HER IDEAL!

Shannon News, 12 November 1929, Page 1

HER IDEAL!

Somebody has discovered tJiat woman's ideal of manhood has changed. I am not in a position to dispute it, for I have no distinct notion what woman's ideal man used to be, or, for'that matter, what he is. But in this theory of human progress all is clear. Grandmother's ideal man was a large

protective, patronising fellow, with whom she would be absolutely safe, states a writer in a London newspaper. Your daughter's ideal does not include any protective work, and is not de-

signed for her safety first. She may allow many weaknesses in the man of her choice, but one error disqualifies —he must not be superior. If you are able to believe all this, the contrast, is certainly emphatic. The change is great. By way of corroborative evidence I am ordered to remark the immense vogue of the term, "little woman''' in last century sentiment and its present disuse. A heroine in Dickens is always "little woman." If the

words are not actually used, you feel in the atmosphere, in the tone, that all the men think of her so. Euth Pinch, Dora, Bella Wilfer, Florence Dombey—every one of them has any sort of charm is obviously destined to be "little woman" to her husband.

And, of course, the feeling is not confined to Dickens; the Zeitgeist, the spirit of the time, ordained that a woman, if respectable, must be little. I am sure Hhat the Tennysonian King Arthur until that unfiappy affair with Lancelot always called Guinevere little woman. Even afterwards, such was his magnanimity, he still thought of he.r, you can see it in his sublime farewell, lilce that. Then the gentleman in "The Princess," whose name I can never remember, through that most sensible lecture to his beloved on the equality of

sexes is obviously feeling that she really is, as Traddles would have said, "the dearest little woman. V

The modern fashion pretends that everything between the sexes is , or, equal terms, and affairs of affection are strictly realistic. As a fashion it may be more to your taste than ttie Victorian, but do not deceive yourself into believing that it is any more faithful to the facts. They were not all

sentimentalists, and we are not all real ists. The way of showing feeling ha; ch.an.geil. T see no reason to believe that the feelings are different. Of course, there- never was a woman's ideal of manhood. Imagine n combination of Queen Victoria's ideal and Charlotte Bronte's. Yet both wen

Victorians, both much influenced the ideals of other ■ women of their time. When I am told that the respectabh

frock-coated Victorian gentleman is ex tinct, I can only wonder why I should be expected to believe it. Much mors .skittish ideals, quite exuberant idcah were cherished in many fair Victorian

bosoms. It is all Lombard street to k China orange that in a generation which prides itself on kicking up it? heels, hosts of women are in. love with stolid respectability.

As a maltor of fact, we know the,\ are. This is really a time for very cor rect behaviour. We talk with som freedom, wc make a great fuss aboui the impropriety of our books and on: plays, and so forth. It always remindme of schoolboys telling each other what shocking dogs they are. The Vic torians prided themselves on their pro priety. Is it your experience, that the people who do that are all they seem? Of the periods T believe it is ours .vhich is moral.