FEMININE FANCIES.

NZ Truth, Issue 142, 7 March 1908, Page 6

FEMININE FANCIES.

Of the many problems of to-day the Servant Problem seems as far away from being solved as ever. Mrs Geddes Crawford, the organising secretary of the New Zealand Women's Guild, has written to the Hon. J. A. Millar, proposing assisted immigration on the part of the Government to induce domestic servants to immigrate to our shores. From personal experience and observation I don't think the English maids are as good as our own girls. Even when you catch one, and thats^is not an easy matter, she fails to turn up as per agreement, and when you have caught and successfully landed one, you find she is just as prone to backanswer and does not care a fig for her employer any more than our New Zealand lassie. Moreover, she has a fixed idea that without her your domestic ship will founder and split on. the rocks of your colossal ignorance. And you are a clever' woman if you can really tell who is mistress until you pay her. A little more freedom and stated hours for work, with no tax on her leisure time, would help to bring matters to a more agreeable state of affairs with our own girls. But m many instances when she has finished her work, and there is time for a rest wherein she migh/tf be able to read or to repair her clothing, the . mistress finds a little.- job for. herein the shape of taking baby for a walk or something quite out of the day's routine. This is what ruins the domestic m the first instance and makes her a trail- to a good mistress. Much could be said on both sides, but as it is there seems no chance of the finality of the question m the near future. Rumors are afloat concerning ' the divorce of two- hearts that should beat as one m the persons of two well-known people m Wellington, the spoke m the wheel of matrimonial happiness being the gentleman's typewriter. It would seem that these fair exponents of' speed bid fair to outrival the one-time supretoe balletgirl. The man who engages a type' writer to-day lays m trouble for -many to-morrows. And I see a financial future iof the man that will guarantee to' t¥*aeh typewriting and shorthand m twelve lessons to I/he wives of the present. Overheard someone remark the. other c\ay_ that- this was a practical age, m Vhioh tho poets we're not. read. Mpre's the pity, for if that gentleman had read that one line of Byron's — i"M;an's love is of hit life « .thingapart"— he would have hesitated to take it into his business m the shape of a 1 typewriter. Thereby saving us a shock and himself much tribulation. ■ • ■ . • . . • • . . There is something wrong with our tramway officials. Can it be that the Council does not pay sufficiently to coyer a little ordinary civility on their , part to a respectful public? Overheard whilst travelling on a car last week a stranger ask to be informed of the terminus of the Id. section. A-rid when it was passed without intimation on the part of the conductor, who had now come round to collect for the M. section, "I asked you to let me know when we reached the end of the first section." said the stranger— evidently •a stranger m our land. "Well, I looked at you, I couldn't do more," was the reply, surlily given. "No, nor less," said the visitor, and, paying the extra penny, quitted the tram. Now there is a person who is wondering if this is God's Own Country and who is responsible • for our manners. *« ■ • After all is said and done, Bernard Hall has a lot to thank the sensitive parson for m his prosecution of the poor bookseller who exposed for sale the magazine "containing his picture of "Sleep," thereby increasing its sale by leaps and bounds. If this had occurred m America we should have been inclined to think it was a smart dodge on the part of the wily advertiser. As it is the whole affair is a laughable absurdity. There are dozens of pictures of our universal mother clothed m the same raiment — <air, before she created the historical fig-leaf costume. And no lord of the pulpit has ever suggested that a few yards of drapery was essential .to keep up the purity of our minds, whilst they pass unnoticed the very sug*gestive pictures which glare from bur hoardings advertising drink, and corsets, shoes and lingerie. Verily, this is a strange world that still strains at the gnat whilst swallowing the, camel. '■■ «... * * The cricket match played by the members of the Welleslev 'Club,.Mari ried Men versus Benedicts, caused quite a sensation amongst the bevy of interested femininity, who held a mortgage, or hoped to, on the members of the team. At half-time afternoon tea was dispensed and pretty inspiring speeches, calculated to makel each man go back into his place determined to do or die for "the sake of the bright eyes anxiously watching him. After a hot battle the married, men scored a win. Amongst the fair spectators were Mrs (Dr.) G-ihner, Mrs Hamilton Gilmer, Miss Eileen Ward, Mrs and Miss Linda McLean, Miss Finch,' Miss Wheeler, Mrs ' Jack Hume, Mrs Knox Gilmer, Mrs H. B. Wilson and Miss Wilson. ■ * • Half. Wellington is preparing for a visit to Fogland .and the Continent, whilst the other half is busy getting its frillient fascinations and choosing wedding presents for the many weddings tlws month. And "The Voice That Breathed" and the "Wedding March" are going to have quite a busy time. • • • •• „■*• The old adage. "Time and tide for no man bide," is an exploded theo-; ry. For the former is to be arrest-

ed and put back firmly; and decisively by a woman, Mdle. Lola Rubenstein. Valaze treatment is to do away with the tell-tale crows' feet and wrinkles, take away superfluous flesh from those thus affected, and to fill Qut the cheeks of those who have got shrunken. To surrender too soon to that ruthless destroyer of beauty, Timie, is, Mdlle. Lola says, not resignation, but stupidity, . and that as she loves her work she is ready to, demonstrate and to teach. So that m the future the woman who has too much or too little flesh, lines or wrinkles, retains them out of pure cussedness. And a girl that wants to get married will have to keep her mother (if a widow) firmly and severely m the background. at # « Watching the crowd that pass and repass up and ■down Willis-street on Saturday, one is surprised at the ' average 'girl's taste, or, rather, wanti of taste m the matter of dress. They nearly one and all persist m flying that abominable rag designated a motor veil, spoiling what m some j instances would be an effective head- l gear. Saw one very pretty costume of pink utterly ruined and the wearer (a pretty girl) rendered positively commonplace and vulgar by the gaudy green veil that fluttered out behind her like, a vessel m distress. This self-same exponent .of fashion laughed immoderately at the sight of a Maori woman clad m a lemon' dust cloak, from whose head fluttered a blue-bag colored motor veil. One can forgive the Maori woman, but the white girl m this enlightened age surejy ought to have better sense, ' They aie a perpetual eye-sore to the people who have an eye for color. w** . ; Again our shop windows are crowded with post-cards depicting Madame Clara Butt and her domestic .affections. ?&otherly affection is a beautiful thing,- arid everybody rev-] ers it. But it istoo sacred to be held up to the public eye as an advertisement for a great "artist. We feel that Madame, as a great artist, cheapens herself by using her family, as an advertisement. Ailso it is very unEnglish to parade one's private joys or sorrows. • • « « a It' will interest my readers to hear .that the handsome, becoming, long evening coats have come to stay. They suit everyone, that is, if reach- i ing to the bottom of the skirt, for, the stout woman secmis to gain height and the thin woman breadth from them. Then again, one 'can' keep them on during the performance, and still feel quite up-to-date, with-] out having that horrible feeling described as goose-flesh, when there- is a strong draught playing on one's bare neck and shoulders'. In Paris they 1 are- starting that pretty head-gear for the theatre, known as., a hood. You- know the kind I mean. The hood 'that the heroin© m drama always assumes to take home the sewing at 5 o'clock m the evening ; and was much worn m our great great grandmoth-J ers' day. They are universally becoming for the soft frills- round the face, suit all ages, making a pretty face prettiex still and softening and toning even a very plain one, whilst colors suiting eyes and complexion ■ can be deftly and tastefully catered for.