OF INTEREST TO WOMEN Abroad and At Home

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 30, 5 February 1927, Page 16

OF INTEREST TO WOMEN Abroad and At Home

v JHE'SCHEME OF THINGS

(By M.H.C.)

A rather quaint discussion has been 'carried on lately concerning "the [bringing-up of women." Presumably a'writer was of opinion that the girls of the day are not being satisfactorily brought up to oe tUo women of ithe future, and was terribly afraid that the domesitic a*ts are going to-be lost. Another follows on.by saying jthat he-thought women "brought up men as well," and had mado rather a good job of it! Not in every case, of course, but there is plenty of time left, and everyone will agree that pa[tience is a crowning virtue. Where jthis writer hits real common-sense is in his conclusion where ho says: "The rfaet of the matter is there is far'more jto do in.the world than either sex will aver be likely to accomplish^ without the other; and understanaing and sympathy .etween man:and woman is the only real solution to any of the problems." Another person thinks that a business experienco superimposed on the domestic is the ideal, for a girl who can attend to the home and yet understand finance and business would come near to the ideal wife. A girl of untidy, thriftless . parents might have remained always muddling about her home till sho married, and never have been a wage-earner, yet be a thorough failure domestically. The .writer urges the fact that times are always changing, and people must change too. Again, a shrewd saying is the conclusion, for this writer adds, "While we better some things we lose ■pthers that are precious to us, and if we have lost the old-fashioned homely woman, as some seem to .think, we have also lost the old-fashioned father who helped so little with his very numerous offspring." Change is certainly the order of the day. Those who are nearing middle age can remember jthe earlier use of the telephone; the "beginning of the phonograph, which preceded the gramophone; tba inception o£ moving pictures and of the motor *ars; wireless, being, of course, quite recent, with its many possibilities. The days when there were.none of tliese things were very different for everybody,, adults and children. There was naturally a more Spartan regime, and amusements, had to be fpuud with some difficulty.'' But if any of the up-to-date contraptions had been placed 'within reach of the last two generations'they would undoubtedly have "fallen upon them" with eagerness and joy. Sir Philip Gibbs is the writer of the day who has best studied and understood the young people of his time, and those whq really care about them (except to find fault) will find a -revelation in his recent books. The chief faults of youth are selfishness, cock-sureness, and impatience— and who can look back on a long life and not see all those unfortunate.qualities standing out plainly in his or her own character—if honest iii intro- ] spection and retrospection ? A great many have *co.nqueredfthese, faults, but there are :.pientyi ; wh~p'f: g6c on.' suffering,, from them to the end of their lives! Therefore^ why' ;throw': stones?■"■-=■ "Arid after all, are the young one 3 not the products and responsibility of the older people?

In reading a book the other day a | passage- was noticeable where the .-writer deplored the lack of humour in women, which he appeared to think was general,- and.:.not just among those women .whom' he happened to know best. People arc very apt to 'measure tho world by their o-.yn immediate acquaintances or illations, md it is quite laughable, if it wero not such a pity that any oue should show such a. •lack of: vision. Someone found that women; do not think Falstaf£ • funny,: and that to be the test of humour in? the- writer 'a estimation. But those who look on fairly ■ at life should surely' be .able to recall almost daily occasions when they have been able to listen to'the merry laughter of girls —the young women. One can recall peals of laughter in every experience, and for a variety of subjects. A quaint story; a ridiculous action or costume; a funny account of some happening— all these .things cause intense merriment on the part of girls, and as -for schoolgirls, what everyone knows is the laughter and fun which character-, ise an ordinary decent school life. But. there are certain things which do not appeal' to the sense of humour m girls or women. Drunkenness is one., A drunken man may, and does cause laughter in his own sex, but a girl is ■either frightened or disgusted. ■ Stories rof unfortunate happenings which cause a man to laugh, -will appeal.to a woman as being merely unfortunate or \ sad, and she will not be in tho least inclined to laugh. George Elliot makes an old maid in one of her, stories make a "priceless" remark, according to the present ideas, "I wouldn't like to be a man," she says scornfully, "they laugh so loud, and have to go straddling about iv the wt." Laughter is a fine thing, a splendid thing for the health, and a sense of humour is one of tho greatest gifts—one of the finest of the- talentj which should never be ■buried, but cultivated all the time, but. great care should be taken to avoid "the loud laugh which bespeaks the vacant mind." Judging from observation in theatres, or other places of amusement, the same things exactly seem to strike a certain kind of mind as finny, a mind that is common to both sexes, for peals of empty laughter will greet plays, situations, or sayings that seem to other minds full of tragedy—anything but laughable—or merely vulgar and foolish. But the ready laugh, often led by the highpitched voice of women will bo there, and one can only think' thnt some men and some women have exactly the same pervested sense of humour. As long ago as when the Psalmist wrote, he mentioned "tho laughter of fools which was like unto the crackling of wood under a pot," and it is only a little stretch of. imagination to think of him listening to tho people of Israel, or some of their heathen companions at play of some sort which they found amusing, and for which ho had only a contemptuous disapproval. So foolish laughter is a very old thing, while a sense of humour is just as old, but means not laughter, necessarily, but a delighted appreciation of fun, which may be little outwardly expressed. Those who are not gifted with a sense of humour should start, cultivating it at once, for it is a saving grace of life. '■■ ■ ; ;•,-•■.- .. .- ■ , ■ - '