WOMAN'S WORLD

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 179, 8 November 1910, Page 6

WOMAN'S WORLD

(Conducted by "Eileen.") DANCING AS A WORLD TOWER An international conference of dancing masters was held in Lou !ou recently. The Daily Chronicle declares that tliej representatives of seventeen countries have assembled to draw up new laws re-! gulating the art and status of this noble and beneficent profession. They are not concerned with the invention or adoption of any new dances, or with any local interests. In the words of their vice-presi-dent (Mr. 'Compton), they are deliberating upon "dancing as an international art, so that an absolute unison and harmony of method, of time and of style may reign throughout the civilised world."

That is to say, if a man has learnt to I waltz at Peckham-Rye he should fmill himself at ease in the ballrooms of Paris;, if he has acquired the polka at Tooting Bee he should be able to keep time with the sprightly maidens of Vienna, Rome,' or Naples; if he Ims scored a triumph with the Lancers at Blackpool he should be able to set to partners at once in Berlin or Baden-Baden. The object of the present conference is to form standards and ideals of dancing which shall be universal.

Mr. Compton, the vice-president, in an interview, pointed out the moral and physical importance of such a reform. ''Dancing," he said, "gives a man a power of personality which otherwise he does not possess. * Physically he is • a superior being, with all his limbs naturally developed, supple and easy, with a grace and beauty of body which maßes him »ood to look upon, attractive as he enters a room, distinguished in his carriage. He opens a door, he shakes hands, hi n-akes his bow to a lady, he walks into an assembly, lie takes up a chair, or d;.. : - a".y littb simple action in a" manner which marks him out from those stiff, awkward, gauche fellows who have never been taught to dance. "Morally he is a master-man, refined, courteous, and elevated in his dealings with men, and especially with women. Football produces a brutal manner to women. The ordinary public school Englishman who has played football but never learnt dancing, treats a woman as a 'good pal,' or an effeminate thing below his notice. The dancing man learns | how. to behave to women with reverence and gentility. Morally as well as physically he is the better man for his dancing lessons."

After heaiing Mr. Compton, who can doubt that uancing is so great a moral power that unless the British Empire wants a decline and fall it had better introduce dancing to the school curriculum at the earliest possible moment?

FASHIONABLE NECKWEAR. An expert writes that from the Toby frill to a stiff linen collar the variety of neckwear offered in London for the coming season provides much choice. Lace for most occasions will find first place, and the pretty articles of lace, made up principally after the cravatte model, are very dainty. High bands of tins or of fine linen, with inserted bands, pass round the neck, and the jabot that completes the little band should be of closely-pleated friils of lace, or, if preferred, of the same linen, with lace insets, lricn crochet is much in favor, and when the real hand-worked crochet is too expensive there are numerous imitations that cost very little indeed. Jabots of those kilted frills are short or long, according to the taste of the wearer, a tendency being displayed towards exaggeration. Frilling always finds a certain number of ladies who prefer it to anything else, and the new patterns for this season are very effective. Embroidered linen is shown in the form of collars cut after the model of the finish worn by priests, only that part of the tie passes round the neck, is crossed in front, and finishes with short ends. A good deal of elaboration is spent on these, the linen used not being of a very fine make, and the trimming consisting usually of knots worked in coarse-grained cottons. Large spots are mingled with the smaller knots, the effect of the whole being very neat. Pique forms some of those plain little neck-bands, and when they are well-cut, and put on as an exact finish to the blouse or shirt, the result most satisfactory. There is still a teW dency to finish the necks' of dresses JB-s'fi a round or square, and much in* genuity is exercised to find suitable guimpes and other trifles to fill these. Guimpes of lace and lisse, of embroidery, and of linen, tucked and worked, although not in French flowering or broiderie Anglaise, look very well. Ruffles of lace allowed to fall rather loosely, and collars of coarse linen worked in colored silks might be noted as the most popular of the new designs. The linen collar that was a good deal worn in summer seems likely to hold its own again, and some of the latest models have a great deal of embroidery, and are frequently finished with insertion, through which velvet ribbon may be drawn. As to ties, bows and knots of colored or black silk or velvet, their name is legion. They are mostly closely pleated or twisted into very small compass. i

YOUTH AS A "COURT LADY." \ On a recent date (records the Berlin correspondent of a London paper) a rather smart private carriage with a footman in livery stopped before Herr Baertge's jewellery establishment in "Potsdam, and out of it stepped an elegantly dressed young lady with a picture hat. She sailed into the shop and introduced herself as Countess Manuela Arnim, one of the Kaiserin's Court ladies, with her residence at the New Palace. Countess Arnim spoke with a distinctly baritone voice, but explained this was the result of a cold. The jeweller was all smiles and graciousness as he heard that the Empress had sent her court lady to select a number of costly carrißgs, bracelets, brooches, etc., for birthday presents. Indeed, he had received a telephone message a few minutes before the arrival of the countess, ostensibly from the New Palace, to say

that the countess iv as coining. A rather handsome election of trinkets, amounting in value to several thousand marks, was made by the countess, and was 'being curried away, when a sinisterlooking individual appeared in the shop, announcing himself as a detective, and begging the counre-s to ;; -mpany him to the police station. WL ;i there the countess hid to di-r.>bc. and she stood rei vealed as a nineteen-year-old youth, I Franz Fiehbaum. the ne'er-do-well sou of I a lady in fairly good circumstances, living in ir suburb o." Perlin. It appears he hire! his carriarrc in Berlin, and that previous to his visit to the jeweller he j had left his card with the countess' address at sever il Potsdam notabilities (and at two of the Crown Prince's houses. The police are investigating the antecedents of this young gentleman, as it is believed that he had other intentions in view than merely the obtaining of goods under false pretences. No such person exists as Countess Manuela Ari nim.

WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE. HON. A. J. BALFOUR COMPLIMENTS NEW ZEALAND.

.Speaking in the House of Commons on the female franchise question, Mr. Balfour said: — May I on i!:.:- point say one word with regard to the lessons of experience? I perfc v agree with my learned friend who '..ad' so admirable a speech yesterdr.,- on the other side of the question that we canr..- : "oss this argument from our colonies or m small countries like Norway and Fin and. But I think we can lenrn something from New Zealand and Australia; and I confess I was rather surprised that when the member for Cambridge University, in his excelJcnt speech, told us of all the di v e consf<<uen,vs that had happened in Finland, he told us of no dire consequences that had happened in New Zealand. I would ask him wiiether it is not a fact that, in the first place, there has been no attempt —or, at any rate, no successful attempt—by New Zealand women to sit in the Legislature: that, in the second place, there has been no beginning ( : an appearance of Any sex division in ' atters legislative; and I would ask hi; 1 whether, in the first place, there is any part of the British Empire in which the flame f patriotism burns with a steadier lustre. or where tne population are more ready to make all those sacrifices to the Imperial cause which undoubtedly that cause deserves, and which it does not always obtain in the same ungrudging spirit in which New Zealand has given it? —(Cheers). I do not wish to put too much stress upon that, but may it not be some anodyne, some saving medicament, to the anxious fears of some of those who regard the Constitution as imperilled,' even by the Bill which we are now discussing?

GIFT OF TONGUES. GIRL OF EIGHT WHO SPEAKS TEN LANGUAGES. New York, August 30. Winifred Sackville Stonor, the eight-year-old daughter of Colonel Stonor, of the United States Maine hospital service, can speak and think in English, French, Spanish, Latin and Esperanto. She can speak but not think in Japanese, Russian, German, Polish and Italian. She lias also published a book of verses. This prodigy of tongues is at present staying with her mother at Palo Alto, California, and in course of time she will go to Stanford University. Mrs. Stonor, who is a daughter of the Lord Sackville who was formerly British Ambassador at Washington, taught the child herself. "I began with her when she was three weeks old, developing her both mentally and physically, and the effect of the teaching and methods is apparent," she says. "I started from the first to teach the child the best way to cultivate her taste and to improve her mind. The secret is to make the training plav for them."

Mrs. Holsworthy, who died at Rona Bay last week, was the only daughter of Sir Wm. Fitzherbert, one time Superintendent of Wellington province, AgentGeneral, and a fine politician. Miss FitzKejjbert married the Hon. Sir Patrick AlBuckley, K.C.M.G., M.L.C., Colonial, Secretary and Attorney-General of New Zealand. After his, death the widow, whose earliest associations are connected with the Hutt district, left for England, where she resided for some years. Then she met and married Mr.'c J. Holsworthy, a gentleman of independent means. Mr. and Mrs. Holsworthy came out to New Zealand, and took up residence Jlnally at Rona Bay. The deceased lady, highly educated, cultured, and travelled, was a perfect hostess and a charmins conversationalist. Of a lovable disposition, she was passionately fond of children, though she. had none of her own. When in England as the daughter of the Agent-General she carried out the social honors of her position as onlv a cultured hostess could. A brother, the late Mr. 'W. A. Fitzherbert, a settler in a large way, and a prominent figure in the Hutt municipal politics, died suddenly some time since. Another brother is Mr. H. S. Fitzherbert, Stipendiary Magistrate, of this town. Professor Von Zedlitz married a niece of the late Mrs. Holsworthy.