WOMAN'S WORLD.

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2522, 24 July 1915, Page 10

WOMAN'S WORLD.

■MITERS OF INTEREST FROM FAB AND Mm

[By Imogen.]

SOCIAL AND PERSONAL

Wedding at Rangiji/ahia. Tho marriage took place last Wednesday in St. Barnnbas's Church, Rangiwahia, of Miss I. I'. Deihl, oldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. C. C. Delhi of Rangiwahia, to Mr. G. R. T. Sibbin' °1 ,? 7? rs " -^ anall d and Abraham's staff, Dannevirke. Tho Rev. H. W. Rlingender performed tho coroniony, S'i i • r i ■D° n ' i played the organ. .Iho undo, who was given away by her rather, wore a gown of cream voile, with a, veil of orange blossoms. Miss M. Demi, who wore charmeuso satin, with a wliito hat to match, attended her as bridesmaid, and Mr. W. G, Doihl was best man. An Italian Patriot. ,'Signorina Luigia Ciappi, a young schoolmistress of Moucioni, in the Val d'Arno, near Florence, is the first Italian woman to bear arms in this war, though premature discovery has prevented her from using them against the Austrians (states t'he Milan .correspondent of the "Daily Mail"). She is littlo more than twenty years old, of medium height, well educated, and) up to recently had beautiful chestnut hair, which she sacrificed to her desire to joiu tho army. The war drama which was played in Italy in May ripened in tho girl the plau which she carried out. Rejected as a hospital nurse, under the pretenco Of going to see a relative she went to Florence. Sho purchased a uniform and entered the St. George's Barracks with some volunteers. There she obtained a rifle and equipment. She carried tho equipment—7olb. 'or SOIb. in weightwithout any sign of fatigue, drew her evening ration, and ate it with a good appetite. It was only when the troop train was well on its way to Bologna that her comrades suspected she was a woman, owing to the smallness and whiteness of her hands.. The rest of tho story tells of a depressed land disappointed womaiii returning home and of her enthusiastic reception by her friends and acquaintances. Sho may be appointed to a military hospital after a preliminary training. Tho art \inion in connection with a golden bead opera bag, made by Mrs. S. C. Priestly, was drawn at tho Town Hall yesterday afternoon in tho .presence of Sergeant Kelly, of tile Police Force. The winning number was 103, held:by R. Elder, I'ost Office, Wanganui. Sirs. Priestly states that the art union realised t"no sum of £6 25., which had been paid in •to tho credit of the Belgian Fund in tho various places , she had visited lately in tho North Island. A meeting of tho Society for the Protection of Women and Children was held on Friday afternoon, Mrs. D. M'Laren presiding. There were present: Mesdames J. Kirkcaldio, G. Ponsonby, and G. Winder. A number of cases which had been, investigated were reported upon. Others were being attended to. The following subscriptions Were acknowledged with thanks:—Hon. J. G. W. Aitken, £1 Is.; A. S. Paterson and Co., £1 Is.; Messrs. Meek and von Haast, 10s. 6d.; T, Ballinger and Co., 10s. At the Presbyterian Church, Ehandallah,: oni Thursday) ; Mr; Robert Ross, of Paengaroa, Bay of Plenty, was married to Miss Josephine Harrington," Opawa, Christchurch. The Rev. James Cumming was the officiating Minister. Mr. J. Ogilvie (Ma6terton) acted as best man, whilst Miss Cora Harrington, Bister of the bride, was bridesmaid.

Hutt Valley Horticultural. Society, At the annual meeting of the Hutti Valley Horticultural Society the following officers were elected Patrons, Their Excellencies the Earl and Countess of. Liverpool; president, Mr. H. M. Hayward ; vice-presidents, Messrs. H. Baldwin, E. P. Bunny, F. It. Cooper, J, Fairbairn, Graham Harvey, George Pearce, I)r. J. R. Purd.v, Vivian Riddiford, A. F. Roberts, C. P. Skerrett, K.C., F. I). Sladd.en, Robert .Turnbull C. Trcvetliick,' C. B. Trimnell, T. SI. ■ Wilford, M.P., and Mrs. 0. F. Val- , lanco; committee, Mesdames Ayson, ' Hobbs, and Knight, Misses Trcvetliick ' and Hayward, and Messrs. T. L. Barker, ' C. E.' Dowland, A. Grierson, A. J. Hobbs, M. J. Hodgins, C. Holland, A. ; Marshall, R. Millar, C. M. Palmer,/ Henry Poole, E. D. Richards, R. N. Wall, Thomas Waugli, F. Westbury, and E. D. Woodward; auditors, Messrs: Hi B. Gcirton and W. Nicholson: lion, treasurer,. Mr. B. H. Parker; lion, secretary; Sir. A. Hardliam. Members exprcssfcd tlieir regret at the retirement of Mr. T. L. Barker from the secretary-! Bliip. 'A meeting of tho ladies of St. Paul's Parish was held yesterday afternoon to make arrangements in connection with the salo of work which is to bo held on November 3 and 4 iu St. Paul's Schoolroom. There will bo all the usual stalls —work stall; jumble, doll, sweets, ' flowers, produce, ha<* and basket, etc., as well as several side-shows and afternoon tea. On both evenings an enter- • tainment will be provided. .About a 7 month beforehand there will be a gift tea to further the interests of the sale of work. Mrs. Watson', who has heen staying with Mrs. Menzies, intends leaving for Dunedin to-day. The marriage took place in St. An-, drew's Church, Summer Hill,, Sydney, t 011 July 1, of Mr. Francis Onslow ' Morath, oldest son of Mr. F. Morath, of Auckland, New Zealand, to Miss Myra Elizabeth Bruce, second daughter of -; Mr. and Mrs. J. Bruce, of Manly,' Sydney. Tho Rev. Canon Vaugliau performed the ceremony. The bride, who was given away by 'her father, •wore 'a gown of silver grey crepe do chine, with long gathered tunic .and deep swathed ; bolt, the bodice having a vest of .Malinea lace. Miss Cherrie Bruce, who wore a I cream cloth costume, and hat en suite, • ■was bridesmaid, and Mr. Frank Bruce best man. A reception was afterwards ' held at' the residence of tho bride's sister, only relatives and the most intimate friends being present. Later,, the bride and bridegroom left en route for their future home in New Zealand. Mrs. Steel is spending a few days with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Wilton, before leaving . for her new home in Christchurch. .Yesterday morning, at the residence of the bride's mother, Rison Grove, Miss Grace Daisy Rickard, second daughter of the late Mr.' Frederick Walter Rickard, of Wellington, was married to Sergeant Robert R. Jewitt, of the 6th Mounted Expeditionary Foroe. The Rev. W. Shirer was the officiating minister. Mrs. Mackersey (Masterton) is visit-, ing ■ Waikanae, and is staying at Mahara House. . • ■ . . : Mr. and Mrs. Bathgate, who have heen spending some time iu Napier, passed through Wellington 011 Wednes-. day on their return trip to Dunedin. — .. <1

, A PLACE IN THE SUN. (By Twells Brex, in the "Daily Mail.") "One of the things this struggle will teach us is that the rango of women's industrial capabilities is far - wider than tho world had imagined." Those linos in the leading article of the "Daily Mail" must have set many people thinking. In tho same issue it was relcorded that a large number of emergency covers for the new respirators were urgently needed for our troops. The Central Committee on Women's Employment organised the production of those covers with such speed that within three days 90,000 were completed. Another , paragraph stated that twenty-six women tramwaycar conductors are on probation at Ipswich. Elsewhere in tho saino issue was an interview with a general's daughter who, day by day, is driving a motor delivery van of a big store, putting in tho regular hours and doing the routine work. Still another paragraph related that the wife of a Methodist minister who is now a- chaplain at the front is doing all her husband's work, travelling his circuit, and preaching at Sunday services.

A London railway bookstall caught my notice the other day by its attractive display. ' It might seem impossible to devise new allurement in tlio spread of papers, journals, and magazines. But the keeper of the stall, a. girl of about seventeen, had achieved 1 it on the day of her novitiate.

In scores of activities women and girls are keeping warm tho places of men who have gone to the war. And remarkably unobtrusively and efficiently are they doing it. In tlie higher ranks of work, involving mental stamina and calibre, women are vindicating their equality with men. • It is inevitable that the war will further enlarge their opportunities.' The punctually and diligence of women secretaries and confidential clerks,is a commonplace. That antique jape about wonvin's tongue, stale as : the mother-in-law gibe of the low comedian, ia slain by the testimony of employers of women that their-pro-fessional and business serrets are always safe with them.

As a journalist I have come in touch with most of the voluntary work that British" women immediately organised and .undertook oil the outbreak of war. Whether it is work -in connection with the wounded, the supplies of gifts for tho front-, tho' institution, and management of freo buffets for travelling sailors and soldiers at home, or any other of the numerous women-run organisations called into existence by the wary I have been invariably impressed by the system and thoroughness of that work and its freedom from fussiness. There are hundreds of gently nurtured "butterfly" women of England who go on as calmly, devotedly, and self-sacrificingly at those very toilsome, self-imposed tasks as the historic Lady, of the Lamp. I have spent an afternoon recently in a sailors' and soldiers'free buffet where countesses, incognito in tea-shop girls' aprons, stood weary hours cutting bread aud butter at a rato and with a dexterity'that made man feel ashamed of his useless hands. And one of those honorary waitresses had worked from seven that morning. - 1 Certain' it is that, whatever the result of the war, we will never go back to our old world. It will henceforth, be a world more changed from the world of a year ago than 1914 was different from the Middle Ages. Women, in that new world, for a generation at least to come, will be the majority of the population. Aud one of the surest of prophecies is that woman will claim her placo in the sun. If this struggle teaches us. that her range of' industrial. capabilities' :is more than we realised, it will no less surely teach us that her range of mental, organising, and administrative capabilities is more'than we (or she herself) realised. At the end of tho war all those thousands of women, who have awakened to their usefulness, their intelligence, and their directing powers will insist on the enfranchisement of those powers; they, will insist on.a partnership with us' men in the shaping of 1 tho new and bettor world we must I mould out of this awful' crucible.

True it is Ahat in some of the higher and most imaginative ranges of the human intellect woman has never approached man's best. But it is equally true that among us loavon' of all tho ordinary people woman's judgment and capability aro at least as swift and apprehensive as man's. Logic she may have little of; constructive argument sho may have none; prejudice/she bristles with. But while men climb slowly to sound decisions, women flash -to' them by radio-telegraphy. What married man will not admit that in every crisis of his life, at every blurred signpost of his career,-his surest guide was his wife The new world, must take woman into full partnership., Her arraignment of man.'s monopoly of politics and diplomacy are the figures 1914, the cemetery he has made of; Europe, the darkness with which he has stunted civilisation. If but one woman's ■ voice could have cried dissent in'the black Councils of

the Wilhelmstrasse and the Ballplatz the world might have been spared this travail. When all the mothers, wives, and sweethearts of Europo have voices in their countries war will be only a fantastical memory. The women of no country in tho world, not even tho women of Germany, would ever consent to ambitions, adventures, and provocations of other countries that might rend from them again their sons, brothers, betrothed, and husbands. And when 110 country will even entertain tho shadow of war, then, and then alone, will wars bo ended.