"ALWAYS TALKING!"

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 16021, 6 January 1923, Page 11

"ALWAYS TALKING!"

MEN'S CHARGE AGAINST WOMEN.

WHAT THEY SPEAK ABOUT

(By Dinah Doc in Sydney Sun.)

The tramcar rattled and groaned und swayed. Somebody's advertising card fell "from the rack to the head oi a strap-hanger. Somebody's infant began to wail. Somebody's door refused to open when required.

But triumphant over every other noise was the conversation of two damsels. , ■ '. " ■'"■

When the tram stopped, the voices sank to a confidential hum. When it started again they rose shrilly to the occasion.

And in the next compartment one young man grinned at another young man as details of'thtvdiscoursc reache'd tlieir cars, and a middle-aged gentle man looked temporarily capable of murder while he snorted, "Clothes! Do women ever ! talk 'of anything else?"

As a peace-loving citizen, that gentleman should have admired rather than have criticised. He, himself, when engaged in' conversation, would probably insist upon talking politics, though his companion wanted to speak about prize tomatoes. But in front of him were two beings in perfect harmony. . ■""' ' ' '''/

They were both content with the same subject. When Ethel met Alice sho didn't attempt to force details of the solicitor's office upon her. When Alice met Ethel she kept silent about her. own work at the - telephone switch.

Each showed . consideration; each talked of something which the other understood. Yet the reward of these altruists, when their gossip of summer stj*lcs floated through the tram, was a grin and a masculine growl. Men are always rather unreasonable when referring to a woman’s tongue. “Babblers, chatterers,” they call women in general. “Always talking! Wind them up and they’ll go forever. They don’t need much winding, anyhow. ’ ’ For centuries men have tried to impose silence upon the other sex by religion, by fashion, or by' criticism. Somehow, though, they don't seem content when they find a . woman willing to submit to their teaching. . A CRITIC CURED. “Have a heart,” moans the youth who is invited to sanco,,with a wordless maiden. “I never know what to say to her. Can’t keep on telling her all night that the floor’s good and the band’s rotten,-can I?” So, when every other young man has put forward the same argumentthe girl who has learnt control of her tongue is forced back to the wall, there to ruminate on the success of her more talkative friends...

A Sydnoy man once determined to find out tho range of feminine conversation.

'' All women can't be like my daughters," ho said. "They open the morning paper at. the drapers' advertisements, and talk for the rest of the day about hats and camisoles —their own or other people's. A few mornings ' later ho beamed approval,on his frivolous offspring for the first timo in,years. "I took ray secretary out to dinner last night,"he afterwards confessed to a friend. "The intellectual. Good heavens, nian, sho talked about higher education and national economics f No more for me!''

Still, that nian was unfortunate. He might have found, another topic greatly favored by the opposite sox. It would have entertained him.

Man himself is tho,subject of much feminine discussion. •; "

"No more tea, tharik you, dear," says- lovely wbmari to; her hostess. "And as I was'-saying; men are hor ribly selfish. ,'Of course there aro exceptions. Now my .John's a generous soul, so considerate'.-—•" [.'., .-J The adjectives' flow on, until'checked by a competitor who can wait no linger. Sho also has a husband who must be held up as- an angel abroad; whatever ho is' told about himself at home/' ' ' "" '' ' ;. "

The; flapper,'. too, contributes: ' her share of tali}'about;. mankind. Bits of it come from passers-by in the street —bits concerning what."ho said , to mo" and "I said to him." Girls forget the shop windows while they recount sentimental adventures. Men Who overhear may be '■' seen' smiling complacently at the knowlcdgo of their own importance in the lives of "these poor little female creatures. WHAT DO THEY WANT?

Yet the opinions of men are unaccountable at times. They profess their scorn of the girl who "talks a lot of rot;" but "they are equally ready to show disapproval of her sister who talks with authority on some subject which she really knows/ "She apes the man," is their condemnation this time.

The thing they forget, or never notice, is what a woman endures from men's own tongues.' When malekind is: disposed to talk at length upon himself and the dull details of his 'business, the girl of tact, must listen as if ihe recital really interested h'ori When the head of the \houso- tolls the same old jokes, his wife must, smother her groans and. dutifully" lead the audience's'laughter., •. .- • •''-;■ At all times a Woman has to put up with,the", reputation,»of ra talker, and possess her soul in patience if man' chooses 'to .Usurp ':thcvrble.