1937-11-05 — Page 10

10

THE ELDERLY

BLACKCOAT

SOME three years ago an article by

the writer was published in newspaper regarding the conditions of unemployed "Binckcoats," pro- fessional and business men who have been displaced in the slump of 1029- 1032 and who were existing In parious circumstances-In most cases unknown even to their Immediate neighbours and with 1lle prospect of re-employment.

Many changes have taken

place since then. There has been a great revival Industry and commerce, largely, indeed, in Southern England, but to some considerable extent in Scotland also. Employment In Increased generni has substantially

and unemployment, though to lesser degree, has been considerably reduced. Yet the problem of "Blackcost," or at least of the older men among them, remains elianged.

un-

themi, One important section of

view, from an Edinburgh point

previously employed that of men upon tea and rubber plantations, in copper and in tin mines in the Fur East, where the influence of Edin- burgh Investment companies had the natural result of staffing their pro perties very largely with Edinburgh

anen.

During the period of drastically reduced prices these firms were

compelled to dispense with a Jurge proportion of their European staff, und men with a life-time's experience of this work-and of little Aseum

thrown

their upon

WETT

Own

resources and réturned to their native elly, prepared to tighten their belts and to wait, for a year or two if necessary, until circumstances should improve. Young Substitutes

pre

THE HONGKONG TELEGRAPH. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER

5, 1937.

FIND the LADY, or -TRAIN the WIFE?

Tis still quite a problem --despite our vaunted Progress-for a man to And a wife who will suft hlm perfectly.

Women, I bellove, have a-simi- lar difficulty: but, as I am deal- ing exclusively with the mascu- Hinc point of view, I must ask them to forgive me for not pur- suing their side of the question.

The point is that recently was celebrated the anniversary of the death, in 1700, of a Remarkable Man who set out to produce the Perfect Wife by his own educa. tional methods.

This man was Thomas Day, and I have been wondering how profitably we men could now follow his example of deter- mination.

We could not very well use his methods, for they were applied to particular. end, and at a parti- cular time, and Mr. Day was, any- how, a lovable eccentric:, but we might be encouraged again to assert our notorious superiority over women and mould them, for their own good, Into Ident Mates for Men. We might, mightn't we?

Y

Ou begin by smiling at

Mr. Day: you end by

dabbing your eyes in sentimental sympathy with his alms. These were based on his bellef Inspired by Rousseau ----- that Man la naturally good, becom- ing bad only through his social and were to evolve an contacts, ascetic nobility of character which. would despise the fleshpots and [ 74

frivolities of the world.

^

He had bad luck when young. of saucy young woman played the dickens with his earnest Afec- tions, and finally said, "No, thank you.

This confirmed him in a poor opinion of the feminine character as evinced in fashionable society. So he decided to show society what could be done when a mind like his own was directed to the task of improvement.

Circumstances have improved-but not for them. Prices have doubled and trebled and the propertie, nie once more upon a paying base, Inrgely, it is

because True. arillent restrictions Alon fra- chuction.

ilmalt naturally which the staff required for their operation. Running costs

less, because the machinery which was created by the former stuff is able to Junction for a long time narest without European assistance.

The European staff cannot, how- ever, be permanently dispensed with. and it has been gradually, replaced, mat with the highly-paid 'men who gave their lives to the building up of the properties, but by young men, fresh from the University, who are prepared to go to the Far East upon inry of three hundred á year. They are busy learning that three hundred in Singapore is not the same thing as a similar figure in Edinbur

፡

The men who made the properties: the men who earned the dividends in the days when fat dividends were the rule and not the exception; these men remain in Edinburgh, ilving, heaven knows how, in a world which has nothing to offer them, and to which they are too proud_to_reyent, their circumstances.

1

They may be met, by those who know.

haunts where various entertainment or instruction may be obtained without the expenditure of money. Their clothes may have lost their former freshness and their shoes muy be a trifle shaliby, but a well-tollored suit cun last. with care, for many a long year. and, with spotless linen, they look to day the gentlemen which they are. Or is it the shadow of what they used to be?

No Grumbling

If one asks how they are getting on, une will receive a cheerful reply, "Very well, all things considered," and with not a hint that they have not enten a decent meal for weeks. flat their shoes are worn through, and that they have not a penny hi which to pay for repairs. Not

word concerning the fundlord who threatens to throw them out on the streets if the rent is not paid by the end the week.

One lives, incomprehensible as it may seem, but still-ane lives. By all logical calculations permanent Hving upon this basis of perpetual Insecurity is impossible, but things aeldom come to a really logical con- clusion in this world, and something always turns up to avoid the ultimate disaster. One secures employment Occasionally only for a week or

wo, it is true, just to replace some man on holiday, or in some tempor- ary emergency, but what a godsend to receive even three or four pounds for two weeks running!

a

them con- philosophic

The major portion of tinue to exist with

· circumstancen. arceptance of their They realise that the insecurity of present-day commerce has little use for men of afty, who would, it given ,a subordinate position, by their very uge und experience, form a very real threat to the position of young men already placed in positions of greater authority.

A Grievous Waste

of pro-

Their own friends, men fessional and commercial standing. realise this, and dore not attemp! to place them with their own firms. They are not eligible for Government or other official posts because of superannuation regulations, and have. Iltile, hope of temporary posts for the which holds in coin-

same reason merce.

The work to-day hins little use for

but. the elder "Blackcoat," class, they keep a bold front to the

tis 24

And, in his twenty-second year, he undertook the completely virtu- ous guardianship of two small girls, one of whom was to become Mrs. Day, when sufficiently moulded,

He took one from an orphan usylum in Shrewsbury, and called her Sabrina. Sabrina WAS R

The ravishing blonde.

other. whom he called Lucretia, came from the London Foundling Hospital. "Lucretļa was a brunette. inicial HUS, with An clarity of mind which must evoke our admira- tion, he divided women into their two fundamental classes.

T

He whisked them off to France. where they simultaneously caught small-pox. They would allow no foreigner near them, and he was practically chained to the alck- room.

They screamed because they

HERE COMES THE BRIDE

Claudette Colbert-looking her radiant best-as every woman does, or should, on her wedding day.

were ill, and they screamed if he made an effort to escape. Their iliness and convalescence was one long scream, and no praise can be too high for Mr. Day, who success- fully nursed them back to health,

Buon Sabrina proved his favour- lie-one must admit that there is something about a blonde-and they all returned to England, where Mr. Day apprenticed Lacre- tia to a miner. He settled near Lichfield with Sabrina, whom he subjected to the full force of his educational theories.

She had to have a taste for Iterature and science, to despise the distinctions of birth and the advantages of wealth.

At this point I invite my male readers to consider carefully the.. qualifications on which Mr. Day Insisted. She must be content to share his Spartan retirement, and assist him in bringing up the fruits of their union in stubborn virtue and unfailing exertion,

Ifer dress and manners must be

Common Sense and the Adolescent

By Ethel Manntu Jarrolds, 79. Gd.)

I Chose Teaching

By Ronald Gurner. (Dent, 101. Gd.)

Education as a Social Factor

M

By M. L. Jacks

198 MANNIN, successful popular novelist, has two grave defects as a writer of a serious psychological work. She has an altogether too juvenile destre to try to shock the bourgeoisie and an interest in sex so all-absorbing that she finds it almost impossible to believe that a small child has any other, instinct. Even sliding down the banisters has a Freudian significance for her.

As a consequence, her book contains ars inmense amount of turgid non- sense Rod, for a practised writer, & deplorable amount of repetition- which, surprisingly from Miss Man. nin, makes the book excruciatingly dull in parts. Nevertheless, anyone to struggle who had the patience through the fog of her early.chapter will find quite a lot of good sense here and there.

Even so, if she succeeds in convincing even a few parents that they can best serve their children by giving them peace to develop freely along their own lines and to grow by their own expert- ences, her book will have been well worth writing-though it would have been better, a quarter the length.

With all its faults, it would do Mr. Gurner good to read it-or perhaps it wouldn't. I fear he la too sure list the whole object of education is to mould

the character into

strict pattern of the Public School Code

publle. Every now and again one

(Kegan Paul, 59.)

to listen to Miss Mannin or anyone else.

He believes that a teacher 'should "presch the doctrine of work as if it were itself a gospel," thnt compulsory games are moral agencles-but that Rugger is a finer character.formlog agency than Soccer--that a big boy learns responsibility from caning smaller boys, and that Brilish rule in India provides the flant justification for the Public School system.,

It is a rellef to turn from Mr. Qurner to Mr. Jacka, You may not agree with Mr. Jacks all the time, but you know 11 would be possible to discuss education Intelligently with him.

He knows that "to live in harmony with his environment is a very smalt and a negative contribution for the in- dividual to make to society," and that it is part of a teacher's business "to educato rebels at school, non-conform

the complacently-acceptedi to abuses of the time."

Particularly valuable, in the light of his recent appointment on Director of Department of Education at Oxford University, are his chapter on the training of teachers and lils pro- posals for the reform of school curri culum.

Even those who cannot go all the way with him in bla view of the reli- alous basis of education will fid the book a stimulus to tifought.

JESSIE M. WILLIAMS.

There is some entertainment in

of them finds an opening and steps | laughing at the tragic waste of IL nil. back into that world from while he They are searching the dumpa for came. Some, indeed, slip down, and iron scrap, but never think of the

simple, and fearlessness must radiate from the depths of her - clear and dashing eyes.

We nro told, however, that Sabrina screamed when he dropped hot sealing wax on her arm to test her Stole qualities. She shrieked when, to fortity her mind against danger, he fired at her skirt pistol which she thought was fully loaded.

He confided pretended secrets to her, but found that she passed them all on to the servants, In the end she destroyed any chance of becoming Mrs., Day by wearing thin alcoves because she thought they were pretty, and not because her arms were cold.

N

TOW let us think this over. Men will generally, agree, I think, that thero is little wrong with Mr. Day's ideals. On the other hand, in the intervening century and a half, women have grown so increasingly Independent and so decreasingly

Odol

TOOTH FASTE

by

F. G. H. Salusbury

ready for discipline that we have a pretty poor hope of moulding them.

I seem to remember Mr. Anthony Ludovic deploring somewhere the comparative degeneracy of modern men. They destroy the rough, tough bloom of their manly hides by excessive bathing.

They sap their virility by ex- cessivo smoking. I recall another writer's account of two hearty. golfing females bursting into a smoking compartment one winter day, nging open the #indows in search of oxygen, End BO nearly killing the cowering male passengers.

HAVE seen for myself a sweet slip of a thing plungo gally into a prae- tically arcile sen, while her boy blus friend whimpered on the bench.

The contemporary problem, then, for us men is not so much how to mould women as le touch their hearts. We should go to work, not intellectually, but scati- mentally. And in this connection 1 do see a glimmer of hope.

Once a girl took ma for a long walk, most of which lay up the side of a mountain. Half-way up there was a kindly seat, and my tall, as it were, wagged plaintively at the sight of it. But I was not going to give in before a girl, and this girl was swinging aling and up at a steady five miles an hour

Nevertheless, she saw my plight out of the corner of her eye, and sank on the scat in well-iffected exhaustion, saying, “I know you could go on for ever, but I'm so tired. Do you mind if we rest for a bit?"

NCE we could not reason with Bomen becntiso they were Batantly such "little womeri," such “poor, defenceless females": HOW WO have no better luck because they can reason better than we can.

And they are tougher. So I recommend an appeal to their pity, their mothering Instinct, They will mother us like nything. If we approach them with proper cunning: arid the more they mother us-auch is womon's darl-

Ing perversity-tlice more they will convince themselves that we are Fine Big Strong Men, the more they will be like wax in our hands.

So choose a girl whose looks you like, and throw yourself on her mercy.

Control her behaviour by hint- ing subtly at your own weakness In that respect-at your extrava- gances, your luxtarlousness, your laziness, your inability to be pune- tual and to think sensibly, your habit of chatting incessantly

about nothing, your forgetfulnes where sewing buttons on shirts and darning socks 15 concerned. your selfishness, your failure to throw yourself always into her moods.

OONER or later you will have the Perfect Wife. She will obey you 3- plicitly, and take the blame for all your faults. And the will-or should thoroughly enjoy her role. I have only one warning. Mr. Day was killed by a klek from a Ally which he was training on a method dependent on the essen- tial.noblity and affectionate sym- pathy of the equirse mind.

It is possible-it 18 Just possible —that the high-handed way is But you must be a very strong man indeed for that.

PA-It pleasant to know that the disappointed Mr. Day even tually found

perfect happiness with a

a woman who shared all his atern ideale.

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ema

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Blackcoat.

For years as culíkvádjaru müşçårt, muncs-

Jer aches, bruiser, cunt, sprains, abtaklens. Sales Agente: Moller Maclean & Co., Inc."

She was willing to live for ever with him sequestered in some secret grove, whileta is an 18th cen- tury

WAY of saying that they took up farming

She gave up her harpsichord be- cause she considered she had *no right to any luxury. She went for walks through the snow, at his request, to harden her consitution. I add this mercely in a vein of Keneral optimism concerning the harmony of souls.

CE

To-day's Thought- THE best or worst thing to

man, for thir Uje,

is good or fit choosing his

good or ill wife.

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12

1931

126

ACROSS

12

}

1 It means the suck, but the giri goes on undisturbed, and, what's more, comės back again in the end.

5 Claud has promotion to a high

rank.

May describe a lunatic, or an amphora.

10 A beetle the monarch found in

Surrey.

11 To find a real thrill which is satisfying is, I suppose, the ree- son of the rush inside (hidden). 12 What you may be when bulin

turn Bolalle.

13 The clean side of the character. 10 Hussy who accompanies travel-

17 Ornamental foot-warmers. 18 Time to cast it.

20 Famous junction.

22 It's only right that I should be

in remote surroundings.

23 In this county men wear pink. 24 Hidden in Clue 11.

20

One

is not friendly with this Acquaintance.

20 Brown, Emith, or Jones, for

example.

30 Peddles.

31 Well, I'm hanged," was this

M.P.'s' comment.

DOWN

1 Omaments for boats.

2 Garnish (anag).

3 Black, but, goodness knows, it

might well be red,

4 Fifty, counters in stockings tre

not appreciated,

G. E. HUYGEN. Canion.

CROSSWORDS

10

118

5 Hidden in Clue 11. GI suppose these phrases

original once.

were

7 Right loam is required fiere.

The sound of the bagpipes lastes from the aplary,

14 This pillar supports

weight.

a telding

15 Hundreds, girl, hundreds, lady.. 10 A bird monopolising the hedge

will make you jump.

18 More than half this mountain

is just, a side-slip.

10 Lails about in hotels. 20. Doinfics which don't quite

satisfy the abe-cat,

21. Take care of the partner. 25 Take on end and pay out. 20 Hidden in Clue-11. 27 Red Indian tribe.

Yesterday's' Solution PHOTOGRAPHERS HASIRABLE 1 KEN I MANGLES CARTOON PHONE JOHARMC ROVEDBI LUMABEL A MEBLATTI CHU CRAIDS CRIMSON

1 NSIDER

FORUM-D

C =THERAVE NU P A BRAMZE NOCOBAL BINOMONCH INRA LIGHTER INDRAWN ESISTEE NEIE

"OLEOMABGABINE

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