THE SCHEME OF THINGS

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 150, 21 December 1929, Page 21

THE SCHEME OF THINGS

(By M.H.C,\

]_ The preacher who said Recently that the-churches' work was 'easy now in comparison with those 'of the Dark Ages was,, in the main,': right.- The early persecutions and struggles were tragic indeed, but at theiVsame time they brought forth interest:.tn. the various sects, and both courage-and mination. Now the difficulty is! largely indifference and lack of ihterest-^two -matters most trying for those- in authority to contend with, iand very sad .for those who exhibit them. 'In looking for causes people are rather prone only to blame the things of today, the easy transport, larger liberty of action, and so on; but those who can look back for some distance see other points of view. Certainly in the older days- families all went off to church regularly, twice a day, and the young ones to Sunday School as well. But these are the parents of to-day, or grandparents perhaps, and so many of them look back on the church-going as one of the penances of their younger life. There are few who cannot recall the hours of boredom and restlessness, the wistful look at the sunshine, as they entered the rather sombre doors of i their church. Then the long discourse, right over their heads, the only relief being the singing of favourite hymns, or occasional distractions through Unexpected happenings, and the prospect of meeting others after service. -These things made many people take the line of resolving that their children should not suffer in the same way, and no doubt part.of the reaction from regular] church-going has its roots in the past for these reasons. It did not seem to occur to. the preachers of the past_ ever to explain the real object of service as it appears to many nowadays—the joyful offering of a little i special time and the dedication of thought to a matter of real importance, -the love and service of God to the world, with thankfulness for His goodness and patience. There was no explanation, and the discourses on doctrinal difficulties seldom or never touched on the real-ones that faced ordinary folk, but usually. centred round abstract questions which interested the ordinary person not at all. There ■will probably be a reaction, and it is to be hoped • that it will come about naturally, from common sense and breadth of mind on the part of the rulers of the churches. The belief in Christ and in. the future life, which is becoming much more widely diffused, needs' to be co-ordinated and brought 'to some v centre, to give it force and male the best use of the vision given •to quite a large number of people. Some think the world is just waiting for the great leader, who, is always vaguely expected in each age, and there is little 'doubt that-this leader if, and when, he comes will be called upon first for .organisation^ of qualities and powers that are wasted at present, except inasmuch as they benefit the individuals who possess them.

Naturally many women will be.much interested to hear from Canada, that it has been decided that women may sit in 'the" Senate at" Ottawa. The fact that there'are sis vacancies at present makes the news more important, or, as the message sent out says, "portentous. "'lt is assumed that some women will be appointed immediately, and it will be specially interesting to hear on whom the choice falls. Five women from Alberta, all well known and respected, and with a record of service behind them, made the request to Government that "the question, "Are women persons?"' should be investigated. (This recalls the old - question, ''Havefwomen soulsf''-. which was asked- in all seriousness by a section of men, who doubtless were quite sure that ;they were properly provided themselves.) So the Privy Council appears to have gone'into the matter of personage, and -the Lord Chancellor is reported; as 'haying said: "The exclusion ,of women from all public offices is a relic :of; days: more barbarous, than ours? I —which is quite amusing, as giving the impression that he realises that the world at present is ; guilty of barbarism, which it certainly is, in more than one direction. He comments on the fact that in England a Peeress is still excluded from the House of Lords and.from the councils of her natio~h and country.- The women of Canada, without being peeresses, are to be more fortunate, as to be trusted, to be honoured, to be given a position of power, is certainly to be fortunate. In the "inverse ratio," to be excluded altogether is to be very unfortunate. The matter is of interest as showing a steady trend towards placing.women in the plan of life as human beings, and not as either toys or slaves, or as mentally deficient. They are steadily get,ting away from the "women, criminals, and lunatics" category, which is indeed something to be devoutly thankful for, and to prize as a proof of the progress of humanity.

Mr. Bernard Shaw, when asked to propose the toast of "Time aitd Tide" at the opening of the new Bloomsbury offices of this paper, was very quaint in his remarks, saying that, although the paper-had done nothing for'him, he ''thought it ought to be encouraged.' 1. "This," he continued, "is a very magnanimous thing for a 1 man to say, you see the world has very, largely been run, and certainly this'country has been run, on a tradition of masculine capacity and of feminine incapacity, and it took a tremendous lot of trouble to keep up that tradition. ... In order to keep it up to perfection you had to keep women out of newspaper offices, out of Parliament, and out of public bodies, because the women who got into these places wanted to get something done, and the whole job of men-was to save for themselves the credit of getting anything done.... . . There was a time when it was assumed that women could not conduct newspapers, and the idea that they could conduct reviews was ou,t of the question, but here we have a review which is conducted by women; and it is an extraordinarily able review." Then Mr. Shaw talked politically: "One of the defects of women is that they have no sense of party tradition; they do not vote as they are told, but they want to know what they are doing, and they vote according to what they want done. ... We begin to see the old party system beginning to crack up, all because women Ire so impatient with the unreality it produces in Parliamentary debate. For the party system means that you never really vote on questions before the House, but on whether your party is to remain in power or not." Later Mr Shaw remarked: "Time and Tide there is always.the savage temper of women who always want to net back to the .point, and are perfectly prepared to be nasty about it .. . and that is the way to get things done." In conclusion ho said that women had done with being depressed by tradition, and recalled Artemus Ward's celebrated Corsair, "who languished in a dungeon for twenty years until one day the

thought came to him to open the window and get out . . . and that was what had happened to women." Women seom to have obtained a very powerful champion in the veteran writer, and a most welcome one.