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Manawatu Times, Volume III, Issue 23, 22 January 1879, Page 2

In these days of "dress -improver*," '•pull-backs" "chignons," and arlificiil teeth, it 13 a matter for speculation whit per cent-age of the preset^. m<irriage< would sand the test, were the foil »wing Act — utucii was m run rorce until n iiunare>i years ago— to hold good. Up to the year 177'>\ an ancient law decreed :— " Wh >so ever shall crtice into matrimony any male subject of Hi* Mijesty by menus of rouge, w'-ite paint, Spanish cotton, sfeel corsets, crinoline, hi^h-heded shoes, or false 'hips, shall be prosecuted for witchcraft, an I the umrriige be declared null and void." I wonder how much it wouM have decreased the conquests nvide hy the " softer sex" were an embargo laid Upon the Alexandra Limp, tho (3re.-i:irt B.'iid. or the Human Fall, or the other enticing ruses which win t lie hearts of thti Susceptible. Whether the Lor is of Creation. in days gone by were less of a cheat than they are at present, I am not. prepared to say; but. certainly if the act rtere m force, and what is " Siuce for the goose be sauce for the gander," I have little hesitation m savins* that the gentler sex would not alone be ojien to prosecution. I Irite always imagined that our fore-'athers wee t he essence of chivalry, but I must beg to slighlv alter tb-vt opinion, and state I hat t hose who coild deny lovely woman the innocent, little artifices winch are the privileges of her sex, could be but " small potato.-* " i>v*"p *