THE INTERRUPTERS

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6867, 23 March 1929, Page 15 (Supplement)

THE INTERRUPTERS

WOMEN WITHOUT CHARM Charm! That indefinable, evanescent, delightful “something” that all women wish for, either consciously or subconsciously. Barrie knows all about it, and he gave it to his adorable character Maggie, in “What Every Woman Knows,” even though she. didn’t know she had it. There are women, however, who at first glance have no charm. They may be plain and unnoticeable. But who has not felt the endearing kindness of the woman who has listened attentively to a story, not necessarily a funny one That is one form of charm which women could advisedly cultivate. Almost everyone knows the type who charges in and takes complete control of the conversation. You have a little tale to tell about a tennis party. Simple enough, perhaps, but to your mind worth passing on at tea-time. “At tennis this afternoon,” you “Oh, do you play tennis?” interjects the unlistening one. “I used to play, and it seemed to strain all the muscles of my legs. My dear, you’ve no idea! I could hardly get into the car to go home. And do you know, I got three white tennis frocks and the laundry just ruined them. The boys love it, -though; I must see to it that the next house we take has a tennis court.” “Save Your Breath” Of course, if you realise her typd from that amount of conversation you will do as the old Scotswoman advised and “save your breath for your porridge.” But when you are not used to the type, and feel that it is up to you to contribute a little to the conversational game, you pluckily think up another opening for yourself, after deciding that the tennis tale wasnt very exciting, and anyhow, yous hearers haven’t missed much. Perhaps it is the table decorations* and you remember a lovely joke about your four-year-old baby and her imagination about a rose. It is no use. The “interrupter,” td call her a word which is really far too polite, has another idea. Roses bring to her mind her courtship days, and she starts to tell you the whole story, how she sobbed'herself to sleep because she couldn’t make up her mind whether she loved, him or not, and how she at last said “Yes” because, he said she reminded him dt a rose. That in turn fetches memories of her mother-in-law’s gardener, who pruned away all the tea roses just as they were burstiag into bud. It’s no use; you retire into a corner and do a lot of thinking. One of your very first plans being to ask what your husband has been doing all day, and, if he is in an expansive mood, to listen and answer intelligently to every; word.