Tales from way back when…
Sybil’s experience was too much for youthful Eric
ERIC IS JUST eighteen, but he took on a man’s job.
He took on the job of living with Sybil, and at last, he has to admit that it is too much for him. Sybil has proven too much for Eric after one year on the job, and yesterday, young Eric tendered his resignation.
With head hung in defeat, he reluctantly admitted that to Magistrate Dan Debidin  that he is not the man he thought himself to be.
He is not man enough to control Sybil.
The disparity in age between Sybil and Eric is not a great one. For Sybil is only 23. “About 23” was what Eric himself told Mr. Debidin yesterday.
But what a difference there seems to be on the question of experience.
At 23, Sybil is a woman, and a woman of experience.
And she refuses to be controlled by a youth of 18, even when living under the same roof with that youth as man-and-wife.
Sybil boastfully announced that she is her own woman, and being her own woman, she goes and comes as she pleases, without interference from Eric.
And it was this independent attitude which eventually defeated Eric.
The youngster just could not stand Sybil going and coming as she pleased.
And eventually he lost his temper and gave her a manful thrashing.
So, yesterday morning, Eric was before Magistrate Debidin on a charge of assaulting Sybil.
Then the Prosecutor got to his feet to relate the facts leading up to the assault.
“He has been living with this woman as ‘man and wife’, and they had an argument, and he cuffed her,” announced the prosecutor, leaving the details for Eric himself to tell Mr. Debidin.
Mr. Debidin, who had been eyeing Eric with keen interest, was obviously impressed by his apparent youth.
And his first question was to enquire what was Eric’s age.
“Eighteen, Sir,” Eric replied.
“Eighteen, and you have taken up manship so early?” he demanded.
Eric, however, made no reply.
He just stood there like a school boy being rebuked by a teacher.
“How long have you been living with her?” Mr. Debidin wanted to know.
“About a year, Sir,” Eric disclosed.
“So you started at seventeen,” declared Mr. Debidin.
“You preened your feathers and sharpened your spurs, and started out early,” remarked Mr. Debidin in tones of rebuke.
“What was the argument about?” Mr. Debidin asked when Eric made no comment.
“Coming in late, Sir,” Eric answered.
“Whose coming in late?” Mr. Debidin wanted to know.
“Her coming in late,” Eric answered.
“Yes, you see… she’s already jilting you,” Mr. Debidin told Eric, piling on the youth’s agony.
“A young spur like you,” he added.
Eric took it all like a man.
Man-of-the-house
“You’ve been living in the same house?” enquired Mr. Debidin.
“Yes, Sir,” the youth answered.
“And who was maintaining the house? You?”
“Yes, Sir,” Eric again replied.
“Any children?” Mr Debidin wanted to know.
“No,” Eric answered rather curtly.
He seemed a bit peeved that Mr. Debidin should have asked that question.
“Is she here?” asked Mr. Debidin with interest.
“No, Sir,” Eric answered after a short pause.
Mr. Debidin was, however, not taking Eric’s answer on that score.
He wanted to see what sort of woman Sybil was, so he asked the prosecutor whether she had attended Court.
Sybil had, however, not attended, the officer disclosed.
“You gave her a blow in the face,” remarked Mr. Debidin, as he read the medical certificate tendered by the prosecutor.
“An abrasion,” he observed.
“What…you slapped her?”
“Yes,” Eric answered.
“How old is she?” asked Mr. Debidin.
“She is about 23,” Eric answered.
“Yes, older than you, and possibly has more experience,” was Mr. Debidin’s observation.
“Did you consult your parents when you took up with her?” was Mr. Debidin’s probing and embarrassing question.
“No, Sir,” Eric admitted.
“Did they approve of your living with this woman?”
Eric did not answer.
Woman of experience
“Yes, for a boy of eighteen, you took on too much,” went on Mr. Debidin.
“She is a woman of experience, and no doubt she comes in when she likes,” said Mr. Debidin.
“And I am sure when you talk to her, she tells you that she is a big woman, and she can do as she likes… isn’t that so?”
“Yes, Sir,” Eric answered.
“Yes, you don’t have to tell me that …I know,” rejoined Mr. Debidin.
“I am sure, Sir, that a conviction on this charge could affect his plans for a worthy career. A conviction would certainly bar him from useful occupation.”
“Yes that is so,” agreed Mr. Debidin.
“You were completely out of your depth,” Mr. Debidin scolded Eric.
“You took up with this woman far too early in your life… a youth like you who should look for some nice girl and get married. You’d better cut this thing out,” Eric was warned.
“Yes, I am deeming it trivial,” Mr. Debidin then told the prosecutor.
“I am dismissing the charge under Section 42 ,” he announced, which means that there will be no conviction recorded against Eric.
“Thank you, Sir,” Eric spoke up.
“You’d better give the woman up,” advised a lawyer, who obviously knew the youth, and Eric shook his head in agreement as he walked out of Court.
(Guiana Graphic: July 5, 1957)
(Clifford Stanley can be reached to discuss any of the foregoing articles at cliffantony@gmail.com or by telephone: 657-2043)