MANNERS FOR MEN

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 342, 31 October 1908, Page 11

MANNERS FOR MEN

CHIVALRY TOWARDS WOMEN

Bishop Mercer, of Tasmania, a mail keenly interested in affairs of the day, and a speaker who is always listened to with appreciation, delivered an up-to-date and timely address to tho Y.M.C.A. Convention, m Melbourne. Tho subject announced, "The Nation's Call to Youug Men," gave him plenty of scope, and he chose to deal largely with tho attitude of men towards women.

He- found his subject in tho ideals of chivalry, which ■ existed in tho middle agescourtesy towards women, courage, obedience, and charity. Tho men of tho middle ages failed with these ideals, because of the artificiality of their application to practical life. They, practised gallantry—treating women as-objects of special honour, to bo put in glass cases for admiration. Then people began .'to composo those wretchedly artificial songs and odes to a lady's eyebrow, to the beauty of her cheek, and so on. These things were written by the mile, and tho real honour for woman sank lower in pro-

portion as the literary form and exquisits beauty, of many of the love-songs becan'e greater.

The'.opinion was expressed by . Bishop Mercer, thpt the ..call of tho; nation to ■-young men _ was to restore all that was good in the ideal of-the middle ages, and shed all that , was bad. Ho counselled the practice of politeness, and raised tho vexed question of tra,m-car etiquette. It seemed to him that a great deal of modem chivalry was supposed, to centre in tho idea of a man standing in a car, after giving -his seat to a .lady.- What one. did for a lady in a car seemed to be the test of politeness today. "I. honestly confess," continued- the bishop, "that if there is a young lady in tho car who-can stand bettor than I can I am not going- to stand for her. (Laughter.) And -if there is an : old man who cannot stand as well as I can I 'will give him .my. seat, although ho is a man.". This .was in illustration of the proposition that politeness involved tho principle 'of the ! stronger giving .way ,to tho weaker, irrespective of sex. .Bishop Mercer pointed out that, in general, men wore stronger than women, and so were called upon to yield to women.' '."But," he said, "some women are stronger than men. I've met a woman who would have been a match for Tommy Burns." (Laughter.) I trembled greatly. I felt that even in a fair fight I would hot have a'chance; and then there was tho problem—Could I hit her, she being a women, even if there was a chance?" (Laughter.) ' Bishop Mercer divided manners into two classes—artificial and natural. The latter were possessed without learning, and how chahmng they were in some mon! Although some acquired manners were good, when a man cultivated them to the point of being* unreal, he was a dangerous man, especially towards womenfolk. "My blood boils," exclaimed the bishop, with onergy, "when 11

see, the elegance with which some of these fellows raiso their hats. And then ■ they do not consider it necessary to talk sense to a woman. They say a lot of foolish, flattering things. I know somo women whose souls burn within them to tell these men that they _want to be treated as intelligent human beings, and not as puppets and fools."