AURORA, the Berrow's Journal London correspondent responsible for writing the newspaper's Ladies Column, aired some controversial and suspect opinions this week exactly a century ago.

"A close observer of the moods and tenses of the people of the artisan class gives it as his opinion that compulsory education has something to say for the indifference shown to toys by children from poorer districts.

"The whole system of a large school tends to fill the mind with other interests and, by driving in facts and figures, destroys illusion and imagination which are an absolute necessity for thorough enjoyment of make-believes - toys in imitation of realities.

"Modern education makes sad havoc with the imaginative powers and drives out ruthlessly the keen sense of enjoyment that is derived from real and genuine make-believe.

"The bookseller finds his best customers for fairy stories in the parent who has preserved some little sense of beauty and poetry in the child's mind, and many children have to be coaxed carefully to read and appreciate a fairy story.

Slum children

"Among the slum children, conversation deals always with facts, generally the same topics of conversation that engross the parents themselves. Life is matter-of-fact to the children of struggling parents, and so they fail to enjoy the make-believe that belongs to imagination."

Aurora also had something to say about the pre-Christmas pressures building up for housewives.

"Domestic cares already begin to rest heavily upon the shoulders of mistresses of families. Christmas preparations are within measurable distance, and each year brings with it changes, not all for the best, in the conditions of the markets. This year the high price of beef is a serious matter to many women, for a Christmas dinner without beef is unthinkable. It is looked upon as a necessity for at least one day of the holiday if people are to keep the festival properly."