THE MODERN YOUNG.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 90, 17 April 1934, Page 12

THE MODERN YOUNG.

HARD OF EXTERIOR.

Looking at the modern young girl 0110 wonders if she always feels as sure about things as her attitude indicates. With tho utmost calm she approaches every undertaking. An older woman expresses diffidence about attacking a new task; the modern girl invariably treats her to an incredulous unwavering stare, registering sufficient scorn to make the more timid one wilt.

Is this attitude real, or is it only an armour with which the bright young things of to-day meet the onslaughts of a world in which efficiency is the watchword, and 110 quarter the underlying principle?

Even in the very young this trait of hardiness and self-sufficiency is evident; and it should give us food for thought, if we are raising a generation of women in whom tho softer emotions are going to be almost entirely lacking.

With the swing of the pendulum from tho sloppy sentimentality of the Victorian and Edwardian periods, we iind ourselves in a post-war world, which laughs at sentiment and is cynical at the expense of cherished ideals. This may be all very well for those of us who are old enough to know that a great deal of sentiment is worthless, and that many idols have feet of clay, but most of us, however, disillusioned realise at tho same time that without sympathy, love and understanding life would not be worth living.

Surely small children can be given an outlet for tlicir sweet softer emotions to combat them becoming the hard, selfsufficient, ruthless beings whom modern youth appears to regard as the ideal type.