WOMEN IN BOHEMIA

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 481, 18 June 1890, Page 5

WOMEN IN BOHEMIA

Mrs J. Van Alstine, the biographer of Charlotte Corday, has a chatty article in ‘ Vanity Fair' on the subject of ‘ Women in Bohemia.’ She says—‘lbis surprising for how little the money-god—who is, I verily believe, the devil, whom we have been fighting to no purpose for many weary centuries —counts in this magic kingdom. Yesterday we were poor, and our purse lay on our table with pathetic flatness, exhibiting here and there a deceptive bulge made in palmier days by sovereigns that have long ago spun themselves into space with their usual appalling celerity. . . . To-day we have sold a picture, received a cheque from our publisher, or written an article which has brought a return in money ; or, what is sometimes almost as pleasant, brought us a word of encouragement and praise—and for the nonce we are rich ! But how rich ! All the. possibilities of greatness stretch before us in an endless vista of beauty and promise, and the refuges for defunct —no,‘ decayed I mean—gentlewomen fade into our mental retina, and are succeeded by a. modest little brougham which seems to be coming straight towards us at a quick trot. . . . With what joy we set to work to revive our languishing wardrobe and repair the breaches which time and assorted weathers have made therein ! How we resolve, as we start forth, to be reasonable for once, and follow the advice given by the exponents of ‘ How bo Dress Well on Next to Nothing a Year,’ and to * get nothing that is not absolutely necessary.’ Bub, alas ! our beloved Bond Street is, as usual, too much for our good intentions, and we recklessly squander our hard-earned sheckels on some exquisite French triviality with a price proportionate. When the golden age is over we return to reason, hang up our finery, and don the sober tweed once more, watching our favourites from the hard benches of the pit, and sup, after a ride home in a plebeian ’bus, on sardines and Bass’s ale. . . There are cranks among the women of Bohemia as there are everywhere ; but as a rule they are earnest and hard working, clever, of course, and with honour as keen and lives as pure as any in the land. And their standards are high, though they care more for the flavour of the fruit than for the manner in which the tree on which it hangs grows. Tolerance and charity are theirs, and their social creed has outgrown its swaddling clothes, so that a woman may do unrebuked in Bohemia many things which—harmless, or even meritorious, though they may be — would be social extinction for her in “ society.” ’