WOMAN'S WORLD

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 51, 9 June 1910, Page 6

WOMAN'S WORLD

NOTES FOR WOMEN BEDFORD COLLEGE FOE WOMEN. London, April 22. Bedford College, after an honorable career for more than sixty years, is betaking itself 'from uncomfortable, unlovely and very noisy quarters it lias occupied -hitherto, in Baker street, to a pleasant site off .Regent's Park. During the ttiirty years since the London University first admitted women to matriculation, Bedford College 'has turned out 4UO graduates. LADY LECTURER'IN PHILOSOPHY. Mrs. 'Rhys Davids, Fellow of University College, London, has been appointed special lecturer in .philosophy at the Manchester University. LETTERS FOR MENDELSSOHN. Ten of Mendelssohn's letters were disposed of hy auction early this week for £7O. Several of these related his progress with the composition of "Elijah." They were written to Mr. Bartholomew from Leipsic in 1840. Numerous alterations were suggested, and in one letter he wrote: ''l am going to send you a new song for the widow; therefore the •whole of No. 8 must be postponed." "Wherever 1 could," he informed his correspondent, "I took the words from the English Bible as well as I could." Another lot dis,posed of was the original M.S. score sheets -used: by the soloists and others at the first .performance of "Elijah" at- the Birmingham Festival in 1840, time not permitting copies with more complete arrangements being made; -they are in Bartholomew's writing, with occasional alterations in Mendelssohn's hand. These sheets realised £!). os. WOMEN AVIATORS. On Monday of this week two Frenchwomen accomplished capital flying feats. Mdllt. Helene Dutrien flew at Mouzon for more than three miles, and at Charlon Mdme. Franck made a magnificent flight. Both used Farman machines. IS IT FAIR?

A French lady candidate for Parliament—Mdme. Durand—hit on a daring idea. She picked up, somewhere or other, a young man of extraordinary vacant appearance —in short, a visible idiot—and she hawked 'him round at her meetings as an instance of the type of human which is entitled to all the political rights denied to women. WOMEN AS JUDGES. A member of the L.C.C. Education 'Committee (Mi*. George Drew) stated at a meeting of the committee on Wednesday that there was a feeling among, the teachers that there were too many women on the teaching subcommittee. They felt that women were far less merciful than men. To this another member refused to agree, saying he would rather appeal for money to his lady friends than to his club companions. Mr. Bruce: "Women are superbly good advocates, but very bad judges." Where matters of sex are concerned, said the Rev. Stewart Heactlam, women could not be trusted to behave with perfect humanity. HATPINS CENSORED. Women, by a recent by-law, are prohibited from travelling in the Moscow tramcars unless their hatpins have protected points. FASHIONLAND London. April 22. There is a moral superiority about wearing new clothes which 110 virtue or intellect can confer upon us, says the oracle in the Sketch, and in a 1 state of moral superiority,- therefore, must the feminine world be regarded as moving at present. Wet paint, a constant odor of soot and scrubbing water, and all the other tliousan<l-and-oue abominatiofls of the British spring clean prevail within a house, ibut without old and young are ibravely showing a welcome to the delicate spring. The change is, however,, fairly gradual from winter to spring rigout,'and a canny cautiousness ia discarding'thicik clothes is observed'. Ne'er cast a clout 1 Till May is out is one of the many maxims implicitly obeyed 'by Englishwomen, and what is called in the upper middle classes a 1 sipring toilet is, to my New Zealand eyes, I but a winter costume glorified. Hats ] are of the daintiest in coloring and decoration, but their size robs them of their beauty, and constitutes them public nuisances; yet the latest fashions are turned up at the back. None are turned down. Huge Breton sailors are still prime favorites. Innovations that will be welcome are silks in a waterproof weave, and tulle -that will stand the rain, and both are to be bought. The fashion- , alble skirt of the moment is narrow, selI dom more, among Fashion's votaries, , than two yards round the hem, the mea- ! surement narrowing from the knees i downwards and clearing the ground by I about six inches. It doesn't sound I (pretty, it certainly doesn't look pretty, ' and if she must move about at all the ! unfortunate wearer of one of these skirts 1 may hobble or toddle, but never walk in ■the' ordinary sense of the word. Neck . ruffles in two shades of tulle, one veiling • the other, are pretty trifles that give a chic finish to a dainty frock. Satin or knotted silk ends veiled in tulle finish these off. Veils continue to be hideous, and a really sinful innovation is the I black, or, worse still, the white veil | smothered with red spots, that gives the I impression that the wearer is trying to I conceal evidences of measles or chickenj ipox. The marvel is., to croakers like the j writer of this, that women can delight to array themselves in garments that , rdb the owners of every possibility of I beauty. The strange turn-out of a Solo--1 mim island lady is not more awful than I some of the atrocities of London streets in reality. Sunshades, so far, have oply appeared for sale in the shops. Some of trtiese are square in shape, with fantastic crook handles; others have handles made of carved wooden roses delicately

colored, or other flowers to match or liarmoni.se with the gown worn. Some women, wo hear, are even indulging their fancy by having models of their favorite ipets made for sunshade handles. WOMEX IX SACKCLOTH. On one great point of all dressmakers ■in Paris and London are agreed, and ■that is that a note of di'mureness is the most desirable tone in dressing. At tlie present time colored gowns are not to be seen, and one of the newest materia is for women's dress is tow-color, and rather a good imitation of ordinary sacking. It is a mixture of silk and wool, and is not by any means cheap. Strange incongruities are to lie seen in the popular Wending of materials. What, for instance, would have (been thought a few rears ag-o of a soft satin coat and skirt with trimmings of linen, I wonder? Yet to-day it is artistic. A very graceful adjunct to an evening gown is the new sash drapery of soft satin. It swathes the corsage above the waist to a depth of about four .inches, is fastened at one side with a large rose j and then falls down the left side >of the skirt. Apropos of the new tight skirt Punch has the following:—Edith (breaking into a hap) s Hurry up, Mabel; you'll never catch the train if you keep on trying to run" ENGAGEMENT PRESENTS. .. MUST THEY 1 •; (iIVBX BACK? The much-di- as.-.i" 1 question as to whether a girl is lejraliv bound to return presents given to her '.u- her lover when she determines to break off the engagement has thus ibec:: answered by a London lawyer:— She need not part with such presents unless they were in due form given to her on the distinct understanding- that they were only to be hers if the marriage took /place, and not otherwise. "Tlie only way in which a man can safeguard ■himself against the loss of the .presents he gives to his sweetheart should she decide not to marry him," a well-known barrister said, "is for him to send her a registered letter saying: 'I give you so-and-so on the understanding that we shall be married in due course.' The alternative way of effecting the same thing is for him to say it to her verbally in the presence of at least two witnesses when making the present. Of course, some things are so plainly conditional upon marriage that this is assumed. Anything towards the future home placed in the woman's care is such a conditional gift, and is recoverable at law. In all other cases the proper recourse is to sue the .party who breaks off the engagement for breach of promise.' Any other action is incorrect. It seems to us, for instance, that the engagement ring itself is given to seal the bargain, and is the girl's absolute property. The wedding ring would be in a different category. The wedding presents of third ■ parties are conditional gifts if made in view of the marriage, and the proper course would be to return them if the wedding failed to take place. It is very doubtful, though, Whether they could be recovered unless it was explicitly stated when they were given that they were to be returned if the marriage did not take place.