WOMAN'S WORLD.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 67, 28 June 1910, Page 6

WOMAN'S WORLD.

THE MARRIAGE BUSINESS 'I have been told, ever since I arrived iu the country, that New Zealanders are not such good marriers as true patriots would like (writes Frank Morten). Certainly, girls marry at a later j age than they'do in such States of Aus- . tralia as I am familiar with, and many of tile men one meets are not disposed to marry .-at. aH.' ;,All this has roused the righteous ire of a good priest down at Blenheim. He told the men roundly that they were afraid to marry, and too luxurious and unthrifty to lay by funds against the coming of the demands of marriage. There may 'be something in that. 1 know many men are afraid to marry—in some cases, because they have seen so much of the misadventures ol their married friends. But there are other reasons. The modern man does most dearly love his liberty, and is apt to find the modern independent woman a somewhat fearsome creature. He has full realisation of what he must sacrifice when lie marries, and only a dubious or vague idea of what lie may gain. He is not easily .persuaded that it will be a j goodly and pleasant thing to yield the companionship of all- women in order i that he may gain the constant company j of one. Finding his means scarcely adequate to his personal needs and desires, he is reluctant to assume new%nd uncertain responsibilities. But the good priest at Blenheim trounced the girls as heartily as the felilows, declaring that their big expensive hats frightened away possible suitors. Here I think that the celibate betrayed his ignorance of the marrying man. Before he is married, the young man likes to see the girl of his preference fashionably dressed. He may make a. mock of the fashions, as men have done through all generations, but for a girl out of fashion he will have no admiration. I don't' think young men are frightened •by women's hats, but by tile women themselves. There >is a something about the typical girl one meets that does not suggest the idea or possibility of motherhood. The cosy type of girt is disappearing, and it is the cosy type that the marrying man generally prefers. The cosy girl always marries young. I be-, lieve in early marriages. The healthy girl. of eighteen is quite old enough to marry, and her character .is still tender and malleable. • Whatever there is in her that may be uncongenial to the marriage state is still in many cases curable. She is fitted to bear healthy children, and to make the most, of them.. I don't .believe that heaven ever smiles on the marriage of sour, case-hardened spinsters of calculating but incalculable age. Where the church can do good service* in this matter is by insisting that the 'home qualities of our women are supremely noble and attractive. The idea that there is anything menial and degrading in a woman's work about a house is an ignoble and abominable idea, and any woman that holds it is to the extent in which it dominates or colors her ideas absolutely unfit for marriage. It is a beastly thing, this current idea that a shopgirl or typist is a "young lady" and a domestic servant an inferior sort of person, if I were put to it, Fd sooner marry a dainty English housemaid than 'l'd have nay pick of all the shopgirls in the world. %

A TURKISH MARRIAGE Major Enver Bely, the hero of the Young Turk revolution, and now the military attache at the Turkish Embassy at Berlin, whose betrothal was announced recently, will become a husband in most popular conditions. His •bride-to-be is an Imperial Princess, a niece of the .present Sultan and of his brother, the deposed Abdul Hamid. She. ias been bestowed upon him in accordance with ancient Turkish Royal custo —, ■»« » reward for his services and the gallant part Oie played in the overthrow #f the old regime in ! Bnver Bey has never seen his princess sweetheart, who is only 16 years old. He is laughingly telling his Berlin friends, however, that he/has seen her brother's photograph, and' that if the Princess is anything like 1 tliat he is sure 'he will be the happiest of husbands. Hnver Bey has, of course, gratefully accepted this signal 1 mark of his Sovereign's favor, but has requested that the marriage may be postponed lor two years. Meantime he desires to widen the range of his international knowledge by residence in England and France, while the Princess, who. has never set foot outside Constantinople, will employ herself in the English and French lan-; guages and the other accomplishments necessary to fit her to be the wife of a Turkish isoldier with the most brilliant prospects. Enver Bey is only 26 years old, and is considered one of the handsomest men in the Berlin Court and diplomatic society, where his soldierly bearing and modest manner have won him a wide circle of friends. TRAINING SCHOOL FOR GIRLS. Lady Ernestine Hunt has established a Training School for Girls near Portsmouth. The pupils, go there to be taught to be useful citizens in England or the colonies. Like that famous hero of fiction, Guy Livingstone, Lady Ernestine's motto is "Thorough," and she adheres strongly to the belief x of hard work hurting no one. As no servants are kept, the pupils (become thoroughly "au fait" in the domestic'arts. It is a cosmopolitan gathering, as girls of all ranks are permitted to enrol as pupi'ls. The curriculum includes house-keeping, cooking, first aid, poultry-keeping, laundry work, riding, driving, and groom's work, and gardening. The cost of all this instruction is tat two guineas a week. Now, -m Australia, comments Melbourne Punch, although there may be room for such a college, it is not going too far to aver the majority of our girls amongst the upper classes are able do nearly all the above-mentioned •works. Few Australian ladies are there who are unable to cook, render first aid, garden, etc., etc., which same can hardly

'be said of the girls in the more lowly sphere of life. washing, and such-like simple duties seldom command their attention, and one of the peculiarities of the women of the working classes is the inability of getting the best out of materials. It is not wonderful to hsar thom complain of an insufficiency of housekeeping money when one marks their scorn for any but the most expensive cuts of meat, and their scorn for butter or any other article of food for which the highest price lias not been paid. An Australian 'working woman will throw aside meat which a French woman would convert into two or three dishes-fit for -a king. The art of making good stock and gravies, which is the foieidation of the higher grade cookery, is absolutely unknown to her; yet anyone used to refined and well-cooked meals would turn with distaste from the 'common or garden results obtained by the Australian woman from the most expensive cuts.

ENORMITY OF FASHIONS The following alarming note is sounded by the Paris correspondent of the journal Queen: —The enormity of the new fashions both in 'millinery and gowns is deplorable. Last week there seemed glimmerings of sense and good taste, but evidently son.e evil spirit has whispered in the ea.' of the Dame, and. lo! here we are onre more asked to adopt frankly impossible modes. Unwieldy draperies about the feet, broad bands of trimmir? ei: circling the figure above the knees, "thus cutting it in half below the waist, and accentuating the width of the hips; and as for the corsages, they are twisted and tortured into every possible and impossible form. Only a very slender, pretty woman can wear any of this week's models without looking perfectly hideous, 'and' I must make a protest against those dressmakers who allow their designers to 'waste good materials and put such very X' ■ garments- before the eyes of women aft wild about curios, no matter whether they !be in frocks, hats, or furniture. The only thing to be said for tke fashionable horrors called, walking costumes is that they are chiefly made in grey or 'black, therefore in coloring they appear to mourn their own existence. Hats also are scarcely any better, especially when they are put on by a foreigner who has not the gift of wearing a bizarre head-covering with the! grace of a Parisienne. Really, the way Frenchwomen .put on their hats is heartbreaking, and .the Englishwoman who has the same gift may be sure that some 1 kind fairy assisted at her birth. TheDirectoire bonnet is one of this week's revivails, and different as it is from the turban, the great 'big picture hat, or the toque of an hour ago, every Parisienne] who wears it will look as if it had grown up with her, and learned all her little peculiarities. Moreover, it seems to suit her figure just as well as the big hat does, and, to be really honest, I cannot solve the problem of how she does it. Flowers in great bunches set in the front of the big hats make a gay note at afternoon parties, concerts, and private views, and if only the cold winds will go away we shall soon have them about us in a more general way.