The Henson Journals

[95]

Thursday, May 19th, 1927.

Certainly one of the shadows on old age is the predominance of old women in one's environment. Friends die, &, more often than not, their wives or old companion sisters survive them. Thus there comes into existence an accumulation of aged & infirm women whom one cannot ignore out of loyalty to one's friends, and yet whose company is infinitely depressing & provocative. I see no remedy for this uncomfortable condition, for the women are there, & their claims are incontestable. But they are beyond question a formidable problem. Bishop Ryle, Gow, Bishop Quirk, Cruickshank, Rashdall, and a host more of my friends have been survived by their wives. They are admirable women enough, but the company of old and aging females grows tiresome. There are no suitable males to balance them: and youth flies before these venerable Sanhedriens. Perhaps the attractiveness of Clubs to old men arises from this circumstance, that they can therein get away from the encircling Sisterhood. The modern pretence that women are entitled to take their place beside men on equal terms on every plane has greatly aggravated the affliction: for a woman's talking on politics drives me crazy: & political discussion being quite unavoidable, the subject cannot be shut off from the handling of the ladies.

[96]

I finished the sermon for Stockton: it will hardly give satisfaction to the Labour Councillor, who was good enough to tell me in advance that he should protest if I said anything which he considered derogatory to "Labour".

My afternoon was occupied by interviews 1. Lomax, who had to tell me about divers clergymen, whom he thought suitable for the Wardenship of his precious Retreat House: and 2. Braley who came to inform me on sundry matters which will come up at the next meeting of the Council of Bede College, & stayed to talk about the other matters. I promised to send him copies of the Continuity Sermon for his students.

Lionel and I motored to Blackhall, where, in the poor little iron building which does duty for a parish church in the newly constituted ecclesiastical district, I confirmed 85 persons from Monkheseldon, Hutton Henry, and Blackhall. The little place was crowded. My address was listened to with close attention, & the candidates made their answer to my question in a very earnest & determined fashion. On the whole, I was pleased with the service. The combined populations of these three 'parishes', from which the candidates came does not exceed 10,000, so that the proportion was about up to the diocesan ratio. After the service we returned to Auckland.

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