THE BEST OF THINGS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21537, 8 January 1932, Page 4

THE BEST OF THINGS

WHAT THE WORLD OWES YOU You \now him. He says: “ All you modern women are so busy and Napoleonic.” When he encounters the modern child he turns pink and says.it ought to have been whipped earlier, pie says we all lack a decent dignity. The modern taste in dress, houses, conversation, and amusements distresses him, and he winces at the sight of young men and women npending the lovely noble sentiments cn which our grandfathers stood to reach what they wanted, writes Storm Jameson in an English paper. The world rushes on. Inconvenient old mansions are pulled down and blocks of flats shoot up over-night (perfect in every way except that no one can afford to rent them). Lifts go faster and faster. So do motor cars. Modern houses all but clean themselves. Meals become simpler and simpler. Travel becomes easier. Children no longer die of their upbringing. Women have their own way, bless them. Gentility is dead. Yet there are people who find it in their hearts to yearn, for the dear romantic world that fell sick about 1900, and died of a fever a few years later. It would serve them right if they stiffened into pillars of wax. No woman in her senses wants to go back to the days of basement houses —• even though there were plenty of servants to share them with the cockroaches —• windows thickly curtained to exclude air and light, and armour-plated clothes.

No modern woman wants to be revered as Victorian women were revered —with the incidental result that a respectable woman could not walk abroad without the risk of insult, countless women died from causes directly traceable to their own ignorance, and countless more died while they were still alive of boredom, thwarted energies, and too much reverence.

It is almost always men—of a certain age—who yearn and yearn for yesterday. Scratch that wistful, moist-eyed clubman with the bitter smile and find Christopher Robin. "Give me yesterday,” he murmurs. To-which the proper answer is: “ You can ’ave it for ine.” You can’t live backwards. • Yon can try to—but the effect will be rather like a pompous old gentleman trying to walk up a down-moving staircase in the tuba. Don’t blame the onlookers too much if they hoot with joy. The more conscious you are of ' your superior refinement, dignity, and rightness of purpose, the funnier you will look to everyone else. Besides, you’re not getting anywhere. The staircase is going one way and you another, and the staircase wins. There is a great deal to be said for the Victorians.

They knew what they wanted. They had. their own courage and they built solid houses in which to live solid lives. But it is no use pretending that they were careful where they built. The site they chose eventually- blew up with us on it, and here we are, " out in the open with everyone looking,” and no time to live beautifully and with dignity—nor very much excuse. v There is only one way to live In 1931, and, that is to live in 1931. To look it in the face —instead of squinting at it with a pair of grandfather’s opera glasses —and say boldly: “ What have you got to give me? I’ll have it.” It has a great deal to give. Comfort —houses that break no woman’s poor back; rooms that are warm in winter and airy in summer; clothes that let the body breathe —compare the effort required to run and clean a house in 1890 with the case of running a modern house. Think of the energy released by this alone, and seize every labour-saving device modern invention has to offer, and say “Thank you.” Mobility—you only live In this world once, so it is well to look at it while you can. It is worth looking at. Instead of lamenting lost quiet, buy yourself a car or a motor cycle, or a cheap travel ticket and see the world.