RESPECTABILITY

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 30, 4 August 1923, Page 21

RESPECTABILITY

FREQUENTLY ONLY

VENEER

COLOUR, CASTE, AND CLOTHES.

Respectability is generally placed among the virtues, and the pride of many people lies in.the possession of it. OE course, there is the cynic, who prays to be' defended Jfrom it, but fundamentally lie is often essentially ' respectable, largely because he loathes superficiality. What is this virtue to which so many of ua aspire? asks a writci' in tho Melbourne "Age." It is something generally considered quite absent in the personalities of people we call criminals. Yet the superficially respectable man will sometimes turn down a friend, • while, honour among thieves is not a myth. Respectability is often a veneer. Then, it can be defined as a barrage thrown up between its owner and the law, bY means of which, paradoxically, such, owner keeps within the law. A respectable man or woman may go on injuring ,a neighbour ■ in countless ways that the law does not recognise as an insult to itself, and run no risk of losing his or (her respectability. A gossip may steal a neighbour's character, but, provided she does not steal something more concrete and less valuable, she remains respectable. But let the kindly man or woman forget for a moment the sacred rights of property and help himself to [his neighbour's chattels, and immediate-, ly the. damage is done—he is no longer respectable. The law, in dealing with abstract qualities, must have very concrete foundations, and, though it is im--1 possible to construe theft of any kind into a virtue, still it is evident that the theft of honour is in reality the greatest outrage one person can commit against another. But respectability hinges on other matters less damning than theft. It is first cousin to convention, for, in the eyes of very orthodox people, to differ from themselves, even in superficial matters, is to lack respectability sometimes a bar to friendship and attainment. At one time it wasn't considered respectable .to think the world was round.

Respectability leaks out from many points m the social main. Consider religion. No one can truthfully say that we have not progressed in the direction ot religious toleration since the end of the eighteenth century, when Wesley dared impugn the all-wisdom of the dogmatic and ritualistic State Church, and when universities unpractically all public positions were reserved for member., pf that church. A Dissenter did occasionally find his way on to a bench, when the other members gathered up their gharißaical garments and left him to •m!. elf- J Lesley's followers wore.des-' CLt" f d^ edM. the conventional Because of their departure/from, "orthodoxy they were not respectable. '■• We hear of such a man as, William Wilberforce, influenced so greatly by Puritanism thanking God that ho was not a despised and bigoted Methodist, and the «"**£ VT 11 a rich flav°« of hum! ou.r M «ie fact that the most' narrowminded Anglicans of those days levelled WnvPf °f -bl?°^- gainst, Diesenters.' Wilberfprce's.tolera-nce was far-ahead of his .timey so-aSfc-we can itnagine { he fSF^W WWch th° cJo^'y-related ideals Methodism and Puritanism, were regarded m places where religion was cut out by State pattern. We hi^tr!" elled a long way since then, but even &f s a nnf }T -?! 0I\ ha* so ™»y lal^> of LT^ P °SSlbl6, to find certa'n types of orthodoxy regarding those outside tho [old as unrespectable. A little while ago tnn

w. lhe habit of thought often decides pale o social intercourse the person Chnstian sometimes looks askance a? not wither under the scor cn mg accusations of the Christ And none of these three very differ! either of the others with a big i nve stLe -for if aCCePtancV f Scriptures hne for line and word for word is demanded by_ some people aS a guarantee ot respectabihty an d the recognition of truth and beauty, in the, religions ' of other countries is anathema. What peopie believe is sometimes regarded as bei ing more wnportant than what they do Those who accept their politics readymade are often more austere in thei* adherence than, those who do a little ihl n]un« u ? n th«r own. Even to-day when Wing and Tory, Liberal and Con flow« eil? aVt blaSB°mcd into AtkSl flowers only less numerous than thoss of religion, we meet certain Conservatives who condemn Radicals to the li m bo the unrespectable. Colour caste, and clothes are three i things that, have to do with respect! bihty. It , s , incomprehensible to «ome people that a yellow, black, or brown pigment may belong to a person perhapa even more respectable than themselves! ihey may admit a negative kind of respectability in the coloured individual such as an absence V.of. desire to steal or comrn.t surfer, b pokitive u _ bihty is for them invariably encased in' a white skm, f Talking of complexions rom.nds one of how time juggles with customs. Not very long ago, artificial complexions were considered the prerogative of the unvirtupus. Now they find their way into quite discreet circles, which proves that even orthodox respectability is not, made of cast iron; Caste does not metely separate Toorak from' Colhngwood, though Toorak can better afford to be unsespectabie than Collinevoofl, and has been-known-to take ad-' vantage of the fact. 'Even in these days when intemperance i s ' not regarded as an indiepensable adjunct to manhood there is no doubt that he who K ets drunk on champagne or liqueur is generally considered more respectable than his poorer brother who staggers under trie influence of common beer Caste is within Collingwood itself, and Number & won t have anything to do with Number 25 because of,its want of respectability, the lines that separate tiiat quality from its negation sometimes bemg very finely drawn! Like other virtues, respectability can be used as an implement of torture,' for how often has it happened that a girl who' has brought dishonour, to the family name has in her trouble been denied the ehel-' tor of .the eminently respectable homa. A prisoner while in gaol may sincerely resolve to help society instead of re-

tarding it when he gets outside the grey walls that shut him in, but the respectable world may drive him back into the arms of crime. And under less tragic circumstances, respectability shuts out sympathy. In the eyes of some people, clothes make the man, and the woman is even more sartorially dependent. Poor garments may. cover a rich heart. The garments are obvious, the heart isn't. There is a spurious form of culture that condemns the uneducated to another inferior kind of respectability, for snobbi&hness' is of the mind as well as of birth, clothes, and other possessions. The world is not nearly civilised enough to do without respectability, even as_we know it to-day. It certainly acts as a deterrent to the grosser sins against society, for, though we may pretend to be careless of our neighbour's opinion, few of us really are. But the word is too closely associated with material things. Ethically, we neejJ to bias particular about respectability as many of us are sartorially. The law countenances many fundamentally unrespectable things, such as gossip, intolerance, and the finer side of honesty. Wf> want to bring these things within the meaning of the word that to-day cover* a number of 3ocial Blemishes. The next thing to do would be to live up to the larger, moaninc;—a still more difficult task.