LITERARY AND DEBATING CLUB.

Otaki Mail, 22 June 1923, Page 2

LITERARY AND DEBATING CLUB.

Thore was a .splendid turn-out in the Druids ’ Hall on Monday night? about -1U members being- present. It was an essay evening: “What -Men Most Dis like in Women,” and “What Women Most Dislike in Men.” Twelve essays were submitted, six from the male and six from the female point of view. Tlu l ; judges were -Mr and Mrs Stable. Jin ; reading ol the essays provided an j amusing and entertaining evening. Following is a prize essay: — | “What Women Most Dislike in Men?” ! What a wonderful piece of work is man bu the poet writes. Note: | Foot, not poetess. For the beneiit of | man in general we will dissect a speci- • men, which 1 have chosen, as embody- , ing all the foibles most irritating to ; women. Let us place him full in the ! searching light of a thousand critical , feminine eyes. 1 must admit that lie ! shows no sign of quailing, which is one | small point in his favour. Hut, smiling, debonair, he stands alone, his only ! weapons, inconsequent compliments, ] dropped here and there impartially. , with the airy lightness of a cannon ! ball. Hut let not your hearts be cir- | cumnavigatcd, rather let us seecotine our eyes the more gluily upon him, that ! his soul may be laid bare in all its ! greatness and smallness, shutter your I eyes to the greatness and consider the I smallness therein. Observe this portion of his soul —it is moth-eaten with curiosity. No incident occurs without his being fully cognisant of the merest detail. On his return from business (or pleasure) liis wife undergoes a minute cross-examination as to the happenings in her day. which lias, perhaps, been spent in cooking dainties for his delectation, and in preparing his clothes for his lodge meeting or club appointment that evening. And whisper it gently—he is able to give her the solution of ?.n unkind rumour which reachied his ears only yesterday. Vainly, the fair maid progress has attempted 'an enlargement of .his next portion. He is not in the heyday of his youth, this specimen, and modern ideas are his bete-noir. >'o r Ltstai.ce. the zest for independence in woman reduces him j to tut -t lilting! The icka that a mere j female is the intellectual equal of man | seems to him absurd. And as for wo- j men entering the professions, which in j ancient days were mo: r po-;sed by mer;, j why i. preposterous! In his youth! women did not resort to artificial aids! to beauty. He cannot understand the modern tendency to gild the lily, quite forgetting that in these servajitless days many women perform menial j tasks at which their mid-Victorian j grandmothers would shudder. Notice

that the next and largest portion is the shrine of a li11!<-. inflated <'»od. called conooit. Our specimen has all the arrogance of his sex. He is convinced that his intellect is of no mean order. He loves to air his opinions for the benefit of others, presumably less gifted than be himself. Nothing delights him more, than to have his family, make of their minds, so many mirrors, in which to reflect lu» lordly ideas, To him women are at best feckless creatures, to be his humble followers; and by a truly marvellous - of self-deception m* has convinced himself that no woman could carry on his life-work as successfully as he himself. Quite oblivious of the consummate conceit expressed therein he would doubt I -ss concur with the poet who says:-

Pass me thr- old cigar-box, Lot me consider anew, —old frieads, And who is Maggie than T should abandon you? A million surplus women are willing to bear the yoke; A woman is only a woman. But a good cigar is a .‘unake. Me thinks ’tig truly marvellous that women should recognise these peeadilloes in mat:, and treat 'them tolerantly. Yea, verily, w« have devotion of an angelic quality to be able to say of ni3ti- —‘ With all thy fault- ’ The subject set down for July 2nd i« a lecture on Charles Dickr-ns by the President, the Bov. G. F. Petrie. M.A.