EVERYDAY TOPICS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 34, 4 November 1907, Page 3

EVERYDAY TOPICS.

: : A WOMAN EOIJNDKEEPER. Woman is in many respects stepping into man's shoos, but it might bo reasonably thought that tho shoes: of a back blocks •poundkeepor would be much too large for her dainty feet to fill (says the ■ "Tnranaki Herald"). Nevertheless a woman was appointed by tho Stratford County Council recently to die position of pouiidkceper at Toko. Ono of tho Councillors wondered how a 'ivoman would manage when it was necessary to hold a pound auction. Another councillor pictured-lier donning a bclltoppor and conducting a sale with the utmost competency— ;if not expedition. • . '

A GOOD IDEA,

In the Paris shops and dressmaking establishmonts . there arc clubs for children. For the wej folk, whoso society their niothors: wish to dispense with while they are . .touring' the , shop or . trying .on the gown, are provided gymnasiums with all the most modern appliances in ■ the ;w\ay of swings,' table games, rocking horses, bicycles and in some'instances a swimming pool for the boys. Hundreds of children ranging in ago fron' babyhood to twelve or fourteen years may bo seen enjoying the various entertainments offered. The theatre, where good vaudeville performances are given, .is an unfailing sourco of delight to both the nurses and their charges. As may be imagined shopping day to the little ■ French people who have,the ontreo of these.shop entertainments is one long delight.

CHILD SUICIDE.

One of the most'startling facts brought out at the recent hygiene congress in London was the prevalence of child suicide. A professor stated that in Russia three times as many suicides tool; place among school children as among all the rest of the population. In Germany also there (has been ;i remarkable increase in the nuinber~of child suicides. During the last tivelvo years 1152 cases have been investigated by Professor Eulenburg, of Berlin. He says that most of them wove duo to failure in examination aiid overwork. Clearly, mothers are needed on the German: school'boards.

.CHIFFON TEA GOWNS.

■ In spite of the long vogue which has been enjoyed by'chiffon as a favourite fabric for tea-gowns, there seems every likelihood that it-will be more than ever in demand this season. The reason of this preference for chiffon is not far to seek, since it is the one fabric of all others which lends itself to that picturesque style of drapery wihch will be the distinguishing characteristic' of tlicso .robes"in tho immediate future. It is to tho possibilities of chiffon then that the Paris modiste is looking at the present moment to ensure the success of her new designs in teagowns, and it is of chiffon, therefore, that somt of the loveliost of those dainty robes will be made. A tcagown included in the trousseau of a recent bride is of moonlight blui chiffon, made up over silver tissue, with a; long trailing skirt, arranged in many full folds, through which one gets only a glimpse of silver now and then. To eni'phasiso the effect, however, the blue chillon skirt has a fairly deep silver hem, and at the waist thcro ( is a belt of silver tissue. This tcagown has a ifolded bodice of tho moonlight blue chiffon With n chemisette of silver lace threaded •through with pale blue ribbon. The long angel sleeves are of the blue chiffon, lined wjth silver tissue and hanging in straight folds from the shoulders, leaving the arms perfectly bare oxcept for a scarf drapery of silver. lace. Gold and silver will bo more thar. ever in evidonoe this sei.son on almost eypry kind of teagown, not only in tho favourite form of laco, but also in more or less claborato embroideries worked sometimes on fit'.'.' net or filet background and sometinios on the soft satin or chilion of which tho gown itself is made.

NO TIME FOR "PLEASE."

... A' circular recently issued by an American telephone company asks subscribers to omit the word "please" in ringing up, as the operators have no time for it. This is ouite .in accordance with the spirit of the "ago, which has little time for politeness. How much manners are deteriorating in the rcspo;t shown in public by strangers to each others is quite obvious. Women arc in truth the worst offenders. They continually take a tram seat proffered them by a man, who givos it up witn a polite lift of his 'hat, while thny barely deign to nod. Another piece of rudeness very characteristic of our sex is the taking stock of ench other that goes on. It is almost painful to somo women to find, on entering a tram, or the ladies' saloon of a forry-boat, a perfect battery of eyes riinii'.ng over the garments of the newcomer with a raking lire. These starers begin at the hat, and go steadily downwards till they reach the shoes, not missing one detail of the diess, noting every fault and enjoying every touch of smartness. It is sad to think what vacant minds must lie possessed by the women who so sin against the canons of kind feeling and good taste. Any newcomer is gladly seized on as affording in her apparel some now topic for the mind of vbc gazer to occupy itself with. Certainly, many women havo no timo for "please," which in thi. bright lexicon of tboir etiquette seems to have been left out altogether.