LADIES’ COLUMN.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume I, Issue 39, 14 January 1884, Page 2

LADIES’ COLUMN.

LINES ON WOMAN, [Read directly, then read first and third and second and fourth lines of each verse, and lo I the difference.] The bliss of him no tongue can tell; Who in a woman doth confide, Who with a woman scorns to dwell, Unnumbered evils will betide. They make the daily path of life A pleasant journey strewed with flowers; A dreary scene of painful strife They quickly change with matchless powers. Domestic joy will fast decay Where female influence is unknown • Where’er a woman holds her sway, A man in his perfection’s shown; She’s never failing to display Truth in its native loveliness A heart inclined to treachery A woman never did possess. That man true dignity will find Who tries the matrimonial state; Wlio pours coptempt on womankind Will mourn his folly when too late. CONDITION OF WOMEN IN CHUtA; Women in China are despised and degraded from the moment of their birth. A female child is received with scorn and contempt on its arrival into this world. The babe is left lying on some rags upon the floor, to indicate the contempt she is doomed to experience through life. Confucius spoke of women as on the same level with slaves. The matron who can boast only a family of daughters is shunned by the more fortunate of her Mel. The education of women, according to the best native authorities, should include nothing more than moral precepts and domestic training. She must never open a book. Her marriage is arranged entirely by her father. Until it takes place she is shut up and guarded like a nun. When she goes abroad she is carried in a closed sedan chair. Old women are hired by her parents to find out a suitable match for her. She never sees her future lord until the wedding-day, unless* by the connivance of her maid, she obtains a glimpse of him as he passes along the street. Before leaving home to be carried to her husband’s house, she is held over a fire to dispel evil influences. She is then carried in procession to her future abode. The marriage is most tedious, and is terminated by the young couple pledging each other in small cups of wine. The power with which her lord is invested is almost absolute. He may punish her or her children with any severity he thinks fit* and may sell them to be the slaves of others according to his will. The doom which awaits the Chinese bride when, covered with jewels, she ignorantly proceeds in her sedan chair to her husband’s home may prove worse than death. To any tyranny he chooses to inflict she must submit during his lifetime* and, at his death, she must kneel day and night, with well-feigned sorrow, beside his coffin untifit is removed for burial.

Chinese women employ paint and powder plentifully, so much so as to injure the skin. Their youthful bloom fades rapidly, owing to their peculiar mode of life, the seclusion from air, and the miserable atmosphere of their homes, Their dress has much of artistic elegance. The dressing of the hair is the most important portion of the toilette. A Chinese maid who can dress the hair of her mistress in three or four hours is a treasure. The head of a fashionable Chinese lady may be termed “ a miracle of design.” Sometime it is arranged to imitate a vase stuck full of flowers. Sometimes it is in the form of a bird with outstretched wings. Sometimes it is like the handle of a tea-pot. It is stiffened with gum. The chief amusement of Chinese ladies is gambling. Failing visitors, they gamble with their slaves. Dice, cards, and dominoes are found everywhere. There are 150,000,000 women and girls in China, nearly all of whom are uneducated and utterly ignorant. MISS~BOOTH. At a meeting of the Salvation Army in Exeter Hall recently, Miss Booth, who was supported by her father, mother, and brothers, made a long speech, in which she gave a full account of her recent experiences in Switzerland. A decree was issued by the Swiss Council of State, forbidding the holding of Salvation Army meetings in any place whatever. This decree was declared by Salvationists to be illegal, as contrary to the constitution guaranteeing full religious liberty. Miss Booth conceived it to be her duty to continue the meetings, stating that she considered herself in duty bound to obey God rather than man. The meetings of the Salvation Army continued, therefore, being held in parlors and kitchens with doors and windows shut, in forests, woods, caves, anywhere and everywhere and in secrecy. If the meetings in one place were discovered, the sergeants secretly convened meetings elsewhere. A service was held in a forest five miles from Neuch&tel, at 2 o’clockjin the afternoon on Sunday, September 9th, Miss was herself taking a prominent port in the proceedings. Scarcely had the service well begun when the Chief Inspector of Police, with other police officers from Neuchatel, arrived upon the scene. They did not interrupt the service, which lasted four hours, but waited, patiently listening to the end. At the conclusion of the service, Miss Booth was informed that the Prefect wished to speak to her. He reminded her that she was violating the decrees of the State, expressing regret that it was his awkward duty to arrest her. They then drove to Neuchatel. The Prefect was very kind, telling her that he, like others, had condemned the army without having attended one of their meetings, and that the proceedings he had just witnessed had elicited his admiration and approval. She was, however, constituted a jftisoner of state and locked up for the night.

Next day she was liberated on the surety of a friend. When brought before the authorities, she stated her intention of continuing to hold meetings. On that occasion she was discharged with a caution, but, a few days afterwards, was again arrested, and was confined in a cell for a fortnight. On her liberation the meetings were held as before. Miss Booth stated at Exeter Hall that she believed that ere long full liberty will be accorded to the army in Switzerland. At her trial it was freely stated that no manifestation of simple, primitive Christianity had ever been witnessed like that produced by the Salvation Army. The aim of the Army, not only on the Continent, but in India, Australia, and America, was to bring people to the feet of Christ. She had been freelv invited to Italy, where the son of Garibaldi guaranteed she would be welcomed, and not treated as in Switzerland. She inteuded, however, to return to that country, to the thick of the fight.

LADY MOX’TEFIORE. Lady Montefiore, the wife of the celebrated Sir Moses, who recently attained his hundredth year, wae a person of cultivated mind, much industry, and great literary attainments. It was a habit with her husband to bend his head to her when, every Sabbath evening, in the Jewish synagogue, he recited the words occurring in his ritual, “ Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all.” Her death’was a great blow to Sir Moses Montefiore, who still keeps her memory green. He built a college at Ramsgate in her memory, and also founded prizes and scholarships in her name at all Jewish public schools. She is buried at Ramsgate, close by the synagogue, on a high cliff overlooking the sea. The mausoleum which encloses her remains is a copy of the tomb of Rachel, which is on the road from Bethlehem to Jerusalem. In it bums a lamp kept continually alight. DRESS REFORM, Ac. The subject of dress reform is quite a craze in England at present. Stays are denounced as instruments of torture, killing the health and bloom of womankind. The results of the agitation by hygienic societies, Ac., have been beneficial in slightly altering standard of beauty | a tightly pinched-in waist is not now considered an advantage. Doctors, lecturers, and common-sense have alike preached that women cannot expect to be healthy if pressed out of all natural form. They have found many listeners, and given a turn in the right direction to the requirements of fashion. No woman who cramps her breathing and digestive apparatus can hope to look pretty for long. Nature, as a rule, asserts her rights so unpleasantly that perhaps the offence of tight-lacing is not so common as dress-reformers suppose. It is chiefly the middle and lower classes who indulge in lavish expenditure on dress. Most ladies of rank, wealth, and station dress With simplicity. and many as cheaply as they pap. The Princess of Wales sets a good example in this wearing simple toilettes, and dressing her daughters in cottons, woollens, Ac, Lady Harberton’s divided skirt is much condemned and little adopted. By the way, this style of dress made its appearance in a Colonial town, not far distant, a few weeks ago. it attracted much unpleasant notice, and was not at all admired. It is said tha. the convenience of the costume is not great, and does not compensate for its ugly and unattractive appearance. The necessity of physical exercise for girls ib being more generally recognised. The use of the tricycle bids fair to become established in the colonies. For this exercise a special costume (some modification of Lady Barberton's is suitable) should be adopted. It is said to be a most healthful, pleasant, and useful mode of amusement. Since the Princess of Wales purchased tricycles as presents for her daughters the use of the vehicle has become prevalent than ever. Young girls should be encouraged to take much physical exercise. By developing the muscles and improving the circulation of the blood the energies are stimulated, and the brain works more readily. Swimming as an exercise eannot be surpassed. AU girls should learn to swim, if only for their safety in case of accident. Now that summer is with us, and bathing can be arranged, girls, as well as boys, who have not the useful acquirement of swimming should endeavor to attain it. Parents and teachers should be impressed with the importance of physical training for girls. Exercise taken judiciously and games naturally enjoyed will never make girls unladylike, but quite the reverse, for health is the first step to elegance. Of what use is it to give a girl a highly intellectual education if by doing so you enfeeble her health by too much confinement and a laek of out-door sports. FRIVOLITIES. Gilt braid, gilt gauze, and gilt lace are much used now as trimmings for the necks and sleeves of dresses. Gilt gauze, or lisse, is tacked inside the neck of the dress as a friU. White or black lisse, edged with gilt, is considered fashionable. Puffed lace sleeves with glove attached are worn. The sleeves are slightly gathered at intervals, and frilled with lace gathered on fine elastic where the sleeve meets the glove. The appearance of the long glove is preserve* without the numberless wnnkles incidental to the long gloves of suede or kid. Striped silks are much worn, the lines being both wide and narrow. The newest designs in silks are conspicuous by large and gorgeous patterns of flowers and fruit. The silks this season would answer admirably for upholstering purposes. Designs of fruits of every description, life-size, nuts, apples, peaches, strawberries, Ac., are most numerous. The waistcoat is introduced into almost all costumes for street and morning wear. As a useful fashion, the black or colored shirt, with polonaise of any description, is welcome, and very pretty dresses can easily be arranged. The most fashionable are dark skirts, with polonaises of flowered cretonne in any pattern,however gay, looped and bunched up in sheperdess fashion. A young lady received the following note accompanied by a bouquet of flowers “ Dear . I send you by the boy a bocket of flours. This is like my luv for u. The nite shade means kept dark. Rosie red and posis pail, my luv for u shall never fale, Statistics show in England that men now live two years longer and women three and a third longer than they did thirty years ago. A woman disguised herself as man and worked for a year as a clerk in a store in Bay City, Michigan. She applied for membership in the Knights of Pythias and was admitted. She remained undiscovered up to the work of the 3rd degree. In this degree they have an indiarubber rat and a celluloid snake, which run by clockwork, and are extremely natural. They let them run at the candidate to see if they will flinch. When the snake ran at the girl, she kept her nerve all right, but when the rat was let run, she grabbed imaginary petticoats in both hands, screamed murder and jumped upon the refrigerator (which is used in the work of the fourth aegree.) Her sex was thus discovered. She had, however, already been constituted a member of this highly philanthropic and safe order.