THE SCHEME OF THINGS

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 17, 21 January 1928, Page 17

THE SCHEME OF THINGS

(By M.H.C.)

4. discussion was recently hold in a r>ig oily on "Why do girls leave ndme?" and, rather amusingly, it seems *o have resolved itself into a talk about "Why do men leave homo?" A social worker put the mattor very neatly: "Too many children and too little money," she said. These make a combination far ahead of the eternal triangle. Economics aro more powerful than romance in giving a fateful turn to the lives that come under their influence. Gambling, it was held, was more a factor in the shortage of money than drink, while boredom and a thirst for adventure played a frequent part in leading husbands astray from their wives and the children for whom they were responsible. Someone arose to talk about nagging. A little worker asked if husbands never, nagged, also had the speaker any idea what a nerve strain was put on women, whoso children were hungry and insufficiently clothed, when all credit was stopped on account of the non-payment of bills? Perhaps, she said, sickness might follow, with the coming of more children, and as women were but human beings their nerves and tempers gave out and unseemly nagging ensued. While agreeing, that nagging is undoubtedly an abomination, it was considered that the cause had to be taken into consideration. Apparently it was not decided why girls left home, except to place a certain amount of blame on the homes —small, ill-kept, poverty-stricken, and overcrowded; compelling the young creatures, reaching out for brightness and comfort, to "hive off" to pleasanter quarters. This is natural enough, but often is attended by miserable consequences. It was decided' that better housing in all large cities would meet many cases. '• • * • It Is a queer world. For many a long day verbal stones and brick-bats have been hurled at girls and women for their fondness for chocolates and other sweets. The added expense of taking a girl out for an evening's amusement, tho annoying fact of a person "chewing" sweets while looking at pictures or plays, the greediness of it, and many other criticisms have been made—all in the direction of fault-finding. Now, when fashion demands a slim silhouette and it is said that women have decided to lessen their consumption of sweets — it is so much more comfortable and healthy to be on the thin side of beauty ~-there is an outcry on account of the manufacturers of these goods and the boxes and receptacles thereof. In the old days women were scolded because their frocks took so much material, and some touched the ground; this was "hideous, unhealthy, foolish"—truly •o —bnt no one, or very few, can be found to admire or praise the economy of material in modern garments. These are indecent, unhealthy, and foolish, too. Hats were huge, over-trimmed, heavy, inartistic, and expensive; now they are too small, uniform to a tiresome degree, and worn for all occasions in the same style, making for economy for the buyers and loss for the sellers. Then the much-discussed hair. Formerly there was mention of the wastage caused by lost and broken hairpins, hair-slides, ornaments, pads, and all sorts of contraptions which cost money, and were needed for laborate hair-dressing. "Extravagance ' and waste of time" were the complaints in time past. Now the hair is cut short there is a worse outcry than ever. The cry about it being unscriptural has rather faded out, as St. Paul gave one of his jobations about not sparing too much time in the dressing of hair and other vanities; the retort given to those who maintained that women were "meant" to have long hair was that men could grow long bair in exactly the same manner, and, moreover, were "meant" to have beautiful beards and moustaches which they insist in cutting off; so the "glass house" was realised, and the throwing of stones was "called off" for that particular reason. Again, it is a, changing world and opinions change, too: the former masculine admiration for long tresses and i plenty of adipose tissue on the opposite sex appears to have been much moderated, and the slim and shingled girl has the best time. Fortunately women as a whole ignore the "nagging "at their sex, being so thoroughly used to-it, and please themselves about their personal affairs, finding that that is the only way to live at all peaceably and comfortably. But it would be a delightful thing if the fault-finders'! of the world would discover some other means of exercising their "prerogative," and begin to look for some of

the good qualifies which quite a number of women possess. * * * Bather a wonderful change- of opinion has come about in England regarding tho extension of the franchise to tvomen of twenty-one. Beading many lines in leading papers, as well as "between the lines" in others, there seems to bo a feeling .hat tho extension of the vote will be quite a good thing in many ways, and not a disaster, as freely prognosticated by the "Die-Hard Brigade" only a brief tirao ago. Mr. James Douglas, writing in tho "Sunday Express," is a very cheerful prophet on the women's side. He remarks that a solid sex vote on any subject is an impossibility, and that, just as tho male vote is divided, so "ill that of the female be. "The exclusively male government ago is over," he writes, "and we

should rejoice in this blessing, for men have made a dreadful mess of government in every democracy. The progress of mankind has been badly retarded by the untempered follies of maled democracies. If the wisdom of women had been allied to the wisdom of men for a century the world to-day would not be tho hell it is. ... I believe that the surplus of women means the end of war as an instrument of polities and politicians. Every woman is either a wife and mother or a potential wife and mother, and therefore an enemy of war, which mutilates, tortures, blinds, dements, and slaughters husbands, sons, and brothers. Men in tho past have made bad and stupid laws. Women will wake them up and goad them into overdue reforms of all sorts. Our politicians in future will be forced to think and feel and act, not as the representatives of men only, but as the representatives of women as well as men." And that is that.. It must be added that few women would have had the courage to hit' out so straightly at former Governments and mistakes, but coming from "within the camp" it is a great arraignment.