GLOOM CLUBS

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 224, 22 September 1925, Page 15

GLOOM CLUBS

England's "bright young people." as those of the smart set are known, may use some of their brightness to mask an aching heart or a grouch against mankind, if one is to believe all that is implied in thp formation of a number of clubs for gloomy people. • One of these is reported to have gone so far on the road to gloom as to arrange excursions to graveyards fur members who wish to contemplate tlie sadness and sorrow of the world in fitting surroundings. Another has its meeting place draped in funeral colours. The idea of such an organisation is new to the present generation, but it was popular a hundred years ago, when there were clubs for gloomy people, ugly people, and even sooieties for liars. One of the strangest organisations was a Split-Farthing Club, where tight-fisted old gentlemen who held onto a penny until its last gasp, could exchange tales of how they had saved an eighth of a cent. Under the roof of another, the Unfortunate Club, gathered the unhappily married, bankrupts, and those who lost on races, all on equal ground in the retelling of their grievances.