WOMAN'S WORLD

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 62, 22 June 1910, Page 6

WOMAN'S WORLD

WHAT MEN HAVE DARED TO SAY "Please write something in my album," said Myrtle. "With pleasure," said 1, and went for the Dictionary of Quotations. I looked under Addison, as he came first. "This is very good, - ' I was saying, a moment later: "'A woman seldom asks advice before she has bought her wedding clothes.' Pass me the album."' But Myrtle frowned. "1 don't understand it," said she, "and it isn't true." I turned a page. 'Would this do?" said I, "from Matthew Arnold: 'With women the heart argues, not the mind.' It is very true, full of sweetness and l light." "It was true," .said Myrtle. "But we are different now. Don't you 'know what Mme. Durand said in Paris the other day? 'We mean to leave men only one monopoly, that of ugliness.'" I frowned—and turned a page. Dipping again into the wisdom of the ancients, among the B's, under Barbara. I found this couplet: But woman, wakeful woman's never weary, Above all, when she waits to thump her deary. "I can vouch for it," said I. "I shall never marry." said Myrtle. "Besides, I sleep like a log." So I turned on until I came to Browne, and under Browne I found this—it would seem to be an extract from a lecture: "Alas, she married another. They 'frequently do. i hope she is happy—'because I am." Myrtle said it was vulgar. "Perhaps Butler can help us," said I, and read out the following:— Women, you know, do .seldom fail To make the stoutest men turn tail. For 'tis in vain to think or guess At women by appearances. The souls of women are so small, That some believe they've none at all. It was, I think, unfair of Myrtle to speak crossly to me because another man had dared to speak his mind. I turned to Byron, hoping to find something to conciliate—the first line I hit upon was this: "Though women are angels, yet wedlock's the devil." 11l fear and trembling I read it—but, ■to my surprise, Myrtle seemed pleased with it. It was much better, she said, and perfectly true, an exact expression of her opinions. This being so, I could not understand why she did not like this one from Chaucer:— "We wedded men live in sorrow and care." . MUNICIPAL KISSES At Hungerford, in Berkshire, on a reent morning, the gold-laced town crier sounded repeated blasts upon John o' Gaunt's carved brass horn to summon the commoners to the annual Hocktide Court and to the accustomed ceremonies and festivities therewith connected. When the business of the court had been concluded the John o' Gaunt horn was once more sounded, and two 'Tuttimen,'' looking very serious and determined, in spite of the long staves they carried adorned with large posies of early spring flowers, proceeded upon a I round of house-to-house visits to exact from the.inhabitants the dues to whicl the court is entitled. From each householder they were entitled to demand the sum of one penny in respect to each dweller under his room. From each woman householder in default of this payment they were entitled to exact the .forfeit of a decorous kiss. MESSENGER GIRLS The messenger hoy, so familiar, in London streets, has an imitator in Germany which should natter him. A number of girls have now been enrolled in Berlin, and, in spite of the Imperial edict against the use of foreign words and phrases, they are known as "messenger girls." Their uniform is both a pretty and serviceable one. The coat is made of light-colored cloth, with black braid, • and fastened with three frog outtons. The portfolio is of black leather, in which letters and other documents or small parcels may be carried. The skirt is black and box-pleated. The cap is round, like that formerly used by' our cavalry, fixed with a strap under the chin, and worn well tilted over the ear, which gives them a jaunty, military air. Considering the fact that these girls are both useful and ornamental, it is not surprising to, leam that they are increasing in popularity.

I NEW WORK FOR WOMEN. A colony of women poultry fanners is the latest scheme of the Canadian Pacific Railway, who propose to divide land at Strathmore, Alberta, into small farms on which women can successfully undertake poultry raising. ; While ready-made farms have been prepared for the men farmers under Sir Thomas Shaughnessy's scheme, there is a ready-made market awaiting the women poultry-farmers, who will be invited to supply the dining cars and hotels of the Canadian Pacific Railway with eggs and poultry. This means a weekly order of 20,000 dozen eggs and 75,000 chickens. "The women will be under the supervision of a competent woman expert, who will be able to advise them concerning the methods of poultry raising best adapted to Canadian requirements," stated an official of the Canadian Pacific Railway. "In addition to the produce purchased by the company the women poultry farmers will find a good market for their eggs and chickens -\t Calgary, ! an important and growing town with a.j j population of 30,000." I ENGLISH INFLUENCE ON FRENCH LIFE "The Parisian woman nas flinti"-;! enormously during the j>-■■->■ ten \<-.ir>.

says a woman writer in an English magazine, and she ascribes the change to the English influence, which is now apparent in so many phases of French life. The young Frenchwoman of the upper classes speaks English fluently, and reads our modern books; she amuses herself in our way with country sports, riding, golf, and'bridge, and her dress for the country is modelled on the British skirt, tailor-made. She has caught the restaurant dnd tea habit as badly as the modern Londoner, and if she wants to «ive a successful tea, she does not invite her friends to her house or flat, but entertains them at one of the smart restaurants on the Champs Elysecs. But the most striking change in the modern Frenchwoman is the giving up of her day at home. Before the advent of the motor car this was a sacred institution, where the art of conversation was not only carried on, but cultivated. But the motor car whirls the Frenchwoman away from her home most days in the week, and when she is at home she .plays bridge, and as bridge means .death to all intellectual conversation, the ritual of the old French salon is passing, and the man or woman who can talk well is looked upon almost with suspicion. THE RESTI-r.TS WOMAN. Woman is daily ' •. ,ming ]e§§ of It plaything and more of a problem in the J Old World and America. Mrs. Deland's fears, from the vii-wi.oint.of the homely woman, were noLd in the ''Change of the Feminine Ideal'-' In the Atlantic Monthly Miss 3' :ry Johnston gives another view of th • woman's revolution* Miss Johnston has written a noteworthy article, headed "The' Woman's War."* It is powerful and fascinating, interweaving the art of the novelist in embellishing fact. The result is an article of absorbing interest—at least so to women. "Woman is half of humanity and, broadly speaking, the altruistic half." To illustrate the spirit of change Miss Johnston pictures a typical Virginian meeting of the Equal Suffrage Leaguenot for what the meeting did, but for what it portends. These new leagues, springing up .in the most unexpected places- and championed and officered by unexpected people, show the drift of the new view. "The Woman Movement did not begin to-day, or last night, or yesterday, .or the day before yesterday.. It began an uncertain number of million years ago." And then the writer elaborates the thesis of creation, claims genius for woman as for man, .but admits tha-t "Probably men will continue to write the best poems, .paint the best [pictures, make the best music, accomplish the most in science and invention, lea-a in philosophy. Their ability along these lines is greater, and the reason is as deep as are the foundations of life. The kinetic side of woman is subordinated in the individual, that it may reappear in the species. The reproductive sacrifice is hers, not the man's." Man is crowned king. But though "he has the richer song, the more brilliant plumage; she will conserve the species; she will instruct the youth of both sexes, and to a large extent" the reins of administration will fall into her hands. One generation of practical training, and as administrator she will be the equal of man; two generations, and she will be his superior." She will be queen, and women make able sovereigns; study the long list of women who have influenced the king's Ministers. "Maternal instinct is a curious thing. It is rather like Nature in that it can care, with a wholesouled intensity, for one little honey-ibee winging its way toward a clover blossom; and also, by a simple act of expansion, for all the" 'bees in the hive, and all the v clover in the field." In fire-red words of indignation, this woman asks, What of the moral distinction? Is the feminine still the weaker side? What of the five million wageearning women? "Without strength of arm, without a voice that is counted; under-paid, under-fed, exploited at every turn, tempted upon every side, disfranchised, held in ignorance—what of the mass of working woman?" Thus she draws an inference "from two simple facts." Thus: '''First—the mi;l,itair,isti, the employer of cheap and of child labor, the bribed politician, the contemner of education, the liquor interest, the brothal interest, every interest that sets its face against reform, from reform of the milk supply to disarmament of nations, is opposed to the political liberty of woman. Second—the biologist, the political economist, the statesman, the] sociologist, tile eugenist, the physician,, the educator, the student, and the moralist are to .be found, in ever-increasing number, advocates of her enfranchisement." The woman realises the weaknesses of her sex. "I know that they are inaccurate—but not often so as bookkeepers." Also they are too credulous, but they are rapidly growing critical. She illustrates woman's disability by intro-' ducing Maeterlinck's "Blue- Bird." The unborn children of the future are assembled in the great blue hall, i'rmu opens the door. Who is wanted? "You —and you—and you!" Some are tardy in answering the call. "I can't come any quicker; sir. I'm lame. Mother worked overtime—ten hours and a-haif, and nine looms to mind." Both manhood, and womanhood are blemished, frail and tarnished. But women are making stern resolve to alter it all. The mother has decided for future betterment. Her sister woman, who reproduces only "children of ideasbrain children,"' is by her side, and the war is none the less relentless because it is not tonight with lethal weapons. "The arm the women want is the standiii i one of tested efficiency. It is called tlv ballot.' "ut if the New Woman is rebellious, -in- is buoyed with hope. Miss Johnston ,-i-tures the dream of a great day. "One ■ > v, one great Sunday of the world, to ■ : i« sound of deeper, richer, more golden■oasrued bells than ever we heard in our ovp'l'est dream, Altruism will make to •onscioiis unity with the Absolute—which is God," .SMART SET FINERY What becomes of smart-set finery?

The curiosity of the average mind is soon satisfied (writes a London paper). Almost any answer will serve, to allay or divert it. Thus, most of us were brought up to believe the inevitable destination of the cast-off gowns, hats, coats, cloaks, sunshades, petticoats, frills and furbelows of smart society was the lady's maid. The constantly changed and changing gear of fashion was her "perks." There usually speculation ended. Or, if a specially 'persistent .summer—grasping the fact that no Abigail could herself Haunt the robes of Worth and Paquin to any great extent—pursued futher two vague terms—"export" and "the colonies' - —were held to cover contingencies. Unfortunately for this solution, however, .people from the colonies stoutly deny that it is their habit to go modishly'and unpractically clad in the second-hand garments of Mayfair. And a crushing blow is struck at tradition by the irrefutable fact that the lady's maidV once most profitable perquisites are nowadays a negligible quantity. Yet never, perhaps, was exquisite and exquisite and expensive clothing more lavishly ordered, more quickly discarded. These statements seem hard to reconcile until the underlying cause is understood. Then the situation clears. For at the ,bnd? of the mistress' clutch on lior costly .vanlmlie Spoils Sllil the maid's shorn perquisites is the baiie Or modern Smart Set woman's life. Bridge debts press ner; settlement is imperative. So she orders her vast finery on credit, and realises it quickly for cash. The system is ruinous; hut ready money she must have, and at a few days'—a few hoursnotice. Meanwhile the fashionable gambling devotee looks charming in the bewildering variety of her hats and costumes; °an enormous supply of ultrachic «ai-b is on sale at a quarter, a fifth, a sixth, or less, or its first price, and a new "mkldle-man" class springs up. It is undoubtedly since the bridge craze began that the "dress agencies"— as they are called—made their appearance in anvthing like their present style and numbers. Now they have become a factor to be reckoned with seriously m that (business world which caters for the society outside the charmed circle of rank and fashion, but which still ardently wishes to dress well. The agent is a woman in direct touch with the elegantes who sell their clothes on commission, and has an extensive connection amortc tire middle and professional class folk.