A CRAZE FOR DISTRACTION.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 8, Issue 111, 11 May 1916, Page 2

A CRAZE FOR DISTRACTION.

WHY NOT ENJOY OURSELVES It seems as if the Paris of other days is trying to emerge from its gloom. It wants to laugh, and it would voluntarily fill the night bars and restaurants if the chief of police would allow them to . re-open. Whether or not one approves this desire to return to normal habits of lining, or whether it offends, one must take note of it. Paris wants distraction. Paris wants to laugh. It is longing for amusement, and its fondness for the theatre is again in evidence, amusing plays especially being popular. The film shows are also very popular, and those pictures which represent in their living reality the work of the soldiers,- and give the peo-; pie a vision of the battlefield, are immensely appreciated.

What are the causes for this change in the "esprit" of Paris? They are multiple. First, without doubt, a lassitude coming from the length cf events. The war seems eternal. No one dares ask when it will end. A prolonged uncertainty breeds a dull impatience —it creates a need for diversion. While awaiting victory, the per pie say, "Let us try for, the time being to forget cur cares, to relieve cur nerve tension. Let us take an hour of truce. The soldiers in their

dugouts devour novels and scan comic newspapers. Are we prohibited from smiling at the capers or grimaces cf our popular comedians? This dees net prevent us from thinking of our dear absent ones." This is, I suppose, the state of mind, conscious or uncon-

scious, cf the spectator of 191 G