WOMAN'S WORLD

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 5, 30 January 1909, Page 3

WOMAN'S WORLD

1 The blouse, ainid all the vicissitudes lof fashion, is still indispensable (according to a reliable authority} as au adjunct, though it has lost prestige as a component part of the costume. Adapting itself to the prevailing Empire style, 4t is now made of chillou or net, and lias an elaborate top or guiiupe that is intended to be visible, whereas the body portion is made to be invisible. So that what was formerly the blouse is now but a plain "body," which has an elaborate neckpiece and sleeves. The fashionable woman 'uas as many as ten or twelve of these truncated blouses for each gown. They are even interchangeable, and can be used on several gowns according to the occasion. For a dress ds now bought without any top part and also without sleeves. Besides the ordinary net, metals are much used, feold and silver for late afternoon or evening occasions, and dragon-fly colors (for day wear, metallic purple a'nd blue ami greeu. Oxydised nets arc also in Ifavor, and embroideries of every kind are seen on the more elaborate blouses, 'particularly in lloss silk. The tailormade blouse is similarly shortened to suit the new style, and must harmonise 'with the gown. Tulle is as much worn as ever—even more so—but not white •tulle. It must be tinted to match the cloth or velvet of the tailor gown quite exactly.

While clergymen and social reformers •in all parts of this continent are engaged in fervid denunciation of the divorce evil, New York to-day furnished a unique example of the celerity with "which the divorce mills in this country are able to work (wrote a New York correspondent on nth December). • It was the "clearing day'' in the Divorce Division of the Supreme Court, and the announcement by Justice Dowling that all uncontested cases not ready for trial would be adjourned till Easter caused a stampede of women plaintiffs eager to secure their freedom in time Lto enjoy the Christmas holidays nnKrammelled. When I arrived there were r'l2o ladies of all ages, some not out of i their teens, some verging on the sixties, ifclamoring for precedence. With the witnesses and lawyers they crowded to its ■utmost limits the largest courtroom in the building.

I At the last moment a tall, slender ■woman with ft mass of yellow hair, and 'wearing costly furs, rushed to one of the olerks and gasped, "I'm looking ■for-—"

,'. "For the Divorce Court, madam/' politely responded the clerk. >i "How did you know that?" I "Because ladies are always looking for the Divorce Court just before Christimas." 1 A moment later Mr. Dowling began 'hearing the evidence, which was delivered rapidly, charging the defendant, as a rule, with, improper conduct. ' No Bow-street magistrate could have polished off "drunk 9 and disorderlies" With greater despatch than did Mr. Dowling these divorce suits. By noon forty decrees had been granted, and when I left the divorce mill was grinding out more decrees at the rate of ten L> fifteen an hour. Mr. Dowling an■ounced he would sit till two o'clock in She morning if necessary to satisfy the aspirations of litigants to secure freeIpni before Christmas.

lAt a meeting in London organised by women's suffrage society, one of the leakers complained that the women's kpers of the country -were not a very |at credit to them. If they looked *o it they would find that the papers ere all arranged; by men, and the women contributors were kept under ithe rod by the men. They only found •in those papers certain things in wh'eh (men thought women ought to be interested—dress, frivolous society, and a little sport. That was not the sort of .thing women wanted. But they tended ito make the sort of women they proividled for.

I Fired by the example of the late Cecil Ehodes, who instituted the Rhodes scholarships at Oxford for men, the Society of American Women in London has initiated a scholarship scheme for (bringing American women over to study at Cambridge. Miss Clare Howard .(notes the Manchester City News), the daughter of an American journalist, is ithe first female "Rhodes'' scholar—so called because of the similarity of the schemes—and, therefore, enjoys the distinction of being the first American lady ito come to England with an English scholarship. Miss Howard took her B.A. ] at Columbia University in 1003, and the! .Master of Arts degree in the following j .year. She intends to specialise at Oir-1 ton for tire degree which her own uni- ] diversity has to confer. Literature will the her special study, though the AmcriLcan~Ju£ultya' of l in' London lias made] a modest start in providing £3OO to j give one woman student a course of Sost-graduate study at Girton College, and is hoping for more funds to enable At to continue and enlarge the effort.

I A writer in a ladies' paper observes itliat tight-fitting, almost entirely plain cowns are now "la mode" amongst the true elegantes of to-day. Simplicity w--iwlrat the "eoutouriers" are aiming at, and this is undoubtedly a move in the iricrht direction-a return to the true hrineiples of good dressmaking. We Shave the simple life in houses and in furniture, and now w<- arc to exemplify at in dress. The frock of this order is made of the finest cashmere- m a quiet '■ iregtful color. There is scarcely any Itrimming in evidence, no collar tana, fend the arms are covered, with sleeve! Ithat cling to them. In a style so severe hret replete with grace, the absence of detail makes for peace, the (appearance hut to the nW-«f '» Wearer. There is a direct influence exerted over the mental attitude by the Itype of dress a Woman wears and the (frock that is all frills and furbelows induces restlessness.

•A Melbourne paper announces that Mrs. Bland Holt's Grottier, Mr. Harold lAnderson, was married in December to IMiss feme Webster, of New Zealand. Mr. and Mrs. Harold Anderson are a ipresent sightseeing in New Zealand, but leave for England in February. Miss Annette Kellermann is now apinearinK at "Wonderland' in Boston, &hl is one of the chief attritions. One of the Bojton papers jnib Eslies an interview with her. m which, 1 1 .expresses the most flattering opinion, inot only of her swimmni" prowess, but of her handsome abearance.