Reply to Jane

Southland Times, Issue 25303, 5 June 1935, Page 5

Reply to Jane

MAINLY ABOUT WOMEN. A MALE’S MEANDERINGS. (By “Reader.”) I noticed in last week’s Feminine Reflections Page a very interesting letter written by Jane Southland to her friend Kitty. The epistle intrigued me, not so much because it dismissed men as creatures with more muscle than brain, but because it hinted that the modern young woman is intellectual. Jane S. is to be commended on being so frank. Up till now the young women of Invercargill (the Bright Young Things, as they are called) have been jealously guarding the secret that, in reality, they are very, very clever. I used to wonder why they affected a sophistication that their conversation never justified, and why that conversation was never conducted in anything less than a scream. But now I know—it was all a pose to hide the fact that they were intellectual. Inwardly they yearned to grow pale and languishing and murmur fervidly of the genius of James Joyce and D. H. Lawrence. But of course the young men of Invercargill—poor muscle-bound creatures—would never understand this attitude, so it was cleverly concealed. This diplomatic disguising of the fact that the Bright Young Things actually had brains must be classed as artistic. Even hearing them talking among themselves one would never have guessed that these young women had any claims to intellect. Apart from its cacophony, their conversation was so richly bejewelled with fatuous sayings—“too utterly too, my dear”—and so dripping with superfluous “dears” and “darlings” that the mere male used to ponder wistfully on the days when a club was a valuable adjunct to courtship. But now Jane has explained all; women are intellectual and men mere “muddied oafs and flannelled fools.” If I may be excused for delving into the past, I would like to recall how cleverly two of Invercargill’s smart young women camouflaged their claims to intellect. It was at the film version of Noel Coward’s “Cavalcade,” and seated beside me were two young women whom I recognized as being of the elite, for did not their names appear with monotonous regularity in the social columns of the Southland Times. “Bright young things” they are called, I believe However, to return to facts. The picture was impressing me. dull brawn-bedewed clod that I was, but the young women were determined to mar my enjoyment. They giggled (vile word!) at regular intervals throughout the picture. Finally, when the great toast was being drunk, I thought that remorse had struck them. They appeared to be dabbing at their eyes with their handkerchiefs and I relented somewhat in my hard feelings towards them. Then the lights went up and I saw that the last five minutes had been occupied, not in shedding tears, but in powdering noses! But now their conduct is explained—it was all a pose! The rest of Jane’s letter caused me great alarm. In it she advocated the use of feminine subtlety in order to “handle” men. Cheerfully she admitted that the men—“poor silly creatures”— dislike being handled, but advanced as an argument against this petty objection the fact that all great men have benefited by the influence of their wives. It might be mentioned, however, that the great men are all of mature years and their wives are therefore products of the Victorian era. Now, the modern girl can never compare with the sweet Victorian miss because Miss 1935 is so busy acquiring a thick veneer of sophistication that she has no time to practice the true feminine arts. Despite Aldous Huxley’s axiom that softness is the end of everything the men would welcome a little less hardness in the modem girl. It would be criminal to allow her to do any “handling” of the male because she is just too, too clever. Jane suggests using feminine subtlety, but I venture the opinion that it would be very dangerous. The whisner would go round among men: “The girls are getting subtle; we must be careful!” And , all would be over The young men would cease soine to cabarets and would attend Y.M.C.A. physical culture classes. There they would do things on parallel bars and their brawn would prow still further out of proportion to their bains. It would be all “too utterly devastating,” wouldn’t it, girls?