YOUR CLUB AND MINE AN OPEN PAGE

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 82, 28 June 1927, Page 5

YOUR CLUB AND MINE AN OPEN PAGE

Each Tuesday afternoon a corner will be reserved for origiri&i contributions of general interest to womenfolk. The subject matter is for you to choose—whatever topic interests you may also be of interest or amusement to others, whether it be about your hobbies, experiences, or merely amusing musings about the ordinary round of the day. A book prize is offered weekly for the best effort, which should be brief, plainly written, and sent to “Your Club and Mine,” THE SUN, Auckland.® The prize this week has been awarded to Miss Knight for the following article on “The Simple Life”: THE SIMPLE LIFE WHY NOT? Why not? We are not getting such a lot out of civilisation that we need cling to it as though we drew our breath from electric trams and overhead wires and screaming railway engines. How many of us have stopped to ask how much we really get out of this modern hustle we call civilisation? We certainly have produced art galleries full of pictures we never have time to look ai:; libraries full of books we will never be able to 4 read; theatres we cannot afford to attend where plays we don’t understand are played nightly; zoos where animals from the poles and the equator are eating their hearts out behind iron bars; insane asylums where human animals are crawling round on four legs, smashing imaginary cockroaches with the backs of hair-brushes, grinning and gibbering like baboons in a monkey-house; gaols where the souls of men are being slowly petrified; hospitals where their bodies- are being poisoned, and chopped up for fun; 1 |c there is nothing here that we call good. Where then is the good in our civilisation?, We are not very healthy, or very happy. We are not very wise, or very good. We f ould as soon as not run off with our neighbour’s wife, Or the coal out of his back-yard. We break the ten commandments one after the other or all together every day of our lives.

Could it then, could it really be that this culture we have striven after for centuries is unsound at the core? That this elaborate) system that has grown with us from the days of the clubs and caves is worth nothing when bought and paid for? It does not seem very probable, and yet considered from all angles, it is quite possible.

There is a lot to be said for the simple life. Xt is clean. It is pure. It is restful. The hypocrisy that clogs the wheels of civilisation has not tainted the winds, or tarnished the sunsets, or turned the tides from their courses. Still, as Wilde says, Nature will hang the night with stars that we may walk abroad in the darkness without stumbling. She will send sweet winds over our footprints that none may track us, cleanse us in great waters, and with bitter herbs make us whole.

In trees and in open places, in flow- • ers and ferns and fruit, there are the same sweets for all of us, just and unjust alike. Rich or poor, good or bad, great or mediocre we may be, but the great Mother takes none of these things into account. Sufficient it is that we have asked for her blessing. So it is that those who live simple lives seem nearer to the heart of things. They are happier, and more contented. The sunshine means more to them, and they have time to see and enjoy the beauties of the world. After all, most of our toiling is for luxury, not necessity. It is working to keep those art galleries, theatres, libraries, zoos, mad-houses, hospitals and gaols. Paying for railways, lights, roads, cities, water, fashions and policemen. None of these is necessi ties but water, and tons of that fall from the heavens each year. Then why not go back to a more simple style of living? Why work round and round in a circle, and kill ourselves in the process? Even a dog has more sense than to try for very long to catch his own tail. And we have been trying for centuries! Is it that under it all there is some deep purpose, or was G. B. Shaw right when he declared that this earth was the lunatic: asylum for the other* planets? K. M. KNIGHT. TEN FASHION COMMANDMENTS 1. —Fine tucks in geometrical design will be seen covering or decorating both jumpers and skirts. 2. —The contrast between blouses and skirts will be as definitely marked as ever. 3. —As a change from the all-round effect, fullness will be kept strictly to the front of the new skirts. 4. —Beige and royal blue are this season’s idea of smart combination. 5. —Two fabrics are still counted smarter than one. A crepe frock is allied with jersey. Silk is employed with crepella. Tweed is used with suede cloth. 6. —Separate belts are smarter than those attached to the garment, although most jumpers and frocks have a belted waistline. 7. —Collarlless neckilines are preferred. They may be either V-shaped or square; the opening in the ‘front beinf' wider than the one at the back in the latter case. 8. —No frock is without a cardigan or matching jacket of some sort. 9. —The bloused silhouette is still apparent in afternoon modes. 10. —Three-piece suits with coats no longer than those associated with tailleurs are to be worn. S.C. Blind-cords when new are often stiff and difficult to knot securely. They can be made pliable by being rubbed with a piece of soap. To clean your tennis-shoes in a hurry mix the cleaner with methylated spirit instead of water—they will be dry in less than ten minutes.