DR. FRANK CRANE’S DAILY EDITORIAL

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 178, 18 October 1927, Page 14

DR. FRANK CRANE’S DAILY EDITORIAL

LEGS (Copyright , 1927) rpiME was in the days of our grandmothers when a perfect lady was not supposed to possess anything worth speaking of between the ankles and the chin. Nowadays the average man is like the London bus driver. A lady was climbing up the rear stairway of a bus in London, a heavy wind was blowing, and she was trying to keep down her skirts properly. The conductor exhorted: — “Step along lively, Mum. Legs is no treat to me!” Whatever they may have been, they are certainly now no treat to anybody. Have the morals of the male section of the race deteriorated because females show more of their nether limbs? No. Morals is a word which comes from mores, meaning manners, and morals therefore are largely what you are used to. To a Turk the sight of a woman’s face is immoral. To see a girl with the major part of her anatomy exposed on the sea beach does not particularly attract anybody, for the simple reason that w r e are used to it. Women freely expose one portion of their person on the bathing beach in summer and the other portion in the winter ballroom. It is all a question of custom. It is also a question whether women have gained much in attractiveness by exposing such a large length of stocking. A noted French costumier declares that flapper styles are disappearing, and that he is glad of it. He said they were not beautiful and the sight of legs was not charming, for to be charming a woman must have mystery. The gown should hint and not display. I question whether woman’s attractiveness would be enhanced if they all went about in one-piece bathing suits. Some of them would look pretty fierce. My private opinion is that the more a woman puts on in the way of clothes, the less moral she is apt to be, and also possibly the more attractive.