THE 20TH CENTURY.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 18675, 26 April 1926, Page 6

THE 20TH CENTURY.

The Society {or Imperial Culture held its first lecture of this session on 'Saturday night. Professor J. Shelley presided over a lsrgo attendance o£ members. Mr Harold Miller lectured on "The Spirit of the 20th Century." Mr Miller-stated that the subject interested him, but tho difficulties wore very grave; for clearly one might approach the subject in one of a hundred ways. He elected to speak of the period thirty or forty years before the one in which w» aro now living. Tho mere turn of the century signified nothing. . The real turning point took place some years before. In 1880 England was a hive .of industry. Exports had greatly increased, and there was every reason for satisfaction. But notes of discord were breaking out. First one cherished idea and then another went sky-high, and even Christianity was attacked. The horrid spectre of Socialism had risen over tho horizon. He had been asked to speak on the spirit of the century, but he denied that there was one. The men of that century had changed the face of tho world;, tliey had done great things, but of the higher ideas they knew nothing. The most obvious change in English life was the introduction of greater, speed. An old man had told him tho other day that it was tho bicycle that had made the young girls of to-day fast. A.new morality, art, drama, humour, journalism, and a new woman had come into existence. The supernatural had come back in the name of science.

During tho evening Miss D." Mitchell sang the "Lament of lais" 'and "Che Faro." A voet of thanks was passed to the lecturer and the performer;