The Daily News. MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1912. "ONLY GIRLS."

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 179, 16 December 1912, Page 4

The Daily News. MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1912. "ONLY GIRLS."

.Much water has run under many bridges since those, old-fashioned days when it was a time-honored acceptance among the juniors, at any rate.ithat little hoys were made of "snips and snails anil puppy-dog tails," while Hi tie. girls were given the grudging testimony of Ribbons and laces, and sweet pretty faces, And (hat's what they are made of. We have moved on since, then so far as to remove the terrible reproach in a great measure from the boys, but "the i' l '" ".; grooves of change" have shown

but slight alterations where the other sex ii concerned and girls remain '"only girls." Nobody throws bouquets at schoolgirls, and it is only when they have passed the "flapper" stage that the average male insect condescends to sit up and take notice, and even when they ultimately come into their belated kingdoms it is very often only as a result of a certain masculine condescension which demands that it shall be made a fuss of as a payment for its generosity. The male orator at a break-up function will not forget to remind the boyS in a moment of inspiration that "the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world," but he will keep one eye on the clock in the hope that if that hand has had time to spare from rocking the cradle it Will not have omitted to attend to his dinner, and let the ruling of the world take its chances. [n fact, the fate of the average girl is to cheerfully emulate the blackfellows' lubra and trot behind, or like Jock McCraw, to "mairch the last." Had a stranger been present at the breaking lip proceedings in connection with the High School on Friday afternoon he would probably have been moved to some such inspiration as this. But for the personal presence of the "ribbons and laces, and sweet, pretty faces," he might, quite legitimately,have assumed that the separation of the sexes at the school had already taken place, and that the institution was a boys' school only. The platform speakers had plenty of sound morality of a somewhat platitudinous nature to offer to the obys; there vas unstinted congratulation for their athletic successes, until this back-patting process would have become almost embarrassing if it is humanly possible to embarrass a schoolboy. But the girls were religiously left -by the various speakers to the weary complacency of colorless content, which along with the ends of the jam roll and the crust of the domestic cake is popularly supposed to be their portion. There was hardly & reference to the girls' work, and certainly no attempt to display any appreciation of their efforts during the year. Of course, "the proper study of mankind is man," but there are not wanting those, v/ho are prepared to believe that the study of the "eternal feminine" is a more interesting and more elevating branch of sociology. Friday would have been a particularly appropriate occasion for some local Solon to have given expression to this philosophy, for it marked the transfer of the girls from "Te Kura Mounga" to qnarters of their own. and was literally their farewell to the system of "mixed schooling." "The School on the Hill," as it if yjrettily termed in liquid Maori, must possess many happy memories and associations for the girls, but being "only girls" it was not deemed necessary by haughty masculinity to recognise that perhaps even girls have feelings or to make some little appreciative reference to the occasion. We do not think, for one moment, that this omission was deliberate. It was simply one more • instance of the inevitable thoughtlessness of the masculine mind wheic his womenfolk are concerned. It is a trait of human nature to "accept" femininity, speaking genericallv, but it is a habit in considerateness that to be checked. But we do not wislTto labor the subject, for, after all, if women do get the " thick end of the stick " in nine cases out of ten, they are only paying the interest on the- promissory note which Eve gave for a purchase of apples in the Garden of Eden. It was noticeable also in the speeches that wore delivered on Friday that too much stress was laid upon scholastic and athletic attainments of the pupils and too little upon the importance of character-build-ing. There is too much a tendency in our boys and girls when they leave school to sit down and accept the inevitable where life j s concerned, so long as it embodies the minimum of discomfort with the maximum of ease. There is too little in the scholastic life of the Browning philosophy;

All! -liut a man's reach should mewl liis grasp. Else, what's a heaven for? Ancl we have still George Herbert's teaching that "who aimeth at the sky shoots higher far than he that means a tree?' The world never yet produced a gicat soldier, or a great statesman, or a great writer, who has always been content. They have all learnt in suffering what they taught in life, and whilst we are not preaching any gospel of discontent, we are preaching against the cult of indifference. The brutal way of teaching children to swim is to "throw them into the deep end," and we are not sure that an application of this principle to life would not make for us better men and better women. Too few of iw ever attain to the dignity of tho "7 7' Simply thr ° the' indiffer-