WOMEN'S CORNER.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16225, 4 July 1918, Page 2

WOMEN'S CORNER.

[ The Lady Editor will be pleased i to receive for publication in the | "Women's Corner" items of social | or personal news. Such items should be fully" 1 authenticated, and engage- | ment notices must bear the signatures of both parties. Correspondence is invited on any matters affecting, or of interest to, women. J Mr and Mrs Summers (Park terrace) | hare left Christchurch for Japan, 'where I they Trill spend the winter months, j Mr and Mrs It. Rosewarne (Cliristi church), Mrs Dodds (Hanmer), and I Mrs B. Waltham are enjoying a holiday trip to Auckland and Rotorua. "Invitations have been issued for a dance in jiid of the Lady Liverpool Trench Comforts Fund, to be held in the Caledonian Hall on Thursday next. The organising committee consists of Misses T. Woodward, B. Hale, and E. Spragge, and Messrs J. Barr, F. Hale, and D. Gunn. Mesdames Spragge and Lusk are to be the chaperons. The rain that came down in literal sheets yesterday did not deter members of the City Branch of the Women's National ReseiTo from holding their advertised sale in<pid of the TYench Comforts Fund. Two tents accommodated the goods on sale, one being for flowers, of which there was an exceptionally fine show, and the other for cakes, sweets, jams etc. A black swan, some fresh fish, and a quantity of vegetables made a welcome addition to the stall. A number of raffles held in connexion with the stall found ready support, tickets going off very well, in spite of the rainy day. Mr and Mrs W. Taylor (Dunedin) arc staving at Warner's. The death took place on Tuesday of Mrs R. M. Simpson, a well-known SVellington lady, who had many friends throughout tho Dominion. Mrs Simpson was the wife of Mr R. M. Simpson, for many years manager of the Phoenix Insurance Company in Wellington. Mrs Simpson was Miss Cut lip; she was born in Canada, and went with her* parents to Fiji, where she lived till her marriage. She leaves a son and four daughters: Mesdames Arthur Young, J. Peacock (Wellington), and Mrs Holl and Mrs Nelson Hobson, who reside in England. Miss Stewart, of Dunodin, is accompanying her brother, Mr W. Downie Stewftrt, M.P., to Auckland, for which city they leave this evening. It is possible'that they may go on to Sydney. I Speaking at tho Women Teachers' meeting at Wellington on Monday, Dr. Paterson explained the system followed with a special class of mentally backward children in Auckland. About 28 are taught in a special class, and a good deal on tho Montessori system. The children do all the cleaning of tho school ; they bring their punches, make : thoir own coffee, and wash their own ■ cups. Each child has its own towel, < and theso they wash themselves. Theso children are much happier segregated, ] because when they are with moro for- i ward children they feel their own inferiority. Here all are equal, and 1 they hare much more movement and 1 freedom than in the ordinary school. 1 Dr. Paterson strongly advocated such classes for backward children every- - where. f

For all treatments of the Hair and Com1* plexion, MKS KOLLESTON is recommended. Her experience is based on a sound medical i- training iu diseases of the Scalp, and'lier methods of treatment are similar to those i- used in London, Paria, and U.S.A., where she qualified. Correspondence a.nswercd in 0 this column every Saturday, on all matters 8 pertaining to the Toilet. 1 s 3 PHYLLIS. c Sinco Phyllis camo to work in WHite--5 hall or in Basinghall street she has 5 never been ■without her Press notices. 3 The shortness of her skirts, the height of hor boots, the eccentricities o£ her grammar, the frequency of her teamaking, her prospects of matrimony, hor contempt for-routine and red-tape —one and all have providod the matter for a thousand paragraphs and articles. And yet the main truth about Phyllis remains to be insisted upon. It is that > Phyllis has come to stay. No longer ; can she be treated as a startling and • ovanescent phenomenon which the war has produced, and which the coming of t peace will abolish. Phyllis has come to stay. The returning soldier won't 1 go a-cferking.-Not Phyllis the butterfly, of course. Slie stays nowhere. But Phyllis the "bread-and-butterfly," the sister of Reginald and Harry, those boys whom Whitehall and Basinghall street will never see again. All that was mortal of Reginald lies beneath a wooden cross near Ypres. And Harry will assure you that "when this business is over" ho means to get an active outdoor life somewhere, or know the reason why. So .Phyllis remains. And remaining, Phvllis very naturally and rightly insists on being taken seriously. We shall do ourselves and Phyllis a gravo injustice if we persist in regarding her as an interloper, who may not bo permitted to alter or modity the methods and regulations under which her predoccssors worked. Men have not done so brilliantly cither in Government service or in commercial life that they can afford to regard thoir own systems as sacrosanct. Woman will do her own work in her own way, and it is "up to us" to encourage and assist her so to do. , So, too, we must ceaso to regard Phyllis as the earner and spender of superfluous pocket-money. Every week, ever} 7 day, removes that idea farther from the realm of actual fact. The . plain truth is that for many a brave girl at the present hour there are financial difficulties to bo met such as Reginald and Harry never know. , Nothing survives like a tradition, even though it be an evil tradition; and there is a tradition that Phyllis in- , variably comes from a comfortable 1 home, whero money is sufficiently plen- . tiful to keep Phyllis in ease and luxury ; if such evil things were her desire. If < she earns a little money, well—it would - need to be a large sum which could not be frittered away on hats and lingerie, not to mention taxicabs and theatre tickets.

Now this tradition is not only demonstrably false, it is also demonstrably evil. It is evil because it prevent employers and colleagues from treating Phyllis in a straightforward, honest fashion. It is too late to treat Phyllis as Harry's substitute, and a substitute for whom wages had no real meaning. She must be treated as Harry's successor. and paid accordingly. So. then, we shall do troll to regard i Phyllis as a serious permanent factor in our social system. Sho is a woman, i and in the past her function as a i woman has merely been to cheapon the market value of men. Moreover, she is as yet a temporary expedient—a locum tenens, and as such she can be used to cheapen other women. Let us insist that she be used for neither the one purpose nor the other. She will meet every demand you make upon her ability or her loyalty. But you must treat her seriously, and you are not going to get many male clerks. Ask the soldiers.—(By F.W.S., in London "Dailr Mail.")

. TO-DAY'S RECIPE. Oatmeal Cake.—Mix together lib each of dour and fine oatmeal, four tablespoonfuls of brown sugar, four teaspoonfuls of baking powder, and half a teaspoonul of baking soda. Melt half a cupful of butter and stir it in. Warm ono cupful and a third of molasses; add one cupful of milk. Combine the mixtures and beat for five minutes. The batter should bo stiff. Turn it into a greased and floured shallow cake tin, and bake iu a slow oven until ready. Is it necessarv to import FUR COATS? It.raay not bo generally known that JUXE and JULY Black Rabbits kins make anything' equal to tho imported article. W. A. COLWILL, FURRIER, 203 HIGH STEEET, is prepared to Tan and Dress Skins and make Coats to measure at a lower prico than von can possibly import them. I COLWILL "is the largest manufacturer of FURS in >"EW ZEALAND. 2561