BEAUTY HUNGER.

Grey River Argus, 12 July 1922, Page 3

BEAUTY HUNGER.

,l —O, eyes too blind To measure space beneath a tree, To count the mote infinity, To watch, the flight of eagles in the sky, Or mark the thistledown swim slowly by! O, ears too dull to hear the throbbing heart, Behind the careful speech!” —Mary Gilmore. None know better than Mary Gilmore how to measure and express the dreams that lie under the matter-of-fact. domestic mask of women. And here we do not speak of women whom we know as fortunate —women who have attained their desires in life, but of the working woman who is judged to have no dreams, because she seldom gets time to indulge in such, fancy. Genuine beauty hunger is one of the strongest feelings that women experience. In women of the leisure class the desire is expressed in rich clothes and artistic surroundings. In them the desire is not perfect, however, because they contribute in no way towards the fashioning of the beauty they crave, and the greatest joy, that of creation, is absent from their quest for beauty. Nevertheless they have what working women crave—the power to gratify the desire for beauty to its fullest extent. In working women the desire shows itself as a rule in an endeavour to

obtain something beyond their purchasing power. In some the desire may merely take the form of a craving for beautiful clothing, or a “movie” craze that will lead them to a cinema hall, where elaborately mounted films are shown. The desire may find expression in reading books of serene and cultured people, of giving fanciful names to children, or putting those last touches to gardens or houses that give the word “home'’ a real iticauiug. Sometimes it takes the dangerous form of admiration of those people who have made themselves pleasing by taking advantage of the efforts of all workers. However, the beauty hunger manifests itself, it is always there, urging the more restless woman on into movements of all kinds, into efforts that have always as an objective a “something better'' than present conditions. The beauty hunger is moving women to-day to demand more of life than they have had hitherto. They are beginning to wonder why their children should not. achieve the ideal existence they hud visioned for themselves. They are beginning to demand more than small pleasures, to discover quick ways of doing unpleasant household tasks, and to reach from the narrow circle’ of home life into the wide circle of outside interests. They will soon, it is to be hoped take more interest in their working class organisations, the, small move meats that are growing ugly, witl small disputes for lack of a definite aim. It is there the women are need ed. to waken the small flames of eu ■ergy and endeavour from the ashe: of disuse. They have to till their movemen with an urge for beauty that will de mand not only better wages and mordecent conditions, but a degree of cut t.ure. both physical and intellectual equivalent to that which the gallan starving Russian people are enjoytu ’ to-day. , .