WOMAN'S WORLD

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 71, 20 April 1909, Page 3

WOMAN'S WORLD

KlilLU ~v.,s Of A i,.\UU',IAJK una. (By Helen liowlaiid.) Once iipo n a time there lived a prim-ess wUn was as good as she was beau ill uliiit psaaw . ilus uuesu'i iinerest any man :

\Wic.i a man tells another sonii-lhing Wiiu-Ii isn't so, ii s -a |jc, ■ iniv win-n intells the s.ui H . tiiiug to a woman, us just " policy.''

Every luiiu is enough of an oplimisl to louii on (lie briglit side m Ins wile's truiio.es the day an.,- t.ie ,ook .eaves but somehow his pessimism returns when she suggests thfti he in-ip wipe me dishes.

If a man could reuiain as cool and unmoved in t.ic face o. a woman's smile,-: as he docs in the face of he,- tears, we we would all feel just like ii.unorUlizing him.

Acute iiillaiuniation of the vanity is an alHiclion which makes a man suspicious that every woman he meets is in love with him and will pine awav if he isn't kind enough lo llin with her.

A clever llirt is something like a sleight-of-hand performer—he makes you see a lot of tilings that ar:'ift there.' The most pathetic thing about Faust is not the mad scene, not rue mail gentleniun in a dress suit wiio sits next his wife listening to it—with Anna 11.-ld, or Salome, or the Parisian Daisies, winy half a block away. One way to lose a lover is to marry him.

NO RICE AT wEDDIXGS. People often talk about the danger of throwing rice at weddings, occasionally a liride or bridegroom, or perhaps the vitar of a particular church, will ask that the custom be not observed.

But in Germany tney have gone farther. The reigning Dtike Leopold Frederick of Anhalt, noticing that in his capital of Dessau several serious accidents —some of thetu with fatal results—happened through rice being thrown, issued a decree entirely proinuiting the custom from being observed anywhere within his dominions.

People say tlmt his example will very likely be followed by tile rulers of otlie'r Herman States. And the Kaiser himself has written to Duke Leopold, warmly approving of bis action. There may be an Imperial decree prohibiting the throwing of rice at weddings all over the German Empire—unless tins would be regarded as an indiscretion on the Kaiser's part! The custom lias been the cause of many serious accidents at weddings. Xot long ago a bride and bridegroom were just stepping into their carriage, amid a shower of rice, when some of the sharp, stinging grains caught the ear of ■ one of the horses. The animal bolted, and his fellow promptly followed his example. ' ' The, bridegroom was half in the carriage and half out. He fell as the vehicle started off, and was dragged along the ground for several yards. The bride was thrown out of the open door. The coachman leaped from his box, and was seriously injured, and the maddened horses finished up by dashing into a wall, smashing the carriage to .pieces and injuring themselves so severely that they had to be shot. But even without a serious affair of this sort, rice isn't the most pleasant thing in the world to have Hung nt one. rf the grains strike the face tliev sting like—like anything. If they work down into one's garments—and they usually do—thev are evtremelv uncomfortable.

And when a honeymoon couple are trying to pass themselves oil' as married folks of long standing, and a shower of tell-tale rice, descending from a pocket or a suddenly opened umbrella, gives the whole -bow away, the result is embarrassing.

WOMKK IN fll.'SSL*. The history of the struggle of Russian women for educational privileges is a story of alternating success and defeat. Though the majority of women belonging to the upper classes are highly cultivated and brilliant politicians and excellent linguisis. their attainments are principally due to advantages of birth, for the' daughters of the nobility pass the years of their girlhood in the charge of coinpet en t teachers, or in one of the most, excellent schools founded by Catherine the Great for the daughters'of the nobility. The women of the middle class do not enjoy the same educational privileges : 'they have had an unhiH battle to light, and have met with many disheartening failures. Their struggles to enter the universities began as far ba'ck it* ISIil. when a movement with Ili.it aim was set on foot, and nothing came of it. Seven vears later a society was funned bv .Mnie. Condudi, Mil". Stassoll', and others, with the object of starting lectures for women in science, history and j philology; this society presented an aidless, signed by maiiy women from all parts of the country. - appealing to t;,c| rector and professors of the University of St. Petersburg for their help. This was willingly given ; ■Kited the way in which the men, both professors and students, have stood by the women in their struggle for a better education is one of the most cheering pages of the whole disheartening story The leading men of the I'niversitv of St. Petersburg have willingly given of their best, and for trilling fees. The professors at Moscow have done likewise, and a course of lectures was founded bv Professor Yuerzier in 1872, but they were closed sixteen years later by order ol the Government. Women's education in Russia has since met with many turns of fortune. In 1000 the universities were granted the right of self-government ; they immediately admitted women, and 200(1 students at once availed themselves of the privileges. Last year, however, the women received a crushing blow, for they were expelled at the whim of a new ami reactionary Alinister of Education. It is satisfactory to learn that the universities f Russia protested against this action with apparently excellent results, for now we hear that the decree has been set aside, and women may continue their studies as before.