THE MODERN GIRL

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 24, 20 April 1927, Page 13

THE MODERN GIRL

DEFENDED BY CLERGY WHY NOT BE HAPPY? “I don’t know whether it is wise for ministers to wear black clothes always as if Christianity were a funeral and not a wedding. “Young girls, with their abbreviated skirts, lipsticks and cigarettes, are a wonder to see.” These were some of the remarks of the Rev. C. Balmer, president-elect of the National Free Church Council, at Hull, Yorkshire. Probably one of the problems that was distressing the Church most, he said, was the problem of youth. “The young girls, with their abbreviated skirts, their lipsticks, and cigarettes, are a wonder to see, although in their grandmothers’ day they'’ would have been called ‘impudent young hussies.’ “They are, in fact, not much worse than the young people of other ages. In many respects they are better. “They want to laugh, have a good time, and be happy". “They" think church is a stuffy' place, and that church people are killjoy's who are for ever telling others they must give up this and give up that, or that they must not go here or go there. “People must be taught what they get and not what they give up is Christianity",” said Mr. Balmer. “The Church must show that Christianity" is a life of joy pulsating with real, full-blood liMi’.r.iiyi^s,"