en's Clubs and Women's Clubs

ome time ago Baron Von Lodge was the head of a small country near Switzerland known as Lilliland.

One evening, the Baron and Lady Angela were discussing how some of men’s habits were somewhat different than women’s habits. For example, it was relevant after a formal dinner to have the men adjourn to one room and women adjourn to another room. The men moved into the library, den or study, while women moved into the living or sitting room. This behavior was generally accepted without questioning how it came about.

In Lilliland, as in London, there were men’s clubs and women’s clubs. Basically, a men’s club was a place where men went to set in comfortable chairs and talked about business, politics, or abstract things. A women’s club was more sociable because the topics were usually about relationships between family members. These issues were, for the most part, domestic in nature. Women’s interest in politics was often considered secondary.

When a marriage became rocky, the wise man could choose to either fight it out by shouting nasty words or compromising, if possible, or flight, temporarily getting out of the house by going to his club for a few hours or longer. He would not go to a bar where he would proceed to get drunk and make a complete fool of himself. The men’s club was an oasis and what happened inside those doors, stayed inside.

The world was changing and the hard and fast roles between the sexes were giving way to a more realistic view of things. The realization was that women could be or do anything as well as any man.

Lady Angela suggested that the dinners not break into two groups, all the men in one room and all the women in another, but a third group that felt men and women could be in the same room and be comfortable.

Customs and social happenings were often deep-rooted and took several generations to make the necessary adjustments to keep current on things that were happening at home and around the world. Each year, the world seemed to be getting smaller and smaller. For example, the train and road trips to Paris used to take the better part of the day to travel and currently, it took half a day, at most. London in a day used to be more like a day and a half.

Before travel became commonplace, it was believed that the people on the other side of the earth were vastly different, but it was soon realized that all human beings were pretty much the same in needs, desires and wants.