Modern Society.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 9 April 1910, Page 4

Modern Society.

A .SCATHING COXDUMXATIOX. (From the Gisborne "Times."; .Modern society in England lias been placed under the microscope by what 'amounts to an informal commission of bishops and High Churcu dignitaries, who have given the- result of their inquiries in a book with tiie title of "The Church and Life To-day." This book (writes a Loudon correspondent) has caused much indignation among the so-called "smart-set," for in it the evils are deplored of the week-end party, decay of home life, modern manners, the young man of to-day, vanity of weddings, charity functions, Church parade, novels .and novelists, pernicious pictures, sale catalogues, intemperate women, non-observance of .Sunday, etc. The Bishop of Harking, i.n mourning the_ decay of manners, says, "There is no time- for courtesy, little for bare civility. Dean Pigou, of Bristol, condemns vanity in religion, instamcing church parade and fashionable wedding. "Listen to the buzz of conversation in God's house," lie says, "before and after the wedding ceremony. Notice the utter forgetfulness of the sanctities of God's house, the comments on the dresses duly chronicled in the society papers, the opportunity availed of for a display of the latest up-to-date fashions." And apropos of charity he observes: "It would seem as if nothing nowadays can be done or attempted without a charity dinner, charity ball, carnival, fancy fair, bazaars, dance, theatrical bridge, and whist drives, cry-stal-gazing, , fortune-telling, and kindred popular, largely-counton-anced efforts to raise money for the poor, for orphanages, for the sick and dying." Que and all deplore the prpsent state of modem society, and ooint out the deteriorating effect it is hound to have on woman's influence, family life, and home ties.