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Charm And The College Lad

The recent debate in the College Hall, "That the University woman is devoid of charm," has given many of the women students ample food for reconstructive thought. Previously they had been unaware of the feeling that evidently exists in respect to their sharing with their brothers the frugal crumbs of knowledge scattered in the lecture rooms at Victoria College. Out of the plethora of crude and frequently coarse assertions fired indescriminately from all quarters of the room, several definite and distinctly surprising facts relating to the inner workings of the boy-mind may be extracted to yield a thorough and complete insight into the social ethics of male adolescence.

First of all, the debate was unnecessary. There need be no legitimate discussion upon self-evident facts. Charm was decided at the outset to be "the power to attract," and any sceptic need only pass once through the College trysting-place at 6 or 7 p.m. to find conclusive evidence of the fact that the University woman has abundant charm.

However, as an offset to this absorbing subject of investigation, it soon became apparent by the remarks of some of the rougher element seething at the back, that the presence of the gentler sex in the College was deeply resented. Moreover, the "pariahs" were summarily divided into two groups: (a) Those whose main intent is to charm, and (b) those whose aim it is to impress. The flirtatious and the stodgy.

The fact that there are scores of woman undergraduates who cannot be included under either of these categories is not generally recognized. Many of these move in outside circles and do not know any men at the College, some lacking the courage that such an ordeal demands—others the opportunity. There are a few who protest against all men generally, and against the College stamp particularly. Incidentally, the sweet conceit once accepted by our grandmothers and nourished by our grandfathers, that women might be likened to the "ivy twining its gentle tendrils round the oak," has lost its application.

Another laughable feature of the debate was the fact that matrimonial statistics were bandied from mouth to mouth. It seems almost incredible that there was not one man present who could puzzle out for himself a reasonable explanation for the lack of College marriages. How many of them paused to enumerate those of his fellows who could fulfil even the most moderate requirements in the matter of sobriety, appearance and morale?

The extreme and pitiful ineligibility of a large number of men students forms one of the lighter topics of common-room conversation.

The average University man as we know him is to be chiefly noted for a badly-cut half-and-half suit, a distinctly vulgar mind when influenced by crowd psychology, and a much-vaunted College badge. Those unique few who do not join in the general stampede into the Law profession, the social standard of which is sinking rapidly each year, are to be congratulated upon their self-restraint—although it is said that page 23 Latin has much to do with the fact that many men still take their degrees in Arts and Commerce.

Furthermore, how many of our own men students—those especially to be noted for their definite denial of charm in their co-educationists—are at present, or, for that matter, have any prospect of being for many years, in the position to ask any woman to marry him? As someone at the debate remarked, "most of them could not keep a cat."

The average man at Victoria College, taking all in all, is a pretty poor creation, and far more to be pitied than to be censured.

Lastly, in reference to the accusation of stodginess, it has been well said, "a clever woman has many born enemies—all stupid men."

—Observant.