Truth GIRLS AND GAMES

NZ Truth, Issue 822, 13 August 1921, Page 4

Truth

GIRLS AND GAMES

NEW ZEALAND HEAD OFFICE:

LUKE'S LANH, WELLINGTON.

BRANCH OFFICES — AUCKLAND: 5 Custom-street East CHRISTCHURCH: 102 Gloucester-street. DUNEDIN: No. 6 Roberta's Building, Stuart-street • SATURDAY, AUGUST 13, 1921. '

RELATION Of ATHLETICS TO MORALITY AND

A letter, -which- appeared m the "Epistles to the Editor" columns of this paper several weeks ago, 'had for its subject, "Girls and Games." it was written by a woman, "an old-fashion-ed woman" at that, as, indeed, she declared herself to be. She certainly claimed "an old-fashioned woman's" privilege of talking "at large" and, instead of bringing forward legitimate and logical arguments against girls participating m the particular games she pilloried, she< wandered' wide of her' subject m .her criticism and wound up 'by casting aspersions upon\ the women of- New Zealand as a whole, which, if only 'half true, forbode a pending calamity that must all but overwhelm the nation. It may be admitted that the writer of the letter, though one of a very small minority, is not alone m believing the correctness of the conclusions at which she, per medium o£ observation, personal knowledge and hearsay, has arrived. Some may deplore the fact that she should have written^ her letter without more nature study of the subject with which she professed to deal, and also of that with which she actually" did deal. There is no doubt there has been, much sapping of sexual' restraint since the world war broke upon us with all its horrors, while the ever increasing, statistics of our divorce courts and the swelling flood of separation cases inundating from time to time our Magistrates' Courts, are hurdles too high to negotiate with complacency. These, however, we trust, are but passing phases due to the mental stress of the years of war, the which will abate as the date of those years recede, and the nerves -of the nation get back to normal. That is why we think- it was unfortunate that our correspondent, no doubt with the best intention m the world, proceeded to lash so mercilessly particular members of. her own sex. Unfortunately she struck less or more' at random and somewhat wildly. Her wholesale, condemnation of threefourths of the Avomanhood of the Dominion could not possibly be taken seriously. One of the. best answers to her unworthy accusation is found m the great mass of well-written letters which" have flooded "Truth" office since her spiteful .epistle appeared. The restrained, temperate and intelligent language m which the great majority of these letters are written, is, m itself, a, proof of the healthy minds within the healthy bodies of the writers. Not two per cent, of the hundreds of letters received, even partially agree with the original correspondent, and only two of (hem serve fully to endorse her ill-supported conclusions.

We have received so many letters that we have been forced to three representative- letters only. Indeed, we frankly admit that, despite our love for a free press , and an open forum, there are times" when such privileges may be seriously abused. At such times it were better to risk the accusation of unfairness .by suppressing such productions as 'that of our Petone correspondent and thereby force would-be disseminators of wholesale sex-slanders, an they would have publicity, to obtain such over or under their own names and at their own expense. But to leave that part of the subject^as already answered, and more than answered, it may be worth our while turning our attention to the ■ question of games for girls, and., as to whether those games, which man, m the past, has monopolised for his v own amusement, are likely, of themselves, to be hurtful to our girls either morally or as prospective mothers of the race. No man ov woman, blest with the power oL' observation and making intelligent deductions' therefrom, though he or she had never read a single line about physiology m their lives, would assert that exercise, even

strenuous exercise, is conducive to precocious desires and a weakening of self-restraint, m the first place, or of sterility m men or m women, m the second place. In the Old Lands from which oiir- parents came, and. m this New Land that the labor of . their brawn and the thought of their brain have made to yield up its harvest of all that is good for man and beast, who were the progenitors of the hardiest sons and the healthiest daughters? The fathers and mothers who toiled side by side on the farms and m the homes, helpmates each of the other m the true sense of the term. Their toil was often arduous, often laborious, but with sweet content and love and affection, life was worth living, and they brought forth sturdy sons and virile daughters to be the pride of their parents the mainstay of their nation and the glory of their race. To-day conditions have changed considerably. Modern life has more of the social and sociable elements m it, while, at the same time, thousands of our girls, because of ' economic conditions, are forced to go out to labor m office, factory and shop, m order to augment thie' family income. Such labor as they are engaged m, does not. greatly, and m many instances, does not at all exercise their physical attributes, and so, if they are not to develop into pale anaemics, with, minds as flabby as their bodies, possessed of little but "perky pick-me-up manners" and proving "prematurely sexual," something other is needed than to spend their leisure sitting demurely at home- sewing a sampler, when they live, not engaged at the office tapping a typewriter. It is just such conditions, as these that have helped to fill the streets ,ol: the cities of 'the older lands with "brutish, squalid, joyless, downtrodden populations." And it is to avoid this dreadful pit into which so many of our kith and kin have fallen m the past, that "Truth" and every clean-minded man and woman hail with joy and hope and trust the determination of our daughters to make themselves, by means' of out-door games, amusements and by physical culture generally,, healthy and well-formed of limb. There is a wealth of meaning m that old Saxon phrase, ''hale and healthy." Only the truly healthy are "hale" or whole, and to be "hale" means to be selfreliant and alert. These are the men and women who are enterprising- and able to "cope with Nature m all -her moods." Loving and trustful of each other, and united and . invincible, because of their " "hale-ness," the pure mind m the pure body, knowing that a holy life can be lived only by those who life a "whole" life.

From this it will be seen that "Truth" has no sympathy with those who assert that the girls who love games such as football, golf and hockey, ''are anxious to throw away every scrap of their true womanhood." We do not believe it. We' would be ashamed even to harbor the suspicion of such an unwomanly desire m our daughters. True womanhood, like true manhood, is the highest form of consciousness to which the human mind can aspire. It does not consist m "sitting- 'on a cushion sewing a seam," noi* yet m ones aibility to excel m athletics. It is a condition of the mind, determined chiefly by environment and heredity. It means the possession of the spirit of charity, of gentleness, of forbearance, of sympathy, with the will, 'or strength of character, to give expression to those qualities m the face of the fiercest opposition. The girl who eschews ■ athletics, equally with the girl who can "kick 'a goal," or "drive" a golf ball, as well as> any man can, may be possessed of all er none of these qualities, though the odds are that the woman who is physically healthy will be morally healthy, too.

. And athletics, instead of being a hindrance to motherhood m the future, is, Indeed, a preparation therefor, because such aids the necessary development of the female body. It must be remembered that "capability" for motherhood does not necessarily mean "fitness." As Dr. Edith P. Phipson says: In girls there is a long period of development m the bust, m the hips, m bone and muscle; changes which take years for their proper accomplishment before the girl can •be said to have grown , into the woman. ' . - Games and physical culture will hasten the period and conditions of fitness, without which, if the demand is made upon the system, the process of development is necessarily interfered with, and both mother and offspring' suffer. To those very good but very timid people, then, who fear the modern movement amongst our women, we may say: The clouds they so much dread, Are filled with mercy and will break With blessings "on their head. As to what girls know at seventeen, might we ask, When did ignorance necessarily mean purity, or knowledge crime or wickedness? Knowledge is power, and whether that power shall be used for good or evil is not a question' of playing, or abstaining from playing, athletic games. It is a matter of environment and heredity (which is past environments), of training and economic conditions and of certain subtle psychological forces of which we have, as yet, but glimpsed the outermost fringes. So let , our gjrls be taught. It will be' well worth while if it saves but one per cent, from learning the lesson by their own sad experience, that "puberty and nubility are not equivalent terms." To teach them and to warn them of danger, it is riot necessary that one should paint the painful picture of depravity among modern females that our Petone correspondent penned, Even when an epidemic strikes a city it does not help matters much to lay bare its sew-, ers; Yet it must also be remembered that we cannot make the air clearer m a fog by shutting our eyes, for, after all, wisdom consists m the constant knowledge of- the worst things, with the constant desire and endeavor to change them for the best.