THE DO-LITTLE DIALOGUES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14745, 29 July 1911, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE DO-LITTLE DIALOGUES.

BY MRS.' LEO MYERS.

Winter sunshine glanced through the curtains, putting to blush the glowing grate, fire. The Cynic, pulling off his gloves, spread his hands toward the heat, rubbing them heartily;". but the - Seer drew her chair into the shaft of-sunshine, letting its beams play across the soft waves of her grey hair. .-.."■ . . For the Seer was 50 and the Cynic 54. .-.-• ... Between them lay a safely-interred Romance, round which was wreathed,' to-day, the fresher flowers of friendship, bound by ties of interesting intercourse. _ ' , •■>.

A maid, ■; entering, set', the afternoon tea-tray down with a characteristic clatter. The Seer,: frowning, waited until she ; left the room, then turned with a despairing gesture to the Cynic. : '

".There ! Isn't is- hopeless ! I cannot tell you how often I have told Gwendoline to put things down quietly. I'm sure it's her name, Gwendoline, that - makes the discord. It's plumb out of harmony with her work. . .I'm positive if I had a Janea good plain Jane—she would be a gem. How I've laboured with that girl! How I've talked and demonstrated and taught her. But like so many colonial servants; she has no ambition to become skilled or efficient. She is just satisfied with herself, not caring to learn for her own sake nor to please me. , Some day I shall come to the last drop of my pintpot of patience and send her away.

"Be careful," said the Cynic. " I think that if; a man is known by the company he keeps, it is still more true that a woman is known by the servants ehe cannot keep." ,";..'■;

The Seer smiled. " You are always so whimsical and often so illuminating. . [\. Two lumps?" ,■■'.-. ' '■■■.::■.

The Cynic nodded. Poising his cup, he said : "Don't you think, 0 Seer, that it's time you women did - something strong about this domestic servant melee? Don't you see that the longer you countenance and endure slipshod methods, disproportion of supply and demand, and low standard of efficiency, the higher you are piling your mountain of misery?"

"Of course I see that, and I just put all the trouble down to the unlovely labour laws laves of this bonnie little country. I've long ceased to , look for trained maids as we had in dear old England, for there, for centuries, we have had a serving class right down; from feudal times; which is the very thing you strenuously avoid establishing here in this stronghold of democracy." . . '■'" '■; "And rightly, too." maintained the Cynic. That's the' most estimable Utopian tree the' State has planted among is weird forest of labour laws. 1 That's human©; that makes for brotherhood-": •

■■ " Perhaps," sighed the Seer, "but it makes almighty mixed v Sisterhood,' where " merely < Mary i. Ann" expects Mrs., Diamond : Pendant to graft and help generally." .

The * Cynic laughed, and ; taking the Seer's hands in his own, examined them critically. " The horny hands of labour, my dear Seer, don't look as white and smooth,* with ' finger-tips rose petalled as these," he said, putting them gently &side with a sigh. ..But you are a woman of mind. Now listen. That very Democ-racy-you covertly sneer at supplies' your sex with the very vehicles required for your own progress and peace. I mean this. Here in this country you have manhood and womanhood suffrage; you have the robust elements of a sound working Democracy; a form of government in which the supreme power is retained and directly exercised by the peop?- ——"

-.;," Oh, please," protested the Seer, throwing .up her hands, " please don't hurl political heavyweights' at me. Like most New Zealanders, you.have political scarlet .feve».' You know I loathe politics. They give mo' indigestion and ugly wrinkles around my eyes."

" That's ; just the trouble," replied the Cynic! "Here are you, a woman of the world,, a woman of thought and activities, living,in a land where you are privileged to influence and improve conditions, and yet you decline to listen or learn. That's the long hail in the coffin of woman's emancipation, mark my ' words. You women haven't ' half realized the advantage and area, of your privileges." •'

" [ shall be meek, and listen," said the Seer, "if; you promise not to talk Tariff, Veto Bill or Reciprocity." "Agreed !" laughed the; Cynic. "Those issues need not wrinkle your brow. There are keener questions at your own doorstep which call for women's interest and cooperation ; matters • affecting women's comfort, health, and status. . What astounds me is that women like you haven't awakened to them. Here you have the vote, and what have you done with it? You've just joined the big brigade of men voters, fallen in. line with them, and marched along. Trousers and skirts to the ballot-box. No sex in politics."

"Well," said the Seer, " isnt that fine ? It makes women feel on an equality with men." : '/ ~ ■'.., : \ :

"Wrong!" growled the Cynic; "you can only gain .that equality, through the avenues of your own individuality > as women, only by doing something as women for women. You con accomplish thus by arousing public opinion on matters affecting the conditions of your own sex. Everything in life is co-relative.. That law permeates and nurtures . all nature, from chemical affinities to bird life and human life." -, ■ • '..■;• ', ...

" Dear friend, don't .digress.. You started to say we • women could do so much for ourselves with the franchise in our gloved hands.' Now, from the ; Bluff to North Cape, women are fretting and sickening over the servant question. Tell me, how can we remedy the trouble? Can we alter the laws?" f' « - ■

" No; ' but you can make new and better ones. Listen. Wo have recently established compulsory military training for our youths. It is the - greatest thing we can do for the future of our Dominion; greater still for the strength and manhood of every male unit therein. . . . But what have we done for our girls? How have we equipthem for their part in the battle of life? Here is where women can work practically, effectively.. Bring in a Bill ,to establish compulsorv domestic training for every girl in "our. schools!" : •• ."SplendidP'. cried ■ the seer. "I see it now. . . . What says Nietzsche: "Man shall be educated for war, woman for the recreation of the warrior." . . . " No. not in the Niezsche sense. That quotation < is -not worthy of you. I mean that you women can reconstruct the entire curriculum of girls' education. . . '.' Firstly, get yourselves elected on school boards. If your franchise is going to help your sex,, it should start with the younger generation..' School hoards should; be equally represented by both sexes; fathers and mothers side by side to plan the best, for the children of the community. Here's where co-operation should work admirably. Nature points the way. You must keep the balance true." "You are wise, 0 Cynic! Why should the course of instruction for girls be left entirely to man's , discrimination, j Surely women should know best what is essentialfor girls' education. . . . Put me on a school board, and at once I would substitute domestics for mathematics in the girls' curriculum-Hind I'm certain > thousands of women agree with me! Here we are training our boys—-all«oorf r them— military service, but neglecting to • train our girls all of them for household service. It's • a lop-sided arrangement. It's wrong-headed and stupid and purblind. Boys, though they may never be summoned to fight for their country, are systematically made manly, brave and,, disciplined by. military training. . . . v But our girls are left to drift haphazard into the management of their , homes and their babies, without any special training or equipment; It's a scan- j dal." ' r. v - •

"It is," nodded the Cynic, "and that lack is the root-canker at the bottom of all your servant trouble. You mistresses yourselves, don't thoroughly know your houseSold systems.* You can't teach raw recruits, nor would it solve the difficulty. The question is bigger than that,; and needs a mightier remedy. . . You women must storm the law-manufacturing citadel down there in Wellington, with ,a Bill demanding compulsory domestic training for girls. Recast the curriculum ;■ so that subjects of study superfluous to your sex be eliminated, and for them'substitute the suitable, useful, feminine pursuit of household economics. Then, and then only, will the status of domestic employment be elevated to its proper plane, scientific, and thoroughly practical, so that in time a woman will be considered uneducated and undeveloped if she does not hold a certificate for domestic science. ';'

Science, my dear Cynic? It's an Art; '■ an Art with - a beautiful, big A. We women, in asking for compulsory domestic training in all schools for our girls, should .go still higher and confer a degree, . the degree of Bachelor of Domestic Science—B.D.S., on every girl who -successfully completes the course.

"Bravo!" shouted the Cynic. "No more fribbling away the formative years, eo precious to. development, .tut a sound system,, equipping girls for; their role in the .Drama of Domesticity, as; you equip boys for the Battle of Manhood, bo the scenes amid peace or war." ■'? "Splendid'" echoed "the . Seer, glorious indeed, and wo women can bring this to fruition. We can focus public thought and stimulate public,action, and I'm certain all men will applaud the movement. For, after all, do we not do it for man s comfort and happiness? You know I have always declared that this world was made for man." "Perhaps," said the [1 Cynic, "but the women can save it from being marred. That is their metier. Talk about Imperialism. How best to serve this splendid ideal? By efficiency; by making each • unit independently strong and capable—the young men to bear arms, the young women to house these anyday heroes. This,, to my, mind, is the practical interpretation of the sentiment of 'Imperialism.; Units,; men and women, efficient, proficient,, according to their nature . and their needs. .