WOMAN'S WORLD.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 40, 12 March 1909, Page 4

WOMAN'S WORLD.

■DO.VT iMAKUV TO KEFOiUi A MAN. Much matrimonial misery is due to the fact that .su many women fondly and foolishly believe in their power for good over Uhe men whom they Jove. Believing eo, they marry not only men who, as •the saving goes, are "& little wild,"' but : liotorkmsjy evil livers, m the liojjc that after marriage the vicious man will renounce his pleasant vices. Uniortunately such hopes rarely are realised. The cases where a, woman, however deeply and truly in love, haft married under these conditions against the entreaties of her friends and has not lived to re pent her weakness are so few as to be worthy ot' citation as the exceptions w.lucli prove the rule. J)0 TILE KEI'OKAIIXG FIRST.

In a clever brochure of pungent soyingts concerning "Alen, Women, and I'oota," there is this; "Never marry a man to reform him; reform him lirst and then don't marry him." Undoubtedly love work* miracles; history teems with instances of its transforming power, cast* where cowards haviv been changed into heroes; weakness made strength by its magical inlluence. liul it is love, not marriage, which works the miracle, and the reformation, if sincere, will begin with love, not wait until after marriage tu set forth its ellcctual calling. The man who will not forsake his evil way»s and lead a reputable life fur ilit sake of his own self-respect and for (lu love of the mother who bore him h sciircelv likely to do so for the sake ol any other woman, however much lu mav profess to love her. SOME AIEX WORTH SAVIN (J.

All of which does not mean that when a woman lias the misfortune really Lo fall in love with a ninner. who plainly is repentant and who clearly is disposed to regard her asan angel, she must draw her skirts aside and pass the other way. In most eat»es, almost all, alas! it would be better for her were she so to do; a wise old man used to say that where hearts have, to be broken, a clean quick ; fracture is less painful than slow crushing to bits. But once in a while* euch men are worth saving ami are truly in earnest about it. JJut one should begin the work of reformation before marriage, and in the same spirit of prudence which causes one to wait for planks and for ropes, instead or leaping forthwith into a quicksand to rescue him who is in danger therein, j It i& not an easy matter to reform anyone, whether mail or woman. Pew people do not to being found fault with, and most of us prefer our own failings to those of our neighbors. Besides, one may mean well, yet be too weak to do well. No man who cannot, stand alone is a safe huslwind for any woman, and she who endeavors to hold up euell a one is almost sure, to be 'bent, if not broken, in the effort.

A WONDERFUL WOMAN. Mrs. Rebecca Clarke, who celebrated her 104 th birthday last June, took the chair and made her maiden speech at a New Year's dinner and entertainment to the poor people of the district, .held at the Salvatiou Army Barracks, Wood (ireen, London, on the night of January Ist. The old lady is the; doyenne of old-age pensioners. She is wonderfully alert and active for her great "age. Sight and hearing are retained unimpaired, and before making her speech—the first in all her 104 years—she. enjoyed heartily a plate of roast- beet, potatoes, and haricot beans, followed bv .plum pudding. Wearing a grey silk shawl, which she wore on her wedding-day. seveniy-nine year* ago. she stepped briskly to the platform. Her voice was clear and strong. "1 have been very pleased to have such a nice dinner, and I hope you are all as satisfied l as- J am," begun the venerable orator. 'T don't always get such a, good dinner at homo myself, but then I never cooked on Sundays, because I liked to have a little vest. I have had nine: children, ami I brought tliein up very plain. Pudding before meat, and never any stimulants, only water.- J «ent them to .school, too, and if they didn't go they got no dinner. And now 1 hope j have said enough, because I am a very old woman. A happy New Y<ear to you all." Amid great applause the old lady, who was highly .pleased with her success as a' apecchmakeiy took her seat. •

A PENNY NOVELETTE BOILED DOWN. 1. As lie rode slowly over the, trail the crack of a rille- was heard. . . . Bill Dal ton lay dead with a ball through his temple. i n. The next morning Bill Dallou arose, and, though somewhat pained by the wound through his head, .set forth to find his comrades. As he reached the canyon his horse shied and lost his foot--1 ing. Horse and rider went toppling down two thousand feet to instant death.

Bruised and wounded, lie got up three hours Inter, and in a moment of desperation rode oil' twenty miles to the cave where his brother desperadoes lived. As he entered, a long Jow "Hist!" came from the deepest comer of the cave. There was an instant's pause, the Hash of a bowie, and Bill Dalton bit the dust, never mora to rise.

Somewhat feeble, but strengthened by the fresh morning air, Bill Dalton left •the cave next day. Jll-luck attended him. Killing all alone through the mountain*, he. was startled by a horrible souml. Looking up, he. saw an avalanche! it came on with terrible speed. It reached him, pushed him into a. chasm two miles below, aud buried him under a thousand tons of rock and stone. Poor J)alton was dead! V. Tiio next afternoon he. was arrested in I'ronliev mining town while in the act of robbing a bank, but it turned out that good old Bill was engaged to the bunkers daughter, and had only come homo to claim his bride. Wedding bells. Happy ever after.

G. K. Chesterton, in his recent book "All Things Considered," says:—"The average woman is- at the head of something with which she can do as she likes; the average- man has to obey orders. and do nothing else. He has to pnt one dull brick on another dull brick, and do nothing else: lie. has to add one dull figure to another dull figure, and do nothing else. The woman's world is a small one. perhaps, but she can alter it. The woman van tdl the tradesman willl whom she deals some realistic' tilings about himself. The cleric who does this to the manager generally gets the. sack. Above all, as I said in my previous article, the woman does work which is in some eiuall degree creative and individual. She can put the flowers or the furniture in fancy arrangements of her own, T fear the bricklayer cannot put the brick!* in fancy arrangements of his own without disaster to himself and others. If a woman is only* putting a patch into a carpet, she can chotve tin* thing with regard to color. Tfear it would not do for the oilice-boy despatching a parcel to dioose his stamps with a view to color; to prefer the tender mauve oi the sixpenny to the crude scarlet of llie penny stamp. A woman can cook artistically. Nlie can introduce a personal and imperceptible alteration into the composition of a soup. The dork is wot oncourage.d .t*" introduce a personal am! imperceptible alteration into the figures in a ledger."