WOMAN'S WORLD

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 352, 1 April 1910, Page 6

WOMAN'S WORLD

oExna], xotes. The silk hat is not vanishing rapidly enough to suii the views oi certain members of the municipal council of Gourtcuil, in France, who some time back proposed that a regulation for its abolition should be instituted. The grounds set forth for this measure were that the silk hat constitutes a humiliation for those who cannot a(Vord it; that it is worn only by tile jiristocrats who live by the sweat of the poor; tiiat it is unaestheLie and put a necessary part of man's at,t.iv.i( and that its disappearance Yvi.mkl contribute to the establishment of equality among the citizen? of tin; republic, It was guggesteu th'i' -;ijiy one the objefltiomiblu headgear should be lined five francs for each offence. The silk hat, however, found many supporters on the council, and the measure was thrown out.

According to a London paper, the rehearsals of "Chantecler" are said to kave been overpoweringly comical. The spectacle of the actors imitating animal antics in modern dress save for the essential part of the animal they represented reduced the privileged spectators to a state of mirthful collapse. M. Coquelin, with a dog's head under his arm, would be sitting on his kennel in a frock his dog-collar and chain about ill, iii.' I '. Giutrv, waring a code's c: nib. would ..V .':i t!) A Stage in a tweed suit, wliMe M. O-.tli-paux, the blackbird, with a tremendous tail fastened to his braces, skips nimbly around his gigantic cage. Tn p corner the ele ■gant Mme. Simone sits vigorously flapping her arms. In the midst of it all the poet, an eyeglass in his eye, makes suggestions for the interpretation of his w«rk.

The woman who loses her hold upon that which formerly interested her is not going the right way towards seem ing a graceful old age. Should she abandon her liking for becoming clothes, lose her- zest for pictures and poetry, and for concerts and the drama, she will find her life considerably narrowed in a very short space of time. What she should wear is a question sometimes despairingly considered by the woman -who imagines that the dressmakers and milliners despise any customers save the youthful and lovely. As a matter of fact, age is as satisfactory to dress as youth, and in many cases far more so, provided the figure has been kept lissome and graceful by exercise and by a judicious diet, the result of acting upon the well-established fact that less fond is needed as age increases. The woman who is growing old gracefully has an almost limi'lnss l ---i

must be made with circumspection. A great authority in London actually recommends -his clients to choose white silk and crepe de chene for the evening, brocaded with silver and softened with beautiful lace. He never consents that the dark and drenrv colors relegated to age by usage shall fall to their lot. but finds for each enquirer the -precisely suitable shade of grey, blue, mauve, fawn, or rose that will suit her. His ideal of graceful age is a white-haired, clear-complexioned, and slender woman, with coloring like a cameo, whom he dresses in white and the most delicate greys and fawns, touched with tender rese and pale blue. The sparkling of jet and diamante work he reserves for more robust clients, but to all he gives lace, and plentv of it, both black and ivory white. Hats instead of -bonnets or even toques, softened with prettily draped lace veils, he recommends as a rule, 'and mantles sufficiently definite of design to be differentiated from tile shapeless and meaningless draperies that sometimes pass as cloaks. Concerning jewellery, he suggests pearls and amethysts and a few very good diamonds, worn away from the face, whore thev are apt to challenge comparison with the complexion. Among the lady farmers and gardeners who metj at dinner at the Imperial Restaurant, Regent street. Lon don, on 16th February. Miss Binnie Clarke -probably holds the record, reports an English journal. She is a young Englishwoman who has farmed 330 acres in Canada. She has ploughed her own land and tended without help through a whole winter fourteen horses and "cattle. Athletic, clear-complexion-ed, hright-eved women are the ladv farmers of England. Though naturally very feminine' in the matter of prettv evening toilettes, they are practical in their knowledge of scientific farming as it is taught at the agricultural colleges. Many of them cultivate one or two hundred 'acres of land. They can make speeches as well as farm, and the after-dinner oratory will be helped by such a well-known expert as Mr. R. A. Yerburgli, M.P.

The Mechanics' Institute at Footscray (Victoria) was occupied by a large number last week, when they were addressed by Miss Vida Goldstein, as a candidate for a seat in the Federal Senate. Miss Goldstein, in the course of her address, advocated amendment of the marriage and divorce laws. She remarked that if the peoplq voted against her candidature they voted against the home Mr. Kemp (an elderly man): "Xo! no! It is the man who supports the home. I know—l'm the father of two families." (Laughter). Miss Goldstein said she did not say that men purposely made the laws so that they would be unjust to women, tliey simply erred because they didn't understand the matter from a woman's aspect. Hence the ne cessity for women in Parliament. (Applause). Mr. Kemp: "If elected, will you introduce a Bill to put a stiff tax on bachelors?" Miss Goldstein: "I would be exceedingly sorry to favor anv proposal that would be likely to encourage some men to get married." (Laughter). Mr. Kemp: "Tf I were a single man I'd induce you to get married. You'd look at things in a different light then." (Loud laughter). The chairman: "Order!" Mr. Kemp: "Ts the candidate in favor of a bonus being given to mothers for evervi child' above the fifth?" Miss Goldstein: "T haven't considered that method of encouraging nopulation, but if it is a crood principle I don't know. why it should begin at the, fifth; -why not, with the first?" (Laughter). • .-