WOMAN'S WORLD

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 223, 3 January 1911, Page 6

WOMAN'S WORLD

(Conducted by "Eileen"). A MOCK WEDDING WEALTHY CURL'S OFFER TO BIGAMIST. A case possessing, as counsel remarked, some very exceptional features, the recital of which included the story of a bigamous marriage as well as a mock wedding, was heard by Mr. Justice Bankes at the Somerset Assizes, Taunton, in November. The prisoner, a tall, well-dressed young man named Percy Lester I-laggard, an engineer, aged twenty-six, described as "of superior education and social position," was indicted at the instance of the Public Prosecutor for having, at Holy Trinity Church, Paddington, on May 4 last, contracted a bigamous marriage with Mary Coles Maidment, a woman possessed of considerable means, and living at Butleigh, Somerset, his former wife, Gertrude Geraldine, to whom 'he was married on August 20, I'Bo4, being then alive.

To this charge the accused pleaded guilty, ibut he denied a second indictment charging him with having, by certain false representations, procured Annie Bauch, a young woman of good character. to live with him.

The prisoner. it was stated, separated from his first wife and went to America, where he remained for twenty months. On his return she obtained a maintenance order of 30s a week against him, and they continued to live apart. In the early part of last year he became a guest at the Phoenix Hotel, Praed-street, Paddington, where Miss Baulch, a tall, good-looking young woman, was engaged as mother's help and assisted in waiting. He pressed her to marry him, posing, it was alleged, as a single man. Miss Baulch, it was continued, for some time refused, but ultimately consented to wed him, and by his arrangement the ceremony took place at a house at Xeasden, which he said was a registry office. It was alleged that this ceremony was of a bogus character, but Miss Baulch could not identify the house where it took plase. The honeymoon was spent at the Cocoa Tree Hotel, Pinner, and the couple afterwards stayed at Guildford and Birmingham. Early this year they went to Butleigh, the girl's home, where her father is a carter. Her parents, it was added, thought she had made a grand marriage, as she had written to say that she was marrying a nephew of Mr. Rider Haggard, the novelist.

prisoner denied to the judge that he had stated this.

At Butleigh the prisoner became acquainted with Miss Maidment, from whom lie borrowed £2OO, and whom he subsequently married at Paddington. Miss Baulch was left behind at Butleigh, where she gave birth to a daughter. The prisoner gave evidence on his own behalf. He denied the story of the bogus marriage, and said Miss Baulch agreed to live with him. The jury found the prisoner guilty. His counsel, Mr. Weatherly, the wellknown song writer, said Miss Maidment desired him to state that she found the prisoner a very kind and affectionate man while she .lived with him, and while he had been in prison awaiting his trial she had written to him no fewer than WO lettets. Her earnest desire was to marry him when he came out of prison, his first wife having now obtained a divorce. She further stated that she gave him the £2OO on account of the ! affection she bore him, and that he re- ■ fused to take £SOO which she offered hjm.

The Judge said no one could have listened to this story, even as told by the prisoner himself, without feelings of the deepest indignation. The prisoner was a most despicable man, and lie (the judge) did not see one redeeming feature in his conduct.

The prisoner was sentenced to eighteen months' hard labor in the case of Miss Baulch, and one month's hard labor in the bigamy case, the terms to run concurrently. THE HOUSE-HELP PROBLEM Of the future of domestic service, "Lois," in the Sydney Morning Herald, writes:—There are in every community, as we all know, girls and women willing! stranded. Tliey are too genteel for service, no one wants their knitting or' drawn-thread work; music, which they teach in futile helplessness, is overdone. The daughter who is not wanted at, home, the single sister who has learned no trade and hates to be a burden to | her brother, the wife of the delicate man or tile man out of work, the widow, the woman who loves money and docs not dislike work, all these aiul more could, and probably would, do domestic work, and do it well, if, and this is the point, conditions were made to suit them. Iti is the conditions that cause domestic work to be avoided, not its inherent unpleasantness. It is not so difficult to do well, it is not because of its variety, so irksome as many other ?nonotonous occupations; it is a business to which every woman has served some sort of apprenticeship, and which many women make enjoyable. But at present it is the lowest of all occupations open to women. The girl who picks onions for a pittance probably thought herself superior to a "slavey." Freed from the stigma that is now rightly or wrongly attached to it, absolved from the silent understanding that one woman is the superior and the other the inferior, and that therefore one must be ever at the beck and call of the other, converted simply into labor for which a suitable wage must be paid, without any interference in matters of education, manners, dress, and other private affairs, except in so far as the work demanded in-j terference, domestic work would attract many willing hands. Beginning with the nondescripts enumerated above, it mkrht in time rise to the rank of a well-paid and honorable business, to the »reat benefit of all concerned. How can this change be brought about? What are the first steps to°be taken? The first radical alteration may lie an admission that the domestic worker need not necessarily sleep in her employer's house. The servant's room, the servant's table, the constant presence of I the servant, and its opportunities for j 'ranny and mistaken interference, and 1 "|. encouragement of that familiarity which <ome ti mes breeds contempt, mav | to ;'o. Some workers will 110 doubt continue s ] eC p ; n the'home of their

employer, but the f;'ct that it is not always a conditio]), that it must be a matter for special arrangement, will free domestic, work from one of the features that make it disagreeable now. The domestic work bureaux must be established in every large centre. At these bureaux women and girls will register, and employers will engage them at a regular fee. So many hours, so much work, so much pay. We always expect men to stop wjien the clock I strikes, or when the contract is finished; vvliy not the woman? A bureau would perhaps attract only the old-fashioned charwoman or washerwoman at first. The organising may be very difficult work, and much patience may be necessary, The customs of centuries are not easily uprooted, and new ideas are not ■hardy,plants. The most important part of the work of the organisers will be to curry on the business so as to attract. the better class of workers. Tnis can only be done by strict enquiry into conditions, by careful encouragement of kindly treatment for the worker, and by fixed and fairly high remuneration. The notion that a ''lady" ought to work for less than common folk in return for the better treatment she may. or may not receive, must be killed ■ outright. It is always unjust, and often results in absurdity. Her caps and apron must disappear . She will take her pleasure without regard to her position. Women who ought to know better now sometimes express astonishment when they hear that "Mary can play tkc piano." and that "Annie has a new frock for the cricket match." This old Adam of domination dies hard, a belief in servitude is ingrained, and we all like to think that we ourselves are among the nobles.

There would be advantages as well as inconveniences for the housekeeper in visiting workers. The rooms which are now a "cross between a flower-show and a pawn-shop" would lose some of their decoration. Payment by the hour for dusting a drawing-room might convert its owner to a delight in Japanese simplicity. Cheap Gorman gee-gaws might become a drug in the market. The many rugs, which for hygienic reasons long ago ousted the enormous carpet of our childhood, may diminish in size and number when it costs too much to shake them. Our daughters, who now play golf in search of an appetite and a' slim figure may find health at the end of a modest broom-stick, and in a frugal family the cobweb brush may take the place occasionally of the tennis racquet. These things count to gain or loss, according to the point of view. One thing is certain, the Servant passing. If the plan sketched in outline above is not acceptable to Australian women, then another and a better must be found . It is a woman's question, and for immediate comfort and convenience it stands superior in human interest to politics, science, art and amusement.

THE POSITION OF WOMEN FOUR THOUSAND YEARS AGO. In the "Englishwoman" for October Mrs. Hogg describes the position of women iour milleniums ago in Egypt. She gathers her information from the walls of temples and tombs, saerophagi, statues, scaraibs. She says: The ladies of the land seem to have lived a life of ease and luxury. The decorations show tliem feasting and enjoying the dance and music, twining garlands of flowers, and examining each other's jewellery, while servants hover round to do their bidding. Women of whatever rank seem to have had little or nothing of what we call edueaticsi. Boys were early put to school, wherf 1 morals and manners seem to have takes,a first place, though writing, spelling, arithmetic and other subjects were taught, but there is no indication that there was any sach provision for girls. What is know of ancient Egyptian law leads to the conclusion that men and women were equal in the eyes of the law, married women owning and disposing of property as they wished; and right treatment of women [was evidently one of the characteristics of a good ruler. A noble named Ameni at Bern Hasan has left in a long account of his rule the following record: —There was no poor man's daughter whom I wronged, there was no widow whom I oppressed, there was no peasant whom I repulsed, there ! was no shepherd whom" I repelled. . . There was not a pauper around me, there was not a hungry man in my time. Wihen years of famine came I ploughed | all the lields of the Orvx home, as far as its southern and its northern boundary, preserving its people alive, and furnishing its food so that there was none hungry tkerein. I gave to the widow as to her who had a husband: I did not exalt the great above the small.

Professions open to women there were none, unless it be the office of priestess. Mrs. Ilogg concludes by saying: "All in all, tile position of women in ancient E?.vpt seems in many respects comparable to that of women in England in the centuries preceding the nineteenth."