DECLINE OF THE MONOCLE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 26 November 1938, Page 13

DECLINE OF THE MONOCLE

ALMOST COMPLETE ECLIPSE [By Air Mail-Own Correspohllelttl LONDON, 3rd November. A noteworthy fact of the utmost significance on which nobody has so far Commented is the post-War decline irt this country of the monocle. Thirty years ago the monocle was firmly established as the hall-mark of social or professional caste. Joe Chamberlain's single fey e-glass, which he niriiiihiilrttorl j as expressively as Charlie Chaplin does! his toothbrush moustache. Was only one) of a dozen in the prc-War House of Commons. Ladies sported a monocle, in those days, a memorable instance, being Lady Long. To-day I cannot re- j call half-a-dozen people in London : who now wear one. The monocle has j suffered, so far as England is con- ; cerned, almost as complet ah eclipse jas the silk topper has in the Ciiy of | j London. Perhaps the War had a little j to do with this. Winston, when he was 1 given a battalion of Royal Scots in * j France, told one dismayed, subaltern j I who wore a monocle in the treliches. jto report sick to the M. 0.! Also our sturdy Dominion warriors had a spefcI ial decision for “an eye-glass.” DISMISS ! J There is a story, alleged authentic, | of one Imperial officer, who was addictjed to a monocle, coming on parade one morning to find his entire company of stalwart Aussics with bits of glass stuck in one eye. This gallant "invalid” was more than equa’ to the emergency. After cilreftilly inspecting ranks, without a quiver of interest in the monocle parodies, he called them to attention. Then, deliberately takI ing out his monocle, he tossed that j ornament high in the air. and adroitly I caught it again in the proper eye. After j this awe-inspiring performance, he smartly ordered "Dismiss”! A curious fact about present-day tendencies is thatf wherbas we are abandoning the monocle in theSfe uUrri-clrtinortrriettc ifriyS, the Germans rfffudlj? taking them up. A monocle is becoming almost a rank badge with high Nazi officers. It is true the pre-War Prussian officers in crack corps v.ci*e rather wont to display a monocle, bqt the J spread of this fashion in Nazi quarters ' almost suggests that Der Fuhrcr’s ! associates regard a mohoclfe as the hallt mrirft of a dominant rdet. It is becorhing a Nordic emblem.