WOMEN'S INTERESTS

Hokitika Guardian, 2 March 1933, Page 3

WOMEN'S INTERESTS

Mints from Mome and Abroad.

THE PERFECT: EVE.

GREAT ARTIST’S MODEL.

Miss Celia James, the 720-year-old brunette, was chosen by Mr Frank Brangwyn, It.A., as the perfect modern Eve, says an exchange. Miss James, who lives .with her ! parents in Eastern Road, Brighton, is the answer to Mr Brangwyn’s plea for a “woman of full and splendid figure, strong and' supple of limb, a child of Nature grown up in Nature’s way.” He required her as a model for paintings lie is to do for Radio City, New York. Miss James weighs lOst; 101 b, and her measurements include: Height, sft 7in ; bust, 36|in; waist, 29in; hips, 37in j thigh .'23in ; calf, 14in; ankle, 9in. .

“I have let my. figure develop naturally,” Miss James said. .'“I. have never dieted or gone in for any. form of slimming. ■:

“Most women .would have beautiful figures if they just let themselves grow up in Nature’s own way, but many, of- them distort themselves by slimming and by wearing unnatural clothes.;

‘ “I have always been fond of walking and running, and I spend hours in the sea during , the summer. 1 suppose these exercises have helped to develop me naturally. “At any rate, as soon as Mr Brangwyn saw me, lie said, ‘You’ll do, and he engaged me there and then.

“He seemed very pleased with my figure, and remarked how many women there were out of their busts too full* for their hips'-‘or their legs too slim for their bodies.” Miss James said that Mr Brangwyn had sketched her with a baby in her arms, symbolic of an American mother, in the great picture he is planning representing- the march of American civilisation across the Continent;

BACKWATERS OF MARRIAGE.

avoid ''Settling ' down.” . Backwaters ru'd terribly tempting tilings. Yon know how it is when it has been a long pull against the' current into which all your energies have been put. You know how it is when a sleepy, shaded' backwater opens, green and, -inviting,‘"simply a sking for tlie reception of vouf boat and yourself. And you know how easy it is, having reached, the.,' safety and seclusion 'of that backwater, to lie back and grow dr.ojv/jy, and .not bother about anything at all except doing as little as possible.

"When you_-.pj.i1i.... into the . stream again you) have lost touch, are more tired than before,'.and have no energy and little inclination to face things.

So frequently it is the same with marriage. Ear to o "often is marriage aimed at, as though it..were; •a.j.hackr water in which nothing matters, because the goal hag been attained. Both wives and husbands are as guilty in this respect.

To look upon marriage as anything else but an adventure, and .an extremely happy adventure, is to knock r.w'ay in one moment fifty per cent of its" chance of success. The poor, bowed down married man and the nagging and overworked wife have served their time too long as servants of the music hall and gibing bachelors.- So long, in fact," that marriage <is a con venient, though dull, ;-' cubbyhole ■. in existence has become well Imbued into the average mind. Bachelorhood is sheer (futility beside the happiness which can marriage wliere both work to keep it. going successfully. ; ; ..

Settling down,- bnckwatcrjng, .is completely wrong. From .. the very first 'moment marriage should be the signal for waking.up... and living as you . have never lived before.

WOMEN IN 1932. ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE SEX. "Women concerned with the welfare ■ andi rights of . their ~ sex tabulating the outstanding ' s ueces|p : that women have attained during five year 1932, and the work that they have. done. For instance, seventeen women'have attended the League of Nations’ Assembly; in aii official - capacity ; at the Disarmament Conference in February’ there were women representatives front Great Britain, Canada, Germany ■ and the United States. In Scotland Yard three'Cornell police have been chosen ’ for special ‘-detective investigation; aiid in the Civil Service, Miss "Wall, an extemely’ clever barrister, has been appointed to all administrative post in the Home Office. Miss Alix'KUroy has' been promoted principal in the Board of Trade. - Miss K. Walls has ‘been appointed manager of ah employment 'exchange for both sexes at Shorediich *by the Ministry of 'Labour. Fifteeip. wohien who are members of Pafliainent-have had a busy year. " There are no fewer than fifteen] woman mayors' of English towns, and the local government of Scotland has elected three woman provosts- -Mrs Martin. a brilliant doctor, has been awarded the degree of Master of Surgery. ' She is the mother of three children, so has' busy days. _ . Miss M. ’Agar, a landscape archihas been given what she regards

| as the most fascinating job to fall to any woman’s lot—she i s - to devise - a plan to beautify Wimbledon Common. . Aliss Edith Bathurst has received the. degree of Doctor of. Music; Mis s Stella Benson has been awarded the lfenina Via Heureuse , Prize for her liovel “Tcbit Transplanted,” and Mi S s Kate O’Brien has received the James fait Black Memorial prize and tlie Hawthornden). prize f or her delightful book, , “Without; My • Cloak.” Of course, there is always the wonderful flight of Mrs Mollison to add lustre to woman’s name. LOOSE COVERS FOR CHAIRS. the covering pf chairs needs some consideration.- Witlv patterned materials the nicest 1 covers are made ; of cretonne, chintz or printed linen. Printed linen makes delightful loose covers, hut is fairly expensive. There are various styles <jf plriin material' from which to make a choice, but the dull-surfaced materials, -arras, poplin, terry cloth, are the most effective. A. fashion is growing abroad for cbweriitg chairs with suiting—an expensive covering indeed. Hundreds of suites pf furniture to-day are furnished with a kind of ridged velvet, but invariably the chairs covered with "Cretonne, or with plain material look much more effective than this jnjaterial. It. is, often made in a,Jlale-grey colour-—particularly ' 'trying j in any room. There is much' to be said for ■loos© covers on/tlfe funtiture, for they can be Vashed and laundered and they look new. again, but if they are too expensive the ordinary hover is almost as effective .

ROMANCE OF PRECIOUS STONES

In a. world wfliere values are changing every day, especially' financial values, every investor is looking around for somo certain, means 'of investing -lire capital with the least' ! cliance "of : ' depreciation. It. is foji. .this that

the experts who deal in precious stones and fine jewellery ' 'have.'rarely been busier than they are-to-day in London, the world, centre of the world trade jin

precious atones. 1 Everyone . knows /- th© - power •“ that precious stones have wielded through all the ages ! ,of’history few'realise why London is inevitably the world centre for their distribution, and the immense industry which surrounds '-that ■ commerce. And yet the reasons; arc simplicity itself; : Nearly every precious stone of the finest quality and ''' the highest grade come« from some place ’v l Iti’iin 'the ! Tih 1 ' piife. This is as 1 tru e ' : bf jewels as it is. of gold. The' British flag fl !p s river all the mines where “th, 3 ehrimest. rays supreme" lie hidden. Arid because' of this an industry of many, ’ year is centred in the metropolis.

it is an astonishing fact', but jpproxL. mutely 90 per o&nt. of the finest pj-eci-ous stones in the world come* from, -within the British The finest" di(imonds come-, frornl-jSoiith lAfrioa., theloveliest pearls come f.rom the Persian Gulf or Australia. Rut India is the supreme kingdom for precious stones. From Burma has come all the world’s best rubies; in India itself have the finest emeralds been found ; from Kashmir come all the most beautiful sapphires ; from Australia coine the world's best ooatsl ' . '

■With go- 1 d it is the sin me.'From South Africa and Australia- fomes the va«tmajority of the world’,s output. Small wonder then that London' i& .tibe hicet important citv, where romance is b n rn again every day,' e.ver Known in this Arabian Nights’ industry.

A visit to the expertswho concentrate on the world’s finest in the West End of (London andpj.he.,-tjcuth of calling this industry ; the Arabian' Nights becomes abundantly true, ,In a short’ mile of PiccadillyCircus, in a relatively small number of sma’il stones is wealth '’beyoim -ip . dreams- of avarice”.. In-:a short -visitto . the leaders 'of this ' yast "industry, ; this recorder saw a., diamond valued, at ’£40,000, black pearls worth a king’s, ransom, emerald beads of over 1000 carats, .emeralds of quality, a superb necklace of the deepesfr'.rubies, which could be changed into two b ra ce. lets and a. brooch by a, clover arrangement o f the., fittings. Can I 'there -be.’a‘(demand; it may be asked, for .jewels 'of -such astonishing price i' in • the ■ world ; to.day ?;It its in such a crisis as th e one through which we are passing that the ablest and most astute business men 1 turn more and more to precious stofies as one of the' surest investments Against de,pTec’"a--ti'on. History is merely and inevitably repeating itself. The, wisdom of : ages is immutable. Qnlv the ..se ; ||ihg of the stones, is of ;ii-moder.n. taste, to meet the fashion of : itijiitL'k-’' -Tfce* stones themselves, could they but speak,, in most cases could tell of the .countless world, crises through they have pbese'd and in every one-Apf which they < have proved their value and ’ their immense -help to mankind. ■■■% 'Throughout ,the ages the lute., of the finest precious. stones • has determined,, through''their appeal’ to women of .air ages and periods, much of the course of history. (Pirns cAichange, pins oa la iiieme' femme,* is eterfr'lly '’truel. It is : in times of special financial erases that win turn to them as investments rather than as beautiful and worthy tokend Vof' appreciation to' women. And that positions'obtains in England tod?iv, " '