WOMAN'S WORLD

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 221, 24 January 1911, Page 6

WOMAN'S WORLD

(Conducted by "Eileen"). t t THE "POPULAR" WOMAN. f On the subject of "Tin. Popular Wo- ' man,'-ii writer in an exchange lias noted \ that what men desire (sometimes too , late) in their wives, hut are ant to overlook in swcetheats and in the girl they ! flirt with, are the qualities women demand i:i ulher women—reasonableness, ' reliability, fair intelligence, and a sense of honor. The woman a genuine favor- , ite with her own sex is certain to possess these characteristics. Xo woman enjoys'' the society of another who practices the 1 ' caprices that men condone anil describe) us feminine. When a girl fails Jo kecpj' an appointment with a second, the latter) is by no means prepared to pardon the! oll'ence without proper excuse. When she! roils her eyes and declares she will die if i she does not see her pet dog that minute, the feminine hearer is more likely to be irritated than to laugh. When she insists upon having her own way in defiance of the world, just'because she is she, it is scarcely likely another woman will consider the reason sulliciently sound. Yet women are very suspectible to charm in their own sex, but they demand that charm to be without affectation. They are quick at seeing through humbug, perhaps because men are so readily deluded by it. ;ln spite of assertions to the contrary, the ordinary woman does not care for the colorless creature without a soul or an idea of her own. She appreciates a sympathetic companion, on whose advice she can rely, who will give a sincere and well-thought-out opinion if occasion arises. She has no notion of treating a friend as a plaything, and the kitten who should have outgrown her tricks, the baby who ought to have' reached years of discretion, are not her favorites. Among women, as among men, the essentia! quality demanded in their relations to one another is,a sense of honor. Male critics arc fond of declaring that women are lacking in this virtue, without recognising that in the intercourse of the sexes, the pretty subtle games of love and llirtation, they themselves are equally at fault. To compare women's dealings with men with men's dealings with her is not just. Instead, one ought to compare women's dealings with women. Probably in their commerce with each other, women are as particular about small debts, as scrupulous about respecting their mutual secrets and individuality, as chary (if accepting obligations, as careful to avoid giving pain, as are most men. Women expect loyalty in the women they like and trust; openness, a playing of the game fairly. For instance, an etiquette—unwritten' but understood —governs their attitude towards their respective love affairs. Poaching is abhorred, and a girl must set no traps to catch the fancy her friend believes tu heller special quarry. It is strictly preserved. Then occasions occur when the' woman chum is willing to lie deserted] and to retire into the background for a' "man." expecting the same "kind role to be played on her behalf when required. Often arrangements 'between girls resemble brother and sister's dances at bails, and may he be put oil' if either party finds it desirable. But the woman whose vagrant glance falls on a friend's property, fiance or husband, in order to win his admiration, outrages the feminine sense of honor, and she is only pardonable in extreme stress of circumstances and after due repentance. The reallv nice girl may be guilty of eoquctti.-h wiles, but treachery is repulsive to her nature. It is high praise for one woman to say of another: "She is always the same. You know when you have her." This means that she is loyal, true, and reliable, the qualities most appreciated I in friendship.

NEW THOUGHTS "Believe in your children and teach them to believe in themselves. It is better than giving them an inheritance ot_ houses and hinds, writes Ella W Wilcox, in her new hook, "New ThoiHit Common-sense." "Children can be educated in the finer things of life, and given high standards without knowing they are bein" taiHit if the parents possess tact a°nd forethought. "H lies in the power of the mother to make her children what she desires them to be if she begins earlv enough and keeps at the task day after dav. "A child's brain is being built'the first fourteen years of life, and it is the mother's privilege to direct the structure and awaken the noblest and most admirable qualities by giving them thought audi exercises.

"Each thought which passes through a child's mind is leaving its physical"impress on the brain and making that thought easier to occur again." The following are some points from the book:

•We are all a little better or a little worse than we were this time last year; a little stronger or a little weaker; a, little wiser or a little duller.

"He-riii your mornings with a resolve to find the beautiful unci good things in the day, in the weather, in the work you have to do, in the people you meet. "If the weather greets you with bluster jiiml wind and rain and snow and. fog, liKiit it up with your own spirit of sunshine. "1. have known people so radiant that they made everyone who approached them forget the weather. "If you encounter people who are disagreeable, lie so agreeable that you force them into a pleasant mood. firing out the best in everybody by giving them the best that is in yourself. "it was 'Madeline'Bridges,' that gifted I poet, who said so many beautiful things who put this great truth into simple I words.- ' 'Oive to the world the best you have. And the best shall come to you.' Just so sure as you live these lines, so sure shall be your reward. But to do all this you must be alive." . . SAVAGE AND CIVILISED. J While an African native man will work] for the white man. he will never do any-1 thing lor himself—if there are any wo-! men about. It is beneath his dignity to | work. Me will li-di and hunt, make seines j and crude implements and canoes, or I pass away his time smoking strong to- j bacon and dozing, but he would not think'

of lending his wife a. helping hand. lie compels her to cut down the trees for Jirewood and for his dug-out canoes, and when they arrive at the spot in the forest or jungle where, he decides to build his town the women must clear away the tangled forest. To civilised minds treefelling, wood-carrying, and jungle-clearing are certainly laborious work for woman, but an African woman knows nothing else; yet hers are much more healthful tasks than the white woman's, llouscI keeping for the white woman means the perpetual doing of the same endless tasks in the same monotonous environment. Entirely different is the life of ' the African woman. She has always time to gossip, to rest, and take beauty naps. Her guests bring their own food and '[sleeping mats, and she takes hers with [iher when she goes a-visiting. A three--legged iron pot, perhaps an empty oil tin ' I discarded by a white man, or a few in,j different, pans traded with for ebony, J rubber, or ivory, complete her cooking j utensils and dishes. iShc has no walls to "J. paper, no windows to clean, no carpets to j beat. She is untrammelled with the burdens of civilisation, and she shows it in i her perfect health and magnificent phyIsique.