Mundane Musings

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 305, 16 March 1928, Page 4

Mundane Musings

These Bad Girls There is a considerable cult of wickednes nowadays. You would hardly dare call a modern girl “good” to her face. It might very possibly be true, but the poor thing would be dreadfully mortified. It is at least as difficult to be very bad as to be fairly good for a girl with a normal upbringing. How many of these modern maidens strive after wickedness and only achieve bad style? It is pathetic to think what a large percentage of them are no worse inside than their demure female ancestors. That it is unshockable is one of the proudest boasts of modern ignorance. When someone says, as a preliminary to dn anecdote, “I hope you’re not easily shocked?” the addressee never contents herself with a mere “Not so very,” or “Well, suppose you risk it.” No, she laughs heartily and replies, “Why, I’m never shocked!” Girls start in this fashion at quite an early age. You may often hear a sweet, silly, innocent little debutante, got up in slavish imitation of a chorus girl, encouraging some quite nice young man to tell her some not quite nice story. When she hears the story, either she does not understand that there is anything wrong with it, or she is heartily ashamed of not quite liking it, or she considers proudly that she is going up in the world, and after all it must be all right, as he is a friend of Angela’s. In any case, she responds with a bright giggle. He, being too modern to know better, tells her another. There is a sort of dismal humour about the sight of Nature’s Good Little Girls trying to be rakish. They are not vicious, only silly. As to the older girls, they all bark with no small energy, but comparatively few of them have much bite. Their conversation is as naughty as perseverance can make it. They discuss gloriously subjects that were taboo to the last generation. Some are not without wit and contrive to be very amusing. In general, however, the spectacle of a lot of God’s creatures sitting round a dinner table and trying to think of remarks about bedrooms is something of an anaesthetic. Yet most of them V: re * :)I ’ c ! i - )a k l y very good sorts, even if the ladies are painted like Pierrots and have not sufficient imagination to think for themselves. Tell them they are little devils and they will adore you. I do not, of course, deny that there are plenty of delightful creatures who still temper charm with discretion, says a writer in the “Daily Mail.” I certainly do not deny that this age has its fair allowance of real vice, quite apart from the blatant cases of newspaper notoriety. There are, without doubt, a sufficiency of young women who ~t hi2 sought-for wickedness without the faintest effort. But I contest that it is not these so much as the great multitude of their crude and comparatively inocuous disciples who catch the eye and excite so much unfavourable notice. The minority to whom badness is natural do it so much more gracefully. Immorality is not really the crving evil oi society. Our curse to-day is more the lesser nuisance of vulgarity. MOTHERS’ UNION PAPATOETOE BRANCH The first meeting of the Papatoetoe branch ot the Mothers’ Union for the session, was held in St. George’s Hall, Papatoetoe yesterday afternoon when there was a large attendance of members and intending members. The Rev. P. c. Davis presided, and delivered a short and interesting address. which was much appreciated by the large gathering. The following officers were elected for the ensuing year:—President associate, Mrs. W. J. Nicholson; elected member, Mrs. Ralph Wyman; secretary and treasurer, Mrs. G. Wright. A comprehensive report of the past year’s work was submitted and approved, and a programme for this year was drawn up. During the afternoon a daintv tea was provided by Mesdames Wyman and Wright.