EVERYDAY TOPICS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 26, 25 October 1907, Page 3

EVERYDAY TOPICS.

. INFLUENZA AND KISSING. Influenza has been so persistent this season in Sydney that all kissing games amongst children have been strictly prohibited, owing to the alleged danger to health conveyed by this means. Small girls of six and seven personally decline invitations if tho' programme of entertainment prove unattractive to their small minds, and no longor do allurements of a superabundance of cakes and sweets prove irresistible.' At a small children's party last week (writes "Emile" in tho "Australasian") a popular hostess inquired of one of her popular guests, "Will- you have a cako, darling?" "No, tlmnk you; ma does not allow me to cat rubbish in other people's houses," was uie prompt reply. " Children's parties, without calces and minus kisses, aro not tho attractive entertainments they once were, and often more skill is needed. and a greater amount of trouble taken over tho entertainment of girls and boys under ago than of their grown-up brothers and sisters. A novel afternoon was provided lately by the giver of a children's party, when half a dozen real babies were provided for the afternoon, and the children wero allowed to "play nursery" and "act mothers" to something less inanimate than a doll. The babies, who belonged to poor, peoplo, were thus minded for tho afternoon, and as each littlo guest brought a toy or garment for her "real dolly." good results wore obtained on both sides.

£40,000 TO BRING UP. A GIRL . While a London mother recently calculated that, her daughter, _ up to presentation at Court, cost her £("000, an , American girl of the same position costs £40,000, Americans dcclaro. This sum is thus accounted for (ivritea the Now York correspondent of the "Daily Mail") by a lady v.dio desires to retain her anonymity:— Infancy .... ... £1,200 From Wo to eight years ... ... 4,800 Eight to fourteen years 5,400 Fourtcon to eighteen years 8,600 EightcC,,c'n and nineteenth years' 20,000

■ Total ... ..; ... ... ... £40,000 "I am quito sure," said tho lady, "that these figures do not osceed the mark. Tho girl destined to onter society is a luxury and a speculation from tho cradle.

The crowning event in the Now York girl's life—tho debut—is now made in tho twentieth or twenty-first pear. It used to bo, ear-lier,-but; mothenj -.have acquired; wisdom, through experience. The sconc. shifts then to Washington, whore the;debutante meets tho President, and, if she'is a success, is entertained at tho White House. She next whirls away to Newport, and from Newport she goes to Paris, London, and Berlin. ' If she has not already beon secured by an American statesmen or financier, sho is soon caught by a liplomat or a member of tho nobility: With her marriages comes the real' outlay, as isproved by tho foftuno expended recently upon tho trousseau of Miss Stuyvesant Fish, many of whose gowns cost £2000 each, while tho total cost of her outfit was £50,000."

A CONTRALTO ■ \ r OICE. The interesting assertion lias recently been made in print that tho feminno voice is dosconding the scale. High-pitched shrill voices are less common tliaji they used'to bo among women. It is supposed thai tho growing frequency of public speaking among women has, given a greater depth and solidity of tone tho vogue which it at present enjoys. The "platform" voice of a woman who makes her speeches tell is always even. The speaking voice, like the.singing voice, is largely a matter of training. Good speakers havo been taught to uso chest notes, and not to speak from the head. 1 Our characteristic Sydney which is more acute locally than anywhere in Australia, is truly distressing. Men and women have it alike. The quality of voico is. alike in both sexes, flat and toneless, and tho'sound is produced apparently at tho backV tho palate. But tho educated voico is one thing, tho uneducated drawl quite another. Tho "sweet and low" voice which is admired'in women means soft and not low i<\ pitch. Deep chest notes are sometimes misleading. "It's a man's voico—or a deep contralto," exclaims the suspicious mother in "Sweet Lavender." Whether Clara Butt's deep organ tones arc the product of this century or not would be an interesting addition to the question of the lowering of the pitch of women's voices.

The Editor will be pleased to receive c.orrespondonce on matters of interest to women.