Ladies' Column.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5273, 1 June 1895, Page 3

Ladies' Column.

THE MEN WON'T DANC

(Gentlewomen )

Hostesses are beginning to complain with bitterness of the difficulty of finding men willing to dance. The complaint is, of course, not a new one. For several seasons past men have shown an increasing disinclination to exert themselves in the giddy valae or in the rather grim quadrille. ; I Yet girls continue to '* love the ball " as dearly as the young person in the poem. What can be the reason ? Probably the boredom of the men, is to a considerable eitent, a mere affectation. Young men are, as a rule, more selfconscious, more childishly affected, than young women. They are very nearly as vain, sometimes far more so, and a good deal more foolish. The consequence is that they are perpetually posing, and there are fashions in poses as there are fashions in everything el.e. Ab present it is ths fashion to pose aa a rion-daacet. The whole thing is too much trouble for the gilded youth. He is worn to a thread with- intellectual exertion. Dancing ia a frivolity beneath his notice. But, depend upon it, the fashion will change. Dancing is not a pastime that will ever entirely die out. It has lasted too long in various forma and the poses of the silly young men cannot kill it. For balls have attraction for them and they go to them, though often not to dance. They po to sup and occasionally to I flirt, for " sitting out " is a very popular pastime, and many people fill up their cards with the names of partners pledged to sit out with them and do nothing else. In quiet nooks and corners of a pretty house you will alwayß find young people ensconced, whether the band is playing a valso or whether it is not. Only the cotillon lures them on to the parquet, for they are too modern to wish to miss the chance of a pretty present. We are nothing nowadays if we are not greedy; We must have hot quails. We are no longer Batisfied with a ribbon or a cracker. We want feather fans and bracelets and diamond pins, and if we do not get them we grumble and declare we "won't play any more."

Some day, perhaps, we shall return to simplicity. Then the young men will dance every dance and the young maidens will appear in white mualine, with flowers in the hair. In the meantime, tho philosopher smiles and the anxious hoßtesa iB in despair. ____ mm ___________________^_ m _____.