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complaints are becoming less evident because of the better
attention to the teeth and a wider knowledge of the best
hygienic rules and conditions.
I remember in the days of my youth it was a very
common procedure, among all ranks of life, but especially in
the domestic-class, for young women on being disturbed,
distressed or distraught to become hysterical, often to get
temporarily out of control. This expression of emotion is
now rare, and when occurring, is definitely pathological, calling
out for treatment. At an earlier date in the 19th century,
this exhibition of feeling was fashionable, if not encouraged,
we read in the fiction of that date on almost every page that
the heroine wept copiously or swooned away into somebody's
arms. All this is now changed, girls are becoming selfreliant,
they have nothing to learn from their masculine
friends, and whilst there are many signs of lack of stability,
they have acquired a very definite idea of working out their
own salvation, and certainly have no intention of being exploited
by the other sex.
There is still much room for greater refinement with both
sexes, in the home, in the office, and especially in public
places. It seems a pity that the war and consequent levelling
of the classes should have banished much of the old-fashioned
courtesy that means so much. The influence of the Churches,
the Secondary and Elementary Schools, and the efforts of the
great business houses in providing Clinics, libraries, rest
rooms, cubicles, ball-rooms, athletic clubs, etc., are gradually
tending to neutralise the evils of overcrowding and the faulty
conditions of the homes, and to produce a race of sturdy independence
and of higher intelligence. One would really have
little fear for the future of the nation which encourages the
work of the Child and Maternity Welfare, Girls' Clubs', Lads'
Brigades, Girl Guides, Boy Scouts, and kindred Associations,
if concurrently, we could only get the people better housed
and constantly employed.
There is one thing which is needed for the whole nation
and yet is so far unapproached, and is perhaps unattainable,
and that is a practical and workable scheme of public supervision
of boys and girls between the ages of fourteen and
twenty. I mean a local, registered, certified control by paid
elected committees with certain statutory powers, duties and
rules, a supervision, chiefly advisory, which should take note