THE PASSING.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13847, 8 March 1909, Page 3

THE PASSING.

OF RESTRAINT. (By Barry Pain.) Mrs Delany, a charming personality of the eighteenth century, 011 one occasion had to reprove her great-niece. The child had written a letter to Mrs Delany's friend, the Duchess Dowager of Portland, and—if the horrible truth must be told—had used ah abbreviation for Duchess Dowager. Mrs Delany was not angry, but she was very serious. This abbreviation 'of titles was disrespectful. It brought discredit on her as well as on the child, and must not occur again. I quote the old lady's reproof, not as an example - for imitation, but as a point of comparison. It shows how far we have progressed. The modern child would probably address the Duchess as Jumbo in conversation, and the reproof, if any, would bo a laughing one. The modern child is seldom reproved, and quite understands that the reproof is not to be taken seriously. The whole tone of the letters of the eighteenth century is quite different from that of our own day. There is more formality. There is a recognition that certain things are not discussed, even by intimate friends and near relations. DISCUSSION OF PRIVATE AFFAIRS.

It may be to the good that our private letters to-day are more natural and .informal, but the freedom with which we now discuss our own private affairs is not limited to our private letters. In one paper or another we have had frequent discussions as to whether marriage is or is not a failure. The writers may use pseudonyms, but the detailed facts of the sordid stories they recount must leave their identity without concealment for many of the persons concerned. This year we have had clergymen writing to the Press, even without pseudonyms, describing exactly how they spend their incomes, and not omitting the item of charity. It is a pity that they have not read the advice of Lord Chesterfield on this subject. Few are likely to be interested in their private affairs, and those who are interested have no business to be. The proclamation of the amount spent in charity constitutes something more than a fault in taste. Similarly, at the commencement of Lent, letters appeared in the Press, not for the first time, ; in which certain people stated what particular form of Lento a self-denial they intended to adopt. Thus in our lack of restraint, and in our itch for publicity, we become absolutely shameless. This lack of restraint is shown in a

lesser and far loss disagreeable degree, even by quite' estimable people. The wall-papers of Morns, for instance, are in themselves beautiful. But many people commit the sin of hanging pictures en a patterned background. The wall-paper may be beautiful and the picture may be beautiful, but each spoils the other. The over-crowded drawing-room is by no means a thing of the past, although a movement in the opposite direction is now notieeabie. Aiultiplication of ornaments, generally bad ornaments, is common in most middle-class homes. Large shops iu the West End of London still make money by selling such things. In om attitude towards the arts we are without moderation. We go to long concerts, and we get headaches at enormous picture-galleries. If we were asked to eat six dinners in a day we should see the absurdity of the invitation. But we actually pay money to look at more pictures than we can really see or to wear out entirely our power of appreciating good music.THE AGGIIESSIVE RICH.

These are merely questions of taste, but tho modern nlisnnce of restraint inay become dangerous as it is sometimes exhibited by very wealthy people, more especially when the wealth lias been of recent acquisition. There is no particular harm in the restaurant habit. It is probably good for the restaurant keepers. But what does the starved loafer in the park think when he seas through the windows of the Ritz the people who are lunching there ? There is no harm either in making some provision for a pet animal. lint a lady who died recently left an annuity to her dog to lie paid to her maid on her dog's account, with directions that in case of illness it was to be taken up to London to see one particular veterinary surgeon and was to be washed only with the shampoo which this .surgeon purveyed. These things were published in the papers. What must the man with the struggle to live think when he comes upon such items? There is no harm, ot course, in driving a motor-car, but every big car which is driven inconsiderably through a village leaves, apart from its dust and fumes, a good deal of very dangerous Opinion behind it. It is the presentation of these very sharp social contrasts that creates the burning discontent which may become. Socialism or Anarchy. One big motor car will make more Socialists than many Hyde Prrlt orators, so long as it is driven without regard for the com-

fort of others. Tlioy will not be Socialists of the most intellectual sort. Given the chance, they also would own big cars and would drive them .with equally little consideration. The breakdown "of all the old class distinctions may have removed much bitterness over such things. But are wo much better off with the division into the two classes of rich and poor, when neither class seems to have the slightest idea, that it has any duty towards the other? The rich may bo unthinking and unfeeling, but there is 110 overwhelming evidence that the poor are more intelligent or less greedy. This lessoning of rcstViUivb which produces bad manners in a child, or errors in artistic perceptions, may thus load to results of far graver importance.