THE SHAMS AND FOLLIES OF "SOCIETY."

Evening Star, Issue 9830, 19 October 1895, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE SHAMS AND FOLLIES OF "SOCIETY."

A large audience assembled in Melbourne last week to hear an address by Sir Hartley Williams on ' Moral Courage,' given under the auspices of the Collingwood branch of the Australian Natives' Association. In the course of his address he is reported by the ' Age' to have spoken as follows : Under the description "sordid impersonal goddess," there was a lady whose influence was uot beneficial, but rather was detrimental to the development and exercise of moral courage. She had thousands of worshippers, none of whom loved her, all of whom feared her, and many of whom hated her. Her name" was "Mrs Grundy." In effect her way was pernicious and immoral. To please her men and women pretended to be what they were not; uttered what they did believe, and did what they did not enjoy. Under her malign and demoralising influence men and women became hypocrites and cowards, and as a reward of their submission to her the contemptible old lady gave them plenary indulgence to commit in private as many irregularities as they pleased, informing them, however, that the crime unpardonable was detection. Let a Grundian sentiment be uttered, and it was received with a chorus of assent and approval from those who, at heart, either absolutely dissented, or who had, in regard to it, no mind. Departure from truth, failure of moral courage, shams and frivolities of all,kinds in speech and action, opposition to and denunciation of what was right, humane, honest, and ju3t, were encouraged and applauded by her in proportion as each of those vices might serve her purpose or minister to the easy running of the wheels of what \va3 called "society." A highly - talented lady her book ' Views and Opinions,' exposed in venal colors the sins, shams, hypocrisies, hollowuess, and extravagances of society. She certainly was not a devotee of Mrs Grundy, and were one quite sure that she moved in these circles which she castigated her outspokenness might justly be regarded as a high degree of moral courage. Writing of the want of refinement in society, "Ouida "attributed it to the vulgarity of many of those designated by Mrs Grundy as "smart," an epithet which, by the way, "Ouida" said was "borrowed from the vocabulary of kitchenmaids." Writing of the low standard of honor and principles that pervaded society, she said: —"The naughty, clever people knew how to keep their sins unseen—the candid, warm-hearted people always sin the sole sin which injures anybody they get found out." Referring to the scramble that was continually going on amongst those who constituted society, not to be left behind, to keep in the swim, she wrote :—" We desire a crowd on our stairs and a crush in our rooms as evidence of our popularity and our distinction. We are so tormented by the desire to pack forty-eight hours into twentyfour that we gobble our time up healthlessly, without tasting its flavor, as a greedy child gobbles up stolen pears without peeling them. Of the true delights of conversation, leisure, thought, art, and solitude, society en masse has hardly more idea than a flock of geese has of Greek. . . . What ruins many households 13 the expense of continual visiting and inviting. Everybody detests entertaining, but as they all know they must receive to be received, people ruin themselves in entertainment. It is not the house which ruins people, it is the incessant healthless round of intermingled sport and pleasure, danced on the thin ice of debt, and kept up frequently for mere appearance sake." " Ouida'' also attacked the fashion which obtained iu society of making presents to betrothed people, and called Ub " abomin--able blackmail." They might not be, and he trusted they were not, admirers of many of "Ouida's" works, but they must admit there was a good deal of solid, wholesome truth in many of the views she expressed. How were these evils to be repressed—these abuses to be checked ? By the exercise of moral courage. If half a dozen of those in the front of society were to raise their voices with no uncertain sound in protest against the evils, abuses, shams, hypocrisies, frivolities, and extravagances of society, and by the actions and conduct of their daily lives were unmistakeably to demonstrate to society their inflexible determination to use life in a healthy, virtuous, temperate, and useful manner, and encourage others to do the same, he had little doubt but that in time the court of "Mrs Grundy" would be broken up. In conclusion, if they believed a certain action to be right, or the expression of a certain opinion was demanded of them as honest, truthspeaking men and women, do the one and utter the other ; but in so acting and speaking, be not personal, wantonly aggressive, offensive, or inconsiderate. Subject to acting calmly, courteously, and patiently, let them not stop to consider how this act or that opinion would be viewed or received. " Perish policy and cunning. Fear God and do the right." Act on that pearl among precepts:

To thine ownself be true ; And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then lie false to any man.