THE MODERN MAIDEN

Manawatu Times, Volume LIII, Issue 6542, 25 February 1928, Page 15

THE MODERN MAIDEN

It Is the fashion to discuss and condemn, the modern maiden. -There are a few, of .course, who champion her cause, but they are insignificant, and their voices are drowned in the great outcry'9f ,disapproval. But, like Felix, the modern-maiden keeps on walking. ./. . - She has been' condemned since, the beginning of" time and" she ; is-used it. No doubt „ the- first Egyptian maiden who thought of underlining her eyes with green-aptimony—know-ing It suited her dusky red' complexion—was condemned lar liussy, d the virtuous were genuinely grieved. But, later on; when her elders and betters of both sxea started the same practice, opinions changed: the green paint was then to protect their eyes

from the sun! And exactly the same thing happened with., short skirts. When the modern maiden alone wore them, they were to Show her ' legs; when her elders followed her, it was because germs and dust were so detrimental to health, . According to the age in which she dived, the modern maiden has painted her face, exposed, her legs, or her shoulders and been condemned until her mother -copied the fashion. Do wo blush when we glance at the pictures of our grandmothers, and greatgrandmothers, with their beautiful sloping shoulders exposed to the public gaze? No: we murmur: ‘How charming!’ Andre Maurols, in his Life or Disraeli, tells us that the modern maiden 'of 1860 was not in odour of sanctity. This is a rough translation from his book: “She walks about with her skirts lifted up to her knees, displaying pretty legs, calling men Tom, John, or Dick, and discussing with young fellows the latest scanda 1 invented at White’s.” And that in 1860, —fie for shame! Then her manners have always been appalling. Shakespeare shows us what she was capable of in ‘The Taming of the Shrew;' no modern maiden of to-day could ‘give tongue better than Katharina. She had always been forward, too — at , fourteen, was not exactly retiring when she met Romeo! Shakespeare s heroines are essentially modern, and writers, in every age have pictured the modern maiden with the same character, but clothed her in different garments, and she only expresses her old, but ever new. opinions In the language of her day. There is one outstanding peculiarity about this modern maid; ae the years roll by she is pardoned all her

sins, and held up as an example to the younger generation. A strange metamorphosis. Perhaps it is because we always hope she will ‘tone down’ and this universal hop© brings about the happy result. M. L. TYRRELL.