THE YOUNG LADY OF THE PERIOD.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXV, Issue 124, 27 May 1891, Page 3

THE YOUNG LADY OF THE PERIOD.

The Rev. Msitk Ony Poarse, a well-known English Wesleyan clergyman, wbo is touring the. colonies and giviug leotures a la the Rev. Chas. Olark, has giveu offence to the young ladies bf Sydney and their champions by some remarks he made in one or his leotures, The rev. gentleman went so far as to call tbe young lady of tne period a " waste produot whose ohief use is to dispense afternoon tea." This rather sweeping statement roused, as might be expected, the wrath of tho young women themselves, their fathers and lovers, and some of the letters which appeared in the daily papers were evidently written with pens dipped in vitriol, The remark . was ' ouaraoterised by one writer as a gross libel and insult to tbe bulk of tne girls, who for the moat part, were oapable housewives and dom^tio -managers, and, he went went on to say, '' as elder Bisters of numer* ons families many mothers oan testify to their valUe arid usefulness." a statement Which is ' hot so luoid as oue might wish, Another writer .agreed that to say the chief use of ibo girls was to dispense afternoon tea waa a libel; 1 beoause many ot them did not know how to make a oup of tea, muoh less dispense, it with its accessories. " W.L. rose to explain that -*lr Peace's remarks must be uudejftooa .0 apply i-u-y to thu girls aa they were known ia the olerio&i profession. Hiis language, he saui, did not apply to their home-loving, home uerviug daughters and sisters, but "to the young ladies, frumpish or friyolous, who often form the oiergyman's retinue." ' Another correspondent, ohampioning the ladies, said mat women could' olaim that they performed their work in a manner whioh would make the average man crazy to attempt. There is no UouDt about the truth of this, but whether it is anything to boast abont id another matter altogether, j The 'writer, also advauoes the exceedingly j w«)&k argument that " tne average gin who dispenses . afternoon tea would bear ofl the prize against tne average man, aye, even against tue Rev. M. G. Pearse, iv haudling a broom, making a bed, grilling a steak, and tending me siok." Probably the Rev. fii. G. Pekrte himseil wonld be tne first to admit the uot, bnt as far as we know the rev. leoturer did not-set himself np as an adept at •uoh essentially temioine pursuits. ' A correspondent, signing herself " One of the' Mahgued Sex," wrote one of tbe best letters, and quoted an WBianoo in whioh a fi-uhfater at tne V.41.0.A. ot a Bmall Englißh town dM#i in her bearing, a comparison -between me reading tastes pf the young men and yonng women ot the town, charging the latter with frittering away their lives, their onb reading beipg thtee-voiume novels. Thie touched the writer's pride, for having been unSES get certain Woks oi Oarlyle's Irom the circulating library, she had joined the Y.M.O.A. library Under the name of ' John Bobertabn," and had there cut the leaves of those very books of Carlyle s whioh had lain for years unread, tthewenb home, and wrote out a list of eleven ladies whom she knew intimately, her own name making up the dozen. By the Bide of eaoh name she wrote the languages understood by the owner, and iouncTthat they averaged four eaoh, the language*, being Hebrew, Greek, Latin, EusiiAn, German, Spanish, Dutch, Italian, French, and English. They had all studied for the pleasure of studying, and not as a jprof ession. Armed with this Ust, Bhe sought the minuter, ahd "oame down heavily, ana wound np » few ' crushing remarks hy asking bim to withhold his denunciations until he was better acquainted with the book • shelves of his young lady parishioners. This minister, she says, " was no eebolar, bad no college honours atter his name, and his wife was unfortunately knbwn to be a' liberal patron of the literature he d»nouneed at the circulating library of the town, so he spoke of women as he had known by experieboe." This awful warning should act aita deterrent to any clergyman hinting that the reading of any' cirole of yonng Women is not as wide as it might be, or be may find himself brought up " all standing " by a list oi polygot young ladies, as did the rash example quoted above.— Press,