‘WEARY FEET THAT DANGLE.'

Evening Star, Issue 22573, 15 February 1937, Page 12

‘WEARY FEET THAT DANGLE.'

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —Please accept my thanks for publishing the article 1 Weary Feet that Dangle.’ Your Saturday page 2 always gives one pleasure, but this was the article—yes, not the song—that really “ reached my heart.” The writer will always be remembered with gratitude by me, and by hundreds of other women, for opening-the subject, and for doing so with such accurate understanding of our sufferings. That wierd erection is just a giant skeleton standing in front of. a small draughty graveyard; but. why should we tolerate a skeleton above ground when it could so easily be dropped over the fence and decently buried? There are numbers of women who would joyfully perform that operation. It cries piteously for burial to all who have ears to hear. Unlike the guns, those antique friends that were beloved by all children and remembered as former friends by all normal-minded adults, they were not gruesome or cruel to those who dared use them as a resting place, and the burial of this skeleton would have cost the City Council nothing. I cannot understand the nervous fever that attacked those councillors; a fever that* made them run with fear from an old friend, who was not even dead, and yet tolerate a skeleton in the very_ heart of the city; a skeleton that injures all who go near it, and is not beloved .even by the men .who ignore all notices and occupy the seat to the exclusion, of women whenever it suits them, i *“• etc ” . Betty. February 15. ' v'c]-' TO THE EDITOR. Sir All women who read the article entitled ‘ Weary Feet That Dangle will breathe forth blessings on the writer, our first champion. For years we have suffered and waited; waited for a man discerning and sympathetic enough to realise the agony endured by weary women when they have to use that so-called seat. The strain on tired legs; the greater strain on a weak back that can find there nothing to lean against but an icy, draught from the sepulchral vault behind that open fence. The man who planned that seat must have been a practical joker, a fiendish one who rightly should have lived in the dark ages, when the torturing of helpless people was such fun, and the man who chose that particular spot for it was a twin soul or close relation they may now be dead. If so, I forgive them sufficiently to hope that they are more comfortable than they would be on that seat. But their spirit is very much alive in those who for so many years have made women suffer, for no reason whatever but the fact that most women hate to publicly complain; they have patiently waited for a leader-thank goodness we have one at last—-feeling bitter all the time because of the fact that neither mayor nor councillor would countenance —or suggest—a few shillings and a little common sense beiniT spent on a seat that wou.d be restful*, and seeing that it was placed in. a sheltered spot. Right in the open over by the fountain would be much better, but just beyond the ticket bos would be ideal. But, bad as it is we often don’t get a chance to dangle our feet no it, for it is fast becoming a resting place for “ Weary Willies.” The legend plainly showing above does not prevent them from holding seats while tired women stand. “Ladies only indeed. What care they, so long as they know that neither inspector nor councillor would dare order them off it ? But, so long as they use it, they should be brave enough to put on woman’s apparel; that is the only thing that would justify them. In the whole of Dunedin that is the only seat that is labelled “ Ladies only, but we will gladly endow these Weary Willies ” with it for all time, and we will never intrude if the City Council will he fair enough to give us one quite near,, but in a sheltered spot—a seat with a close boarded back and quite low leas We have been silent so far as public complaints go, but if the City Council could hear a fraction of the remarks which I hear about its want of consideration I feel sure that shame, if not pity, would induce it to place a seat that is a seat in a proper place. I sincerely hope that many of the women who‘have complained bitterly in, ray hearing will now have courage enough to express their feelings openly. —I am, etc., Dangler. February 15.