MEN AND WOMEN AND CARDS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 221, 18 September 1930, Page 24

MEN AND WOMEN AND CARDS.

The other day I was told that now the- old lady is catered for in every possible way; and it does seem that the day of the little red cross-over, the stool, the knitting in frail hands over a fire and the gradual fading away of the knitter, will never come again. So many years we give to the bringing up of our families, possibly quite largethen, when ties slacken, we can figure on committees for social work, political work or church work. Then comes a •time when even those activities fatigue and then it is that the old lady enters into her halcyon days; and, now-a-daye, tho form it takes is bridge, which keeps the brain of the old lady occupied in the pleasantest of manners. No longer is the plate of cakes for her, and the in- >r different sandwich eaten in a cheerless room. *The best afternoon teas in the city restaurants are for her; but with regard to the bridge itself the old lady has a word to say. As an'ex-member of ever so many women's organisations in the city it is heresy, I expect, to isay that with regard to cards women have a lot to learn from men. I have been" to hundreds of card functions where men havo supervised proceedings and things have run on oiled wheels—no dragging— the greatest fairness and the most genial spirit obtaining. If a man is detected cheating at cards he is an outcast for ever more—even sometimes flying the country. It is different withi women. Bridge is largely a game of skill, and a woman with the card sense, good .judgment, good memory, knowing every move of the game, must very frequently when pitted against players not so well equipped win prizes. - A man would recognise that (I may here interject that I am not in the categ6ry of wonderful players). A woman, however, immediately says, "Oh, eo and so must cheat, she always takes home the prize," and the women put their heads together to circumvent a recurrence of this. J. A. MIDDLEBROOK.