THE YOUNG WOMAN OF TO-DAY.

Shannon News, 2 June 1924, Page 4

THE YOUNG WOMAN OF TO-DAY.

; DEBATE AT SCUiOOD OF ECONOMICS.

i LADY FRANCES BALFOUR’S , INDICTMENT.

.. i LONDON, March 20. > “la the : young woman of the day any worse than she ever - was?” A series of lectures is being given at the School of Economics in aid of one of London’s big hospitale, and the text lor the controversial subject last evening was the above. The speakers were Lady Frances Balfour, a charming and picturesque grande-dame, and Miss Viola Tree, the w-cll-known actress. The Rev. H. R. L. Sheppard was in the chair. Lady Frances Balfour said She did not like the grammar or the sentiment of the title. It presupposed that young women were bad, and passed judgment. The young woman of today :waS extremely nice to old age. She did not lose her temper, was quite civil, and when she left that presence she always said, “Oh, she is senile!” In the-past women led-more sheltered lives. They knew less, and'there was great confusion between ignorance and innocence. On' the other : hand,' they had a more romantic life. They knew less of men, and sweet seventeen thought of them as paragons of virtue and unselfishness and all thati was heroic. That perhaps made thorn better than they were to-day. It was good to be believed in, especially by men. They were held as entirely irresponsible, and ;it did ..not matter, in those days, how they spent then* time so long as they amused men.- Being irresponsible, they had not the feeling which, she believed the young woman had to-day, that something more than amusement was called for from her. That ignorance made it most impropei that she shoulcfc know any of the darker sides of life Of her sex. She thought that in the past there was a more serious vein in the individual life, Then the young woman was more interested in the great affairs of life than was possible amid the bustle of tlo-day. ! When she (Lady Frances) was young she was not at all i good-lOoking-(laughter)—but she had ' beautiful hair; which had all gone now. It was an inheritance, and so was its colour. When her father was travelling in Greece nearly 100 years ago, someone asked his tutor whatt dye he used for his hair. On being told none at all, the Greek replied, "But Nature never made a thing so beautiful.” The (colour was red, and red hair for a woman was supposed to be the distinctive mark of the courtesan. Her woman friends used to look at her hair and 6ay to her when a girl: “I am very sorry for you, my dear. But. is is a cross you must bear.” And she had to bear it with the submission that was taught to women in those days. . What do we see to-day?—a young woman doing everything she possibly could to imitate the courtesan. Hexface was a mass of powder, her red lips were gashed out of human resemblance and the stinking reek of her -which came up as she passed made one long for the breath of the gorso or the heather. She thought the path the young women of to-day had to tread was more difficult,. and they had to walk it by themselves. The responsibility was great, and 'more was expected of them. During the war all class?, and ages of women did their duty. Now they went out alone with no great example to follow. Did they ever hear • one -woman say that she would not drink another cocktail because her example might weaken tbe temporance of her son? Walking down Bond street the other day she heard one young woman say to another, “Let us go into and have a really bilious lunch.” (Laugh- - ; Chorus Girl's ‘‘Bogey.”

[To Miss Viola Tree the subject of the lecture suggested something about the stage.. The prevailing idea was that on the stage one saw the seamy side of life, but as a matter of fact they did not! have time ini her profession for a seamy. side. They were all rather frumpy, dowdy, in a hurry, liking a cup of tea—that sort of thing—(laughter)—and th e higher they rose the busier they became and the more people they had to look after. As to that great bogey, the wicked chorus girl, that poor creature was harder worked than any of them and had to rehearse seven hours daily. People spoke of the opportunities girls had to go wrong, but surely the many opportunities had the reverse * effect? Why should they elope when there was no one to stop them? Laughter). Was the freedom which the sex had acquired making them, any woitbc? ; No, the young -woman of to-day waß sincere, in a .hurry, but unashamed/* and cap-, able really of nothing except of being absolutely natural. There was .no nonsense about her, but it was true she was rather indifferent about religion. Still she had a horror of beirtg bored, and a still greater terror of becoming a bore. The yOung woman of the present day might take more care* about her hearil (Cheers.) ‘ < ’ Lack of Modesty.

Lady Frances Balfour, in the (course of her reply, said that in ari Edgeworth novel one of the heroines who had fallen downstairs modestly covered her ankle —an operation that would not be performed to-day. She wfonder. ed if the women of the present would ini later years feel ashamed a£ being photographed practically with no clothes on. There was, she was afraid,' no sense of modesty on the part of the woman she was talking about. [Young people talked about the hdifrors of ancient photographs and their excresenccs of dress. They might b e reminded that that would not be the (Criticism

\ of tiho future. (Laughter). In con- ■ elusion, she paid a tribute to tiie stage, i -which possessed many admirable r qualities. 1 The chairman paid a high. .tribute

to the girls of the theatre. “My job,” he said, “Hakes me into wliat is known as theatre land, and I come across a good many theatre people—the people who work in the chorus. How profoundly I admire these people! They have lots of faults, but I think they are just wonderful. Their comradeship. companionship, goodness to others in' the profession are mamdlous," ’ _ .