THE COSY CORNER CLUB.

Otago Witness, Issue 3309, 15 August 1917, Page 50

THE COSY CORNER CLUB.

MY FAVOURITE CHARACTER IN SHAKESPEARE. Last year I regretted that I had not remembered to have some such subject as this, as it was Shakespeare's tercentenary, and as one of the members expressed the opinion that it would be a popular subject, I have arranged it for this year instead. It ia really very sad. Only four papers have been sent in for this meeting, and I had expected quite a large gathering. Perhaps, after all, Shakespeare docs not appeal to as many as I had imagined; or it may be that to some his characters appeal so much that they find it difficult to choose. It has also been an anxious time for many just lately, with this new battle raging in Flanders, and the approach of the third anniversary of the wax - , with the realisation that the year which we hoped would bring us victory has not done so, may have made some disinclined to turn their minds to literary subjects. When I realised that the papers for this meeting were to be in on that momen ous dale, August 4, I rather wished I had fixed on a subject more in keeping with the occasion. I really cannot imagine how that date failed to impress its significance upon me when I was making out the syllabus. However, it is too late to alter things now, and, at least, we have Cosmopolitan's interesting paper, which arrived too late for the last meeting, to help to swell own numbers. QUEEN" KATHARINE.

Dear Elizabeth, —My favourite character is Qur-en Katharine, and in contrast to her I think Wolsc-y is contemptible in his trifling with outspoken duty and his duplicity of manner. There is this power about Shakespeare : we never doubt the truth of his characters; they are the real men and woman who breathe, move, and act their parts. They do not seem the creation of a brain, but rather the records of living people. His Ghost's speech is not overridden with many words —just the mere utterance of enough to convey to one's mind the dread of tne superna J nvnl. So On->'-i omes to us not as a mere figure in history, but as a l.vmg woman bxx wioii a v/>rv Tre-t fvottow. and 'o overcome the intrigue, deceit, and fighting for high niaces tha was continually going on at Court. Friendless and alone, she makes her plea not to retain her place as queen, but rather to obtain justice to her position as a wife, " since virtue finds no friends." No character-drawing could depict her half as well as her own words: "Have I lived thus long? A wife, a true one ? A woman (I daresay without vainglory), Never yet branded with snsoicion? Have I, with all my full affections, Still met thj? King? lovod him next heaven? obeyed him? Been, out of fondness, superstitious to him ? Almost forgot my prayers to content him? And am I thus rewarded? 'Tis not well, lords. Bring me a constant woman to her husband— One that ne'er dreamed a joy beyond his pleasure,— And to that woman, when she has done most, Yet will I add an honour —a great patience." And add still to this, that there was a woman who had to suffer the great indignity that she had to have her child nameless to please the whim of the King. ELSIE. P.S.—I enjoyed the last C.C.C., but think that, no matter what profession a woman takes up, she should have a groundwork ■of housework and child-rearing in addition. The two professions I would chose for myself would be cooking, or a literary career. I am very glad to hear from you again, Elsie, especially as I take it as a sign that you are better. I am sorry to hoar that you have been through a trying time, and hope that you and Oscar will soon, as you say, be your old selves again. You have chosen a very fine character for your paper, and one who, as she appears in the historical plays, is apt to be overlooked. ROSALIND IN "AS YOU LIKE IT." Dear Elizabeth, —I have time only to send in a very short paper for this meeting of the C.C.C. I think this meeting should

prove interesting to the members, as we will probably find quite a varied opinion among members of their favourite character in Shakespeare's plays. 1 had the pleasure of writing up a paper on '* Shakespeare's Tercentenary " last year. It gives me further pleasure to follow up the subject on pick'ns;

one of Shakespeare's heroines. I have pleasure in sending in a few wri.ten-up notes on Rosalind, which, I hope, will prove of interest: —-The most noticeable characteristic of Rosalind is her irrepressible humour and

gaiety. She did not forget her banished father, and she was sad enough at times; but her youth and good spirits noon reasserted themselves, and her bright face wa3 seldom without a smile. "In Much Ado About Nothing" Shakespeare has given us another merry heroine; but Beatrice is very different from Rosalind. Rosalind is kinder and more tender-hearted than Beatrice, and her wit is less pungent. The gaiety of Rosalind is that of a girl in her teens, while that of Beatrice savo:*rs of a woman of the world. But Rosalind can be dignified, too. When her imperious uncle orders her to leave the court (act 1, scene 3) she asks him simply for what offence she is to be punished, adding affectionately:—"Dear Uncle. —Never so much as in thought unborn did I offend your highness." His brutal answer arouses her pride, and we can see her draw herself up and look into the tyrant's eyes as she says: "Yet your mistrust cannot make me a traitor. Tell me whereon the likelihood depends." Duke F.: "Thou art thy father's daughter; there's enough." Rosalind: "So was I when your highness took his dukedom; so wjs I when your highness banish'd him; treason is not inherited, my lord; or, if we did derive it from our friends, what's that to me? My father was no traitor." There is in Rosalind a combination of moral and physical courage, rare in any woman, and rarest of all in a young girl. It was probably these same qualities in Orlando that induced her to fall suddenly " into so strong a liking " as she watched the issue of the wrestling match. Theirs was indeed a case of love at first sight, as strong and as true as that of Romeo and Juliet. We must conclude that the bright eyes of the " heavenly Rosalind " inspired Orlando with almost superhuman strength and skill; otherwise it is hard to understand how the slender youth could have proved more than a match for the professional wrestler. I think that, looking at Rosalind's character from different points of her physical beauty, her strength of character, her gaiety, her wit and humour, she is one of Shakespeare's heroines that create a great joy in the heart of all the lovers of the great Shakespeare. LEX. You have fixed on one of my own favourite characters, Lex. I have always had a great liking for Rosalind—so brave, so merry, so quick-witted, and so womanly,—and I am glad to find that another member shares that liking. HAMLET. Dca.r Elizabeth, —We cannot take Hamlet from his setting, dissect him, and hold him up as a character. We are stirred and thrilled, horrified and convulsed, as the gathering tragedy throws its tentacles about him, wrecks his nerves, and steels his spirit for the climax. The damned—damned villain is at large to-day. Millions are done to dea*th, not mercifully, with slow anguish, and still the murderer smiles and smiles while the pacifists go about to toll us that " virtue itself of vice must pardon beg"; but myriad ghosts will walk the earth unlaid until the awful consummation, and Hamlets cannot rese. What is love? What is high philosophy ? What is the player's art and power but use and incentive to the terrible task? Many will ask, "Is the patriot mad?" He casts aside the things of this life. His talk is ambiguous. His gaze is fixed on vacancy. His thought is the open field and the myriad foe. Firmly he treads. Death hath no terrors for him. But hideous vas the task of Hamlet. His father's brother the murderer; his own mother the accomplice in crime and guilt. Well might he shudder from the trial and the prosecution of justice; and so he reasons: " What is a man If this chief good and market of his time Be but to sleep and feed ? A beast, no more. Sure, he that hath made us with such large discourse, Looking before and after, gave us not That capability and God-like reason To rust in us unused. Now, whether it be Bestial oblivion or some craven scruple Of thinking too precisely on the event — A thought which, quartered, hath but one part wisdom And three parts coward.—l do not know Why yet I live to'say, 'This thing's to do';Still, I' have cause and will and strengthand means To do't. Examples gross as earth exhort me: Witness this army of such mass and charge, Led by a delicate and tender prince, Whoso spirit with d'vme ambition puffed Makes months at the invisible event; Exposing what is mortal and unsure To all that fortune, death and danger dare Even for an egg-shell. Rightly, to be great Is not to stir without great argument, But greatly to find quarrel in a straw When honour's at the stake. How stand I, then, That have a father killed, a mother stain'd, Excitements of my reason and my blood, And let all sleep ? while, to my shame, I see X'he imminent death of twenty thousand men That, for a fantasy and trick of fame, lio to their graves like beds." Yet even while Hamlet screws Ins resolution to the sticking-point, the murdeier is busy plotting for his life and Hamlet's mother, his wronged friend Laertes and he himself perish with " the incestuous, murderous, damned king." So it is that all human natures and fates are so interwoven that the bliss and anguish of each blesses or curses many. Hamlet's nature, fame, and fate are typical of so much that attends our mortality that the study of this groat work is not lightly to be put by, but may be taken up again and again. OSCAR.

Your parallel between the mind of Hamlet and that of humanity at the present day is

[n very interesting on?, Oscar. In both cases is a dreadful task to be clone—the punishment of a horrible crime,—and the s.une doubts and fears that assailed Hamlet have been common to many during the les' few years. Fortunately, ;-:o many nations have screwed themselves to the sticking-point new .nub tlie murderers will not go unpunished in tho end, though, alas! those who seek to bring them to justice have also a heavy price to pay. CORDELIA. Dear Elizabeth, —On referring to my notes I see that the subject for this month's meeting is " My Favourite Character in Shakespeare. I had been thinking it was " My Favourite Shakespearean Heroine," and as this leaves a wide enough field of choice, I will leave Shake3pe ire's men out of consideration and say a little about one of rny favourites among Shakespeare's women. For choosing a favourite from them is like naming one's favourite flower. J. J erdita, Miranda, Rosalind, Ceiia, Viola, Imogen, the two Portias—what pictures of girlish charm and womanly excellence do these and other names call up! Shakespeare's heroines have all their distinct individuality, but, taken together, are distinguished by a union of strength, brilliance, and charm such as is seldom exhibited by the heroines of other authors. Compare, for instance, the heroines of Scott, Thackeray, or Dickens with thoso of Shakespeare, and see- how the latter outshine the former. Shakespeare's women arc strongbrained as strong-souled; whereas Thackeray seems to have held tho belief that a woman's intellectual powers must be in inverse ratio to her womanly virtues. And they have moral nobility and high courage. Of course, my remarks do not apply to the bad or inferior women of the plays, or m full to some of the slighter heroines, but to ihose set before us as admirable. These are remarkable by their freedom from faults often supposed to be inherent in feminine character — insincerity, jealousy, vanity, and caprice. They are loyal to one another—sec the friendship _ between Rosalind and Celia and Beatrice a,nd Hero, —and in love they are v:,:u:u-iiei.rt. d, direc., and free from coquetry. Cordelia is a character who ha-s always specially appealed to me by reason ox * uei tta-wjess sincerity; so, without prejudice to other admirable heroines, I will single her out as my favourite. She appears m but a few scenes, and the words she speaks do not fill many lilies m all- but they reveal her character thoroughly. She possesses sincerity of the high type that will not palter with truth, and that is revolted by the bare idea of dissimulation for selfadvantage, and, like most strong and sincere natures, she is chary of words. '• The thing that I intend I'll do it before I speak." Her speech to her fathe-- when he a«ks her for an expression of her love to him lias been criticised, with some justice, as needlessly ungracious. She ; a the old Kind's best-loved daughter; he desires to endow her with the amplest shaie of h;s possessions; the two elder daughters have just made unbounded protestations of their filial iove; and now, when, before the assembled Court, he turns to her with tho question, "What can you say?" he is met by tae dulling reply, " Nothing," and the more chilling statement, " I love your majesty according to my bond, nor more nor less." We may concede that there is a little temper shown in these answers. Cordelia is not a. saint, still less an angel, but a human heroine, and she is irritated' by her father's folly as well as revolted by her sisters' duplicity. She, like most of Shakespeare's heroines, is strong in reason, and the utter unreasonableness of inviting self-interested protestations of affection and accepting them as genuine is exasperating to her. This feeling, I think, accounts for the bluntness of her answer; but its substance is determined by her repugnance to the idea of bartering iove for gain and making false protestations. She does love her father dearly; but she will not profess, what is against Nature, that she can love no one else like him. Perhaps she already feels a love more fervent and engrossing than family affection can be. That her apparent coldness is something new is shown by the old King's surprise. " But gors this with thy heart?" he asks wonderingly after her measured statement of love in accordance with obligation. She has never been unresponsive before, but ever affectionate and gentle. Her tender and gentle ua'ure is evidenced by her own utterances and by the way in which her father and others speak of her. In her indignation and distress on learning how her father has been turned out of doors by is callous daughters to wander through the stormy v night, she says: l±:"-f you not been their father, these white flakes Had challenged pity of them. . . . Mine enemy's dog, l Though he had bit me, should have ■ stood that night Against my fire." " Her voice was ever soft, gentle, and low," her old father says, trying to cheat himself into the belief that she still lives. If Cordelia had been more diplomatic and had humoured her father, could the tragedy have been prevented? Probably no protestations of affection in accordance with truth would have satisfied him. And Lear's anger sufficed to distinguish the suitor who tiuly loved Cordelia from the one who sought her for her heritage. Cordelia's sincerity gave her assured love, and later he# old father knew her for what she was. Discrowned and imprisoned, he can dream of happiness, since they are united. " Come, let's away to prison. We two alone will sing like birds in the cage. When thou dost ask me blessing L'li kneel down And ask of thee forgiveness: so we'll live And pray and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh ..." * And when he realises that Cordelia is dead his heart breaks, and he is released from his troubles. Cordelia is slain, but her goodness is triumphant. ALPHA. You have chosen a tragic figure, Alpha, but a very fine one. . Cordelia's s ic»rby ,: id devotion stand out in shining contrast to the ireachery of her sisters, and help to redeem the play from utter gloominess. Many

thanks for your appreciation of what I wrote on New Zealand's part in the wax. it is a pnbject on which I feel very strongly, and I am glad to know that someone has read tad approved. CAREERS FOR WOMEN. Dear Elizabeth,—The kind of career best suited for a woman depends on the woman. Women ar-s individual just as much as men; different both physically and mentally from One another, and, therefore, not fitted for p.ny one kind of work. One person, one life. You cannot conform two opposite characters to one mould. It is not so long since the conservative-minded were aghast at the idea of women filling public positions. How strong this feeling was can bo readily seen when we are told that the great author, George Eliot, was in reality a woman, but was forced to change her name in order to sell her writings. And, again, some of Mendelscohn's " Songs "Without Words" were the production of his clever sister Fanny, who feared to make her name known. But today the Governments of the warring nations are asking the women to take the place ot the men at the front, and the women have responded nobly. But it is found that all cannot stand the jar of the farm machinery and heavy driving vans, etc., so these aie given lighter work, such as dairymg, gaining and the care of the animals. In this way each does what she is most able to do, and all pull together. Many seem to think that a woman cannot live a married Me and a professional life at one and the same time. Does a man's profession keep him from being a good husband or father t .Does the fact that a woman has a career mean that she has lest those qualities we usually associate with the feminine? 1 think not. If a woman has a gift for music or sculpture, business or medicine, shall she exercise it and hire someone to do her household work? Or is she to spend her Itfe m her home to propitiate custom, and that gut be lost to herself and her fellow-creatures? Although most women have the divine spark of motherhood in them, yet some are more inclined to a professional life; and, after all, there is room 'or all kinds in this world. I do not wish anyone to think that I _ underestimate household work It takes just as much, and sometimes more, brains and common sense to run a home as it should be run than many a large business. But the fact that a woman is married ought not to keep her from following the bent of her intellect and mind. Whatever lives the women of the future choose for themselves, they should certainly take an interest in the government of their country. Anyone taking a fair-minded view of this question realises that anything that affects the children of a nation concerns the mothers. A woman brings up her children to be lovers of God and right: yet when they leave their homes to take their place in the world there is nought but the past lessons and the knowledge of their mother's love to keep them straight. She has no other control in a, country where she has no voice in either federal, provincial, or municipal laws. Now that we nave the vote it will open up the way to such careers as. women lawyers, judges, and members of Parliament, although the lastnamed i 3 -very exacting, and calls for someone who oan give their individual time and energies. I consider that a woman who has already tasted the joys and sorrows of marriage and motherhood, and who has, therefore, reached the age of discretion and judgment, is best suited for a member of Parliament. To come still nearer the home life, women are giving more and more attention to such matters as sanitary inspection, intant mortality, pure food laws, and educational methods; and much progress has been made along these lines. Then there is the nurse and the woman doctor. These will always be needed, for the art of medicine and surgery knows no cessation in the fight against death and disease, dirt and ignorance. And, oh! women of healing, do you realise how your sisters need you? So I might go on to enumerate the many different careers a woman could possibly follow. Yet there is one that I am especially thinking of. It is a business that decs not depend on the whims of the people or upon the amount of advertising it i 3 given. Whether a man be rich or poor, bound or free, aristocrat c gutter dreg, he lives by the products of this trade. It is the heart and the foundation of every nation, and the country that tries to do without it will undoubtedly perish. Let no man influence you to look down upon the tillers of the soil. Theirs is the noblest heritage, as they work side by side with God, feeding the peoples of the earth. A woman can run a farm just as well as a man. Many a farmer has his heaviest work done by hired men. Some farmers merely do the planning of the work, just as a manager in a firm tells the employees what to do. So it is not necessary that a woman should turn down the idea of farming on the plea that it is too hard a work for a woman. Besides which, think of the many poor wretches toiling in the big cities, sewing on buttons all day for a meie pittance! Can any outdoor work be as hard or more monotonous than that? Now, look at the various phases of farming. The meaning of the word " farming" has extended itself to embrace not only crops growing, but also gardening, dairying, ranching, fruit-growing, poultry-raising, and a hundred and one other occupations that come from the land. Then, looking at this idea from a financial point of view, the money needed to start a email farm is actually no more than a great number of parents spend on the education and apprenticeship of their sons and daughters. Again, perhaps a young woman's ambitions incline more to the artistic life; yet we all know that unless one is at the top rung of the ladder there is little financial return to be had from the arts. This is an unfortunate fact, but is trua, nevertheless, and it seems to me that if a, woman has some profitable business as a foundation to stand upon while she is building a position and name in the profession she has chosen for hearself, that that is far better than existing in semi-starvation on the precarious livelihood afforded by the efforts of a beginner. And so, to bring my point home, what better foundation can she have than the farm life? If a woman intends to write, what finer influence is there for meditation and thought than living next to Nature? If she wishes to paint, are there any better pictures than Nature gives? Or if she is going to become a great singer or player of Some instrument, she can practise to her heart's conlent without any interfering neighbours considering her a disturber of the peaco. One can live on a farm and still be near the centres of music and literature ftnd high thought, and have at the same time an abundance of fresh air, good food, and the wholesome surroundings which an agricultural district affords. This, to my mind, is an ideal life. Many young women leave the farms to go to the cities, thinking to live a larger life, and meet greater opportunities for the exercise of any talents they may possess. This is a mistake. Go fo the city by all means, for here you get a chance to hear the greatest orators, the finest music, the most instructive lectures, and see the best pictures. There 13 also the gain of that indefinable polish which is acquired by mixing with many people. But when you have spent your holiday, come back to the farm to live. I do not know what position is held by the New Zealand women, to I wish you to understand tbnt these

pages are written from the point of view of one living on a Canadian farm. But to repeat what I said in the beginning, tho "' career depends on the woman." You cannot say this is man's work, that woman S, for the two lap so closely that there is no line of demarcation. There is scarcely a matter that interests a man that should not interest a woman if both are trying to live the life of equality that God meant they should COSMOPOLITAN.

Your paper is an excellent ono, Cosmopolitan, and, although it was too late to bo printed with the others, it makes a very valuable addition to the discussion. Ido not quito agree with you about the possibility of a woman carrying on her profession through her married life. Where there are children especially she will find the conflicting claims of home and outside work very exacting, unless she is an exceptionally gifted woman, and that, it seems to me, will always be a great difficulty in women's lives. I like your championship of farm work for women, as you put the case exceedingly well; and you are not alone in your views. Many of those at the meeting advocated the same thing, and I only hope that what you have all said will take effect.

Fifth meeting, September 12. Papers to be in by September 1.

HOW TO SPEND £240 A YE Ait.

As a basis for this little problem in practical economics, I have taken the theory of some economists that if all the wealth of England were divided up it would average about £240 per annum per family. There is no need for this meeting, however, to keep to the family idea. If you like to spend the £240 on yourself you may do so, or you may give tho budget of an actual or imaginary family of any size.