WOMAN'S WORLD

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 357, 7 April 1910, Page 6

WOMAN'S WORLD

i EXAGGERATING FASHIONS. The Press at Homo is commenting seriously, and more in sorrow than in anger, upon the facility fashions have ol quickly becoming exaggerated. It is a true bill, for at our distance, from the (jreat centre we see the same deplorable departure in our circles. It emphasises the change that the rapid evolution all round us had made in 'women. Their, ready acceptance of glaringly new ra-sn-ions now marks the absence of any of the former strict line of dress that women used to adhere to, and oiten marked their individuality. They accepted changes with such modifications only as made them inconspicuous in their dress. A curious dignity (handed down from the women of past generations) gave them a shy reverence which shrank from public attention, and notoriety was abhorrent to them. Amongst court ladies or fashionable beauties some extremes were practised in bygone days. Then the circle was circumscribed and defined. Nowadays, every class dresses alike, and we have in the street costumes, most incongruous garments and garniture. It is an anomaly to see the monstrous hats of the Sedan chair days, struggling in and out. of electric trains. If they wore very dangerously long hatpins in those days, they had comparatively few opportunities for doing harm, because they were nftt used by "all sorts and conditions." Custom and usage has no hold whatever upon twentieth century women. They have broken .all such trammels, ana bow to no law but individual taste, and the size of their purses. Sixty years ago a girl expected to wear caps as soon as she was married, and a pretty selection of these lovely lace caps was an indispensable part of all trousseaux. It was an arbitrary law, and much better abolished, but no bride of to-day would meekly submit to any such coercion as her grandmothers did without a protest. Many such unwritten laws 'were obeyed like'the laws of the land. We know they would be disregarded in these day* of absolute liberty. The question is, are we improved by having such emancipation? The sumptuary laws of long ago were tyrannical and unjust. The pendulum having swung so extremely in the other direction, has. engendered a state of things that shows they had a. useful ifidc under the arbitrary hardnes* of them.

What is 'known as the "Women's ■Charter"—a series of nine bills, all affecting women—has been introduced into the House of ommons. The bills deal with everything, from the franchise to the creche; from education down to the iniuik'ipal milk supply. The creche system vi-liich is adopted by this "Women's Charter'-' is the German one of -Pqsta-lozzi-Froebel houses, states the London correspondent of the Sydney iVtonmig Herald. That is the system invented by one of the best men that ever lived—a man illiterate, ill-dressed, unbusinesslike, utterly incapable of any organisation or management, but a man who, by the sheer goodness of his life, the sweetness of his personality, and his wide, wise, comprehensive, dominating love, especially for the helpless and the young, made his influence felt throughout all Europe. He had read Rousseau's "Einile," and was saturated with the theory that the only way to develop a child as it ought to be developed was to give it as nearly as possible its natural surroundings—find its natural inclinations, and care for them. He was born in Switzerland in 1745. And to earnout his theories, he collected some of the waifs ?.Tid strays that he came across, anil took them,to- live with him as chii-i----ren with si father at a farm at NauhoF. The farm failed financially, as did almost every one of his later institutions. But the principle that he invented lived on, and was caught up by the German Froebcl —forty years younger —his disciple and firm friend.

Writing from Honolulu to friends in Palmerstou North, says the Standard, Mrs. .F. W. Frankiand, of Foxton. who left with her husband on a visit to America recently, states that the .party hud ;m excellent trip from Auckland to Suva, hut a stay of three days in the latter place in intensely hot weather was very depressing. Honolulu, however, prover a wekcjne change, lieing winter time; the air was delicious!;,cool and braeingy-and the travellers were set on their feet again. Mrs. Frankiand says the beauties of Honolulu are uillicult to describe. Although it was the worst season for flowers, there was a fine show of hibiscus and other tropica! flowering vines and shrubs. While out driving one day they passed a stone wall covered a full mile-with a white cactus, which opens out in a white (lower after sunset—one of the many lovely sights in. this beautiful island of the Pacific. During their stay at Honolulu the Cleveland, from Xew'York, with 700 tourists on a trip round the world, called, .md the sight'at the wharf when the steamer departed for Yokohama was very interesting. Mr. and Mrs. Frankiand were embarking on the s.s. Korea from Japan, which would take, them to San Francisco. Mrs. Frankiand stated that her husband had considerable business to transact in America, and upon the length of time occupied Ih the workwould depend, whether they would visit Europe. They expect to", have their longest stay in New York.

Brilliant success (says the New York correspondent of the London Mail) is claimed for a social innovation described as a "Bellamy dance," held at Pittsburg. From the beginning to the end of the programme everything was done backwards. When the ' dancers, numbering several hundreds, assembled they found the liiillroom surrounded with "magic mirrors." On the back of each guest was pinned his name, written backwards.' With his supper partner he danced backwards to the banqueting tables, on which the guests sat, while

supper was served on the chairs. The meal began with black coffee and ended with soup. It was served by waiters who wore false faces on the back of their heads, and walked backwards, with the coats buttoned the reverse way up the back. Dancing opened with the "home waltz" and closed with the grand march. Despite the severe headaches, dizziness, and indigestion from which all the participants suffered next day, Pittsburg society, according to the newspapers, has pronounced the ''Bellamy dance" a. fascinating innovation.

A novel exhibition will be held in London early in May. It will'-be a display of hair, with all its intricate deceptions. The organising body rs the Incorporated Guild of Hairdessers. For many years (says the Daily Mail) hairdressers have made half-hearted efforts to' make London the originator of its own fashions in coiffure, but it is comparatively recently that the Incorporated Guild has taken the matter in hand. "The trouble is that there are so many different hairdressing associations in London," said one of the foremost members of the trade. "For years each of these has gone in a different direction, but the guild is doing everything possible to 'weld them all together. The idea of this exhibition is to prove that London is capable of producing as excellent a coiffure as anything obtainable in Paris, and that the English type of beauty, demands'totally different, modes from those ruling in the French capital. Many Englishwomen prefer to run across to Paris to make •purchases which they could effect more cheaply and satisfactorily in London. A determined stand on the part of hairdressers here, and we can change all that. It is not generally known in England that the foremost coiffure-designer in Paris is himself an Englishman."

It is interesting to know that the first bahy vaccinated in England was the son of the famous Lady Mary Wortley Montague. In a letter to a friend she says: "I am patriot enough to try to hring this useful invention into fashion in England, and you may believe me that I am well satisfied of the safety of the experiment, since T intend to try it on my dear little son."

The birth of a son to Lord and Lady Glands, and an ultimate heir to the earldom of Strathmore, has recalled the alleged grim secret of Claims Gastle, the ancient seat of the family in Forfarshire, The story runs that on his twenty-first birthday the heir to Glamis is told this secret, which is only known to the reigning earl and his factor; but 1 Lord Strathmore stated some time ago that no mystery rea.'ly exists.

Miss Agnes' Deiiil Cameron, the Canadian lady explorer, has just returned to London from a 10,000-mile trip into the Canadian North-West and along the Arctic foreshore, where never before a white woman's feet had trod. During tile six months she and her charming niece, Miss Jessie Cameron J3rown, were away from. civilisation they never used a looking-glass, and, in fact, never saw their own relieetions except in the natural mirror 01 some silent pool or river. Miss Cameron is a well-known writer mid lecturer, as well as a world-wide traveller.

The most important baby in the Netherlands grows apace. Little Princess Juliana is the idol of the country, just as Queen Wilnetmina was in the days of her childhood, when the people would run a mile at the prospect of seeing her pass along the streets. And ii; must be admitted even now that the baby Princess of Holland snows signs of a strong will and the ability to secure her own way. She is a. charming bauy, with a friendly smile for those she loves, :nid a little imperious way with her reminiscent of Queen Wilhelmina at her asre. Princess Juliana's father and mother adore her, and are rarely happy away from the Royal nurseries, where they are often seen romping like big children.

The wife of Mr. Thomas Macquord, E.T., the well-known water-color and black-and-white artist, who celebrated her eighty-sixth birthday the other week, is still writing, and very .shortly publishes a new novel. She is Mrs. Katharine Macquoid. the author of 'Patty" and many other stories. Her artist husband is a tall, handsome old man, whose ninetieth birthday fell the same week, and another anniversary ol the week is that of 'their wedding-day—-the fiftv-ninth.

An interesting ease has just been settled in the Parisian Law Courts. A, lady customer, wishing to have a couple of dresses sent to her home, after having given a trial order of one to an unassuming little dressmaker, was ?o:d that the tradesman refused to forward saying that her customer could go to the shop, pay her bill, and take the dresses away with her. The lady refused to do this, and argued tiiat she should be allowed time to pay her account. The dressmaker, however, was adamant, and the case was eventually taken to court, where the lady's hus-l band, who is a brilliant lawyer, won it for his wife. The dressmaker has to pay 20f damages, must deliver the two dresses within three days and in good condition, or be fined 2f for every day's delay.

There can be no doubt as to the genuine enthusiasm of Lady Constance Lytton, the Suffragette sister of frhe Earl of Lytton. for the "cause." A London correspondent expects that the news that she has been imprisoned for the best part of a fortnight in Walton Gaol in Liverpool under the isguise of "Jane Wharton," a seamstress, will have 'been cabled out to Xew Zealand, but the hard details go to show how very plucky Lady Constance has been in her desire to suffer with Suffragettes of lesser degree. She cut off her long hair, dressed herself in old clothes and worn-out boots anrl led her audience after a meeting to Walton Gaol, where she made a violent protest at the treatment of an im-

prisoned Suffragette —Selina Martin. Subsequently she was arrested and charged with obstruction and insulting behaviour, and was fined 10s and costs, with an alternative of fourteen days' imprisonment with hard labor, choosing the latter. She then refused to perform the work allotted to her, and started a hunger strike as a protest at not being treated as a political offender. Alter eighty-six hours' fast forcible feeding was resorted to—a gross miscarriage of justice, it seems to the Suffragettes, 'since as Lady Constance Lyttun, .she had in a former imprisonment been released on account of a weak heart. Eventually, before the fortnight elapsed Lady Constance, "weak and emaciated, wasliberated, and she is now being nursed 'back to health.