EXPLORER’S ALLEGATION.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVI, Issue 173, 23 June 1926, Page 13

EXPLORER’S ALLEGATION.

BRITONS DEMORALISED BY WOMEN. SYDNEY LADY’S CAUSTIC REPLY. Following is a letter from Mrs A. H. Wilson, of Niloga (N.S.W.), who makes answer to an article pi*.ited in a recent issue of the Sydney Sunday Times, in which Mr F. A. MitchellHedges, a British explorer, laid the blame for Britain’s athletic decadence to the effeminizing influence of women : “There is nothing more worthy of note than that history repeats itself with unfailing certainty. Do you remember in Genesis, Adam says: “The woman whom Thou gavest me to be with me, she gave me to eat.” Coward 1 “I’ve always had a contempt for Adam. When he had had his enjoyment, and was found out, he blamed it on tho woman 1

“Who is Mr F. A. Mitchell-Hedges, the explorer,/.anyway P I suppose I am exhibiting my ignorance in not knowing, but I don’t! However, this I know, that if the initial “A” in liis name does not stand for Adam, it ought. Also, that if his exploring is going to assist him in finding v out any more of these pathetic theories, the sooner he stops the gamo the better. “What colossal insolence ho has to lay the blame of the effeteness (if it is qffete) of his own sex <sn us! Are Englishmen so spineless, so purposeless, that they drift like leaves on rippling water, while their women, on the other hand, are so reliable, so efficient, that they can determine the fate of tho men with a sweep of tho hand, a toss of the shingled head, or a breath from “geranium” lips? “To regard the bobbing of women’s heads as affecting the mentality of men is a little too far-fetched. Possibly this gentleman will lay the degeneracy of women (if they have degeneracy) down to the fact that men shave their moustaches nowadays!

“As to wearing beads being a particular debased proceeding, women havo worn necklaces from .time immemorial. They aro dug out with every mummy, they are drawn in every ancient picture. The love of ornament is innato in every woman (this may possibly be accounted for, by our exploring friend, as her wile to catch the men). In the same ratio, maybe the degeneracy of woman (if she is degenerate) may bo traced to the pernicious habit of men wearing wristlet watches nowadays, and dangling season tickets on chains “The discarding of unnecessary clothes shows a sensible return to the Greek and other civilisations, when but few garments, and but merely sandled feet, were saner and healthier than the swaddled bodies of tho later centuries. This sad habit, combined with rogue and powder used by women, may probably account for the lack of skill in sport which Mr Mit-chell-Hedges alleges. He may not personally like these things, but I doubt if he will find many supporters for the theory that- the degeneracy and effeminacy of the Englishman (if any) may be laid at their door. “Then he goes on to compare England to France, America and Germany, to her detriment, holding that her greatness wanes because her women are taking their place equally with men.

“There is no country in tho world where women are so studied and considered, and pampered, as in America—and France. The French women has at least as much right, and as much privilege, and as much honour, as the man. Then where is his logic? The German has downtrodden his women for centuries, but Germany did hot win the war. “It is only now that German women are demanding—and getting—their rights, and yet ho points out that Germany is forging ahead of Britain. His logic, again I say, is wretched.

“On the burden of his plaint, as to whether England’s men are effeminate, wanting in virility, poor-spirited, spineless, I do not feel competent to speak. “England may herself be decadent, may have lost prestige, her male youth may have a hundred and one degrading poses, may have no idea of tho dignity of labour, may bo in every way despicable—Mr MitchellHedges says this is so, and I suppose he ought to know; but it is insolent and cowardly to saddle women with tho responsibility of it. She has enough to bear on her own account as it is. As to her worthlessness, the war gave the lie to that. “One is reminded of Shakespeare’s ‘Henry V.,’ and can transpose it slightly to suit the occasion of her being so traduced: “Oh hard condition, twin born with greatness, Subject to the breath of every fool?’’ “I stop there, and ask Mr HedgesMitchell what he is going to do about it?”