beloved Country "O Sacred Love of the Beloved Country" (Polish title: "Święta miłości kochanej ojczyzny"; also, "Hymn do miłości