On The Excessive Influence Of Womem.

secret of my secret drawers , and my executors will inter them , unopened , along with my mortal remains . The dead past will bury its dead . " But it is with the present that I have now to deal , with the men and women , the boys and girlsthe youths ancl maidens ,

, whom I see around me . Don ' t think I am altogether out of the running . " Old fogey " is a vague term , and bears a relative signification . Never mind how old I am . It was once bad manners to ask such a

question , even " fishingly . " I was not born last century , I can still canter across country , I cut' a respectable figure at tennis , and though I keenly feel the superiority of youth , I can yet make myself agreeable to the youngest of the company , unless , indeedtheir ready listening be only

, compilaisance or compassion . Nevertheless , I am an old fogey , and I am such by virtue of my old-world ideas , of my extreme repugnance to many , if not most , of the signs of so-called progress which I see about me , and , most of all , my dislike for

the morals and my something more than dislike for the manners of the present generation . I am distinctly of ojnniou that the influence of women has grown , and is growing , until it has become excessive , ancl that society is seriously suffering from female aggressiveness . Heaven forbid that I should think it possible for the influence of women to be over great in

certain spheres which pious custom and manly tradition have long assigned to them . A philological friend of miue draws a distinction in this matter , which I warmly embrace . He says the man ' s influence should be forensic , or public ; the woman ' s influence should be domesticor

, private . But the influence of woman nowadays is everywhere . She invades the market-place , she storms the forum , she directs the stage , she controls art , she arranges morals , she prates metaphysics , she is everywhere , in season ancl out of

scasou ; she is rampant in the house , she is turbulent out of it ; she is supreme on the hearth , but that does not prevent her from bustling into the stables , usurping the billiard-room , and making herself thoroughl y at home among huntingprints , tobacco pouches , and spittoons . " This is no doubt very well put , and some may think truly , but let us

proceed" The increase of woman ' s influence must be regarded as among the best signs of the time . It is a true mark of progress , an unerring proof of growing civilisation , the glory of our age , and the best hope of the future .

" AVell , let us see if this is so . It used to be a very common complaint , ten or fifteen years ago , that conversation was a dead art . People could no longer talk . During that period there has been a tremendous irruption of women ' s tongues

into society . Now , no one will deny that woman ' s most signal social distinction , after the charm of her appearance , is her talent for talking . One would , therefore , have supposed that the extension of woman ' s influence would have improved

conversation .. Has it 1 I submit that the result has been just the reverse . She has increased the quantity of talk , but she has diluted arid deteriorated the

quality . AVomen s method of conducting general conversation contrives to impart to it a broken , purposeless character , and brings it to a speedy termination , I remember the time when women , whose talents were not insignificant , would sit ,

apparently interested aud certainly respectful listeners , if a subject were started among men of parts , and would wait to mingle in the discussion until they were appealed to . Nowadays you will almost invariably notice one of two things . Either

the women will show you , possibly they will tell you , that they are ineffably bored by the discussion ; or they will bring it to a sharp conclusion by " cutting in" with remarks which have no mora to do with

the theme in hand than the Tu-whit-tuwhoo of an owl has to do with the orderly march of the planets . " If any one is disposed to conclude from this plain speaking that I do not appreciate women , women ' s talents , women ' s

fascination , and even women ' s powers of conversation , I can only say , on the honour of an old fogey , that he much maligns me . " It is a common complaint that , during the last twenty years , private luxury and ostentation have greatly increasedand

; the less practical reformers amongst us are crying out for sumptuary laws . It is idle to demand any check of that sort in an age of perfect freedom in everything ; but , on the word of an old fogsy , I firmly believe 2 M