Apr.
The news of the closing of the Cavendish Club has impelled the faithful chronicler London to deplore the plight of many other of those institutions which stand as the last refuge of man against the invader of the other sex. Savage warriors used to instil domestic discipline
of a club, The practice fell into into their spouses with the help regrettable desuetude with the coming of a milder age. The only attempt to retain the bare essentials of it was to be found in the establishment of the Club, here securely man could con: sregate and marshal the affairs of the world to his ove satisfaction, Mrs. Caudle, that vaner-self uselessly against the curtains of the four-poster aad the brutal Caudle's snores. The Club flourished. May: St. James developed known as Clubland. men learned that success depended on their fulfilling th requirements. of, dictator who monopolized bay. windows and grumbled about the port.
Then woman rebelled. She rejected the timid ferocity of Mrs. Caudle, She decided to be subtle, She started her own Clubs. They gradually shed some of their most repellent characteristics. They popular even among wor Worse still, women learnt. th trick of running Clubs; hitherto that mysterious art had held up to them as only by men. Perhay disgruntled Clubman, who fafled to win a single point in the House Member's complaint book, gave the secret away. In other words it became apparent that Club committees were bones of men capable of all forms of human error. It was even revealed that the' perfection. of cookery attributed to men's clubs" was a doubtful quantity, 'The startling theory that a woman, who could effictent= ly run a house, might be al to run a Club not. less happily' gained currency, The Wat, that disturber of old institu tions, carried the process of volution further. Waitr were admitted even to the most honoured clubs. "Could more be said?
'Then having started down the slippery slope, Clubland rapidly lost its head.' 'The idea of an-neces for the entertainment of ladies gained ground, Austere clubs, which had gallantly tried to fight to the last ditch for the mictity of man's refuge, trifled with the: idea, They' were shaken by certain: portentous, figures' brought, forward Secretaries on the subject of coffee-room—pleasant euphemism—profits. "It was even suggested that the habit of dining in clubs was being observe th faltering reverence by the younger generation: There was"
(Continued on Page 79.)
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.