THE VALUE OF APPLICATION.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVI, Issue 33, 8 February 1905, Page 10

THE VALUE OF APPLICATION.

Three instances are given in the "Woman at Home" of the way in which a woman can, by resolute purpose and resourcefulness, overcome the most untoward conditions. Marion Leslie, describing three eminent women artists in photography, after sketching Miss Alice Hughes, recounts the career of Madame Lallie Charles. Being compelled to earn an income, she decided to become a photographer, though she had never even i experimented with a camera in her life. j "Still, madame was a lively Irishwoman, ! brimful of cleverness, with plenty of artistic faculty: and she had also French blood in her veins.'' She dogjredly made her way. In her earlier efforts she called on the editor of a Lon- ■ don weekly, who remarked. '"Oh, you'll git on. for you're raither clever; you're no' had looking, and you've an awfu' amount of cheek." The prophecy has been fulfilled. Strange to say, madame aud her sister did not begin by attending classes for photography, or taking lessons from practitioners, but set to 1 work to teach themselves. Madame j Pestel, of Lastbourne, being left a j widow, determined to carry on her husj band's photographic business, though she had never had a lesson in photo- | graphy, or tried to take a photograph, or even been in her husband's studio when he was engaged with sitters. She, •too, is entirely self-taught. The most eminent instance of all is that of Helen Keller at Radcliffc College, who is sketched by John Albert Macy. She is a Bachelor of Arts. She has been deaf and blind since the age of nineteen months. She has fought her way over tbesc incredible difficulties until she now graduates "not only approved in the whole academic course, but excellent in English letters." She has also distinguished herself in politics, economics. Latin and philosophy, in French and in German. She is only twenty-four years of age. She is described is not a person of profound sapience or brilliant genius, or even scholarly. "Her mind is stout and energetic, of solid endurance." One remark she makes might be remembered. •'One evil that must be checked is the ignorance of the learned, who have never learned the simple, honest language of the heart, which is the most vital of all languages and is more satisfying than all the Greek and Latin ever written."

HARD WORKING SWISS WOMEN

It will probably be news to many advocates of feminine dress reform to" hear that the women of Champerv. a primitive mountain district of the Canton \alais, Switzerland, have worn trousers from time immemorial. The Champerv region is in the south-western part of the Canton Yalais, the village of Champery itself being at the foot of the Bent dv Midi, well known to Lake Geneva tourists. Tbe men of Champerv are noted for their lazy habits, and beyond acting as guides to mountain climbers in the summer months they lead an absolutely idle life. The women perform all the hard labour required of a mountaineering people. It is they who pasture the cattle on the steep and often dangerous Alpine slopes, cut the timber and mow the grass. It is a usual sight to see a Champery woman, her daily toil ended returning to the. village dragging her husband on one of tho wooden sleighs in general use throughout Switzerland her lord and master all the while la/ilv smoking his pipe. Under such circumstances, it is not surprising that the women of Champerv shomd have adopted the masculine attire Their costume, is of the simplest kind—a jerkin of rough, dark blue ma- - tenal. with trousers to match, and a red foulard to protect the head "vvhile desperately practical, nothing more unprepossessing in the wav ol feminine dress could be imagined 'than this costume of the Champerv dames and damsels. Moreover, these wive= and mothers of Champerv. who are accustomed to all the work generally sunposed to be the lot of the sterner sex. not, unnaturally seek what consolation tbey can in masculine eomfort<=. Chief among these is the short briar pipe which they all smoke, and evidently enjoy as much as. if not more than, their husbands and fathers.