THE FLAPPER'S PERILS.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 214, 10 September 1928, Page 5

THE FLAPPER'S PERILS.

"INORDINATE CURIOSITY."

PRESENT DAT INFLUENCES.

PURSUIT OP PLEASURES

The perils and possibilities of "the flapper" were dealt with in a sermon delivered by the Rev. Leonard H. Hunt in the Mount Eden Presbyterian Church last evening.

In contrast with the modern boy, who wanted to be either a pirate or an engineer, the girl of to-day became fascinated by the attractions of social life, said Mr. Hunt. She was a problem to her parents and had an inordinate curiosity. This she sought to satisfy by reading popular novels, some of which were a disgrace to civilisation, or by attending picture shows. Films that depicted scenes from high life, concerning people who had much leisure time, often led to dissatisfaction in the young girl's mind when she considered her own humdrum lot.

The second peril was that of mistaking the transient for the permanent and of seeking pleasures and relaxations which later ceased to please. Dancing had a great fascination at this stage, but it was a passing phase, and that was a reason why the Presbyterian Church did not encourage dancing in its church buildings. There was the danger, also, that girls should become so absorbed in pleasures as to forget that there were duties in life which required effort and perseverance to be nobly done. Mr. Hunt said that a third peril was that of girls seeking to imitate men in their pleasures, and sometimes in their vices. He suggested that this was one of the by-products of the emancipation of women. If girls were able to take their place with men in business and commercial life they were tempted to do so in the pleasures, such as smoking and drinking. In this connection they did not consider sufficiently what the effect would be, and the safer course was not to imitate men in either their virtues or vices, but to seek some noble ideal of Christian womanhood. As to the possibilities of the modern girl, the speaker mentioned the great opportunities for service, and said that the Church was to-day dependent upon the efforts of women supporters. The work to be done in the Church was not to be compared with that carried out by men and women alike in commercial and business life. If the possibilities of useful service were missed the failure was that of a life finally wasted. In the afternoon Miss Shannon, travelling secretary of the New Zealand Presbyterian Young Women's Bible Class, delivered an address on the work among girls.