WOMAN'S WORLD

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 227, 31 January 1911, Page 6

WOMAN'S WORLD

(Conducted by "Eileen"). SHE DID NOT ELOPE. SOCIETY LADY LIBELLED.

The Hon. Alexandra Louvima Knollys, daughter of Lord Knollys, was on December 13 awarded £.500 damages in respect to a libel published in John Bull on March 12, the defendants being John Bull, Ltd., Mr. Horatio Bottoroley, M.P., and Messrs Oldhams, Ltd., printers. The case was heard by Mr. Justice Lawrance and a special jury in the King's Bench Division.

Sir E. Carson, opening the case, said Lord Knollys wa3 well known as private secretary to the late King, and private secretary to the present King. The libel had caused Miss Knollys and her family the very greatest pain and concern. Tile case was absolutely undefended, the libel being a pure invention, and simply the statement of some malicious or interfering person. The statement complained of appeared in John Bull under the heading, "The World, the Flesh and the Devil," and was as follows: ,

"The papers have been filled with mysterious references to a young lady who eloped, some say with a noble lord,; others with a British officer, and all are agreed that the happy pair were followed across Europe by detectives. "As an elopement has not hitherto been considered a crime, we are curiou3 to hear further particulars. So far, however, we have only ascertained (through French papers) that 'the young and beautiful Englishwoman' is called Alexandra Louvima, and that she is a daughter of a famous Court official. But we seem to recollect that this extraordinary name was conferred upon an unfortunate young lady some time ago, compounded of the nrst syllables of the King's daughters, Louise, Victoria and Maud." « It was true, said Sir Edward Carson, that the young lady's second name was derived in the way mentioned, but why the young lady should be held up to contempt in this way it was impossible to see. Miss Knollys had never gone away, and there was no question of any' officer or any nobleman, or any detectives. She had not been away from her home or parents, and had not been in trouble of any kind or description. Why j the article should call her "an unfortunate young lady" he entirely failed to sec. The whole thing from beginning to end was, absolutely scandalous. The only defence put forward was that the statement waa copied from a French paper. It was true that something of the kind appeared' in one or two French journals in me previous February.

On March 26 John Bull contained a somewhat belated apology. Mr. Marshall Hall, who represented the publishers and printers of John Bull, here interposed to say the issue of the 26th was the first in which an apology could have appeared. Sir E. Carson asked the jury to help In stopping this kind of scandal-monger-ing, and to give such damages as would' show that not only was there no foundation for the charge which was made, but their disapprobation of hauling before the public private people in reference to matters which were not only untrue but had not the slightest public interest. Lord Knollys went into the witnessbox and denied that there was any .truth in the story of the elopement. The witness said the statement originally appeared in the Paris edition of the New York Herald and in a Marseilles paper. Mr. Marshall nail: I ask no questions. Mr. Bottomley: Nor do I.

Lady Knollys was also called. She also emphatically denied the statement of John Bull.

After this appeared had you a number of communications from friends about it J —Yes, a great many letters, and people came to see us personally and speak about it.

Has it been a source of great pain and annoyance ?—Yes, desperate annoyance. Sir E. Carson: Miss Knollys is here, if my friends desire to ask her any questions. Mr. Marshall Hall: Oh, no; and I do not call any evidence. Mr. Bottomley: I do not.

Mr. Harshall Hall desired at once to say that no language of his could express the regret his clients felt that this paragraph found its way into the paper, and that pain should have been caused to this young lady, whose character was beyond question. Mr. Bottomley said that as the responsible editor he felt it was due to the lady and her family that he should appear and express his concurrence, without a shadow of mental reservation, in every word which Mr. Marshall Hall had said.

Continuing, Mr. Bottomley said he had not the remotest idea, he was ashamed to say —he did not move in Court circles —that Lord Knollys had a daughter bearing this particular name. Turning to the libel itself, Mr. Bottomley urged that an elopement per se was not a dishonorable thing. He laid stress on that because the glib way in which counsel hissed the word "elopement" suggested that an elopement must necessarily reflect on the moral character. It was, however, common knowledge that many of the most romantic marriages in the history of the world had been characterised by elopements. It was common knowledge that about this period some people did elope, and most improperly used the name of Knollys. Mr. Bottomley continued that the defendants had done all that honorable people could do. They lost no time in publishing an apology, and they had repeated it in court. He, as editor, with absolute sincerity, also added his deepest expressions of regret. Miss Knollys would have it published throughout the world that this rumor was the result of some lamentable mistake, and that being so, Mr. Bottomley urged that it was not a case for vindictive damages. Mr. Justice Lawranco (reading the libel): "Unfortunate" means unfortunate in having a name like that? Mr. Marshall Hall: Yes, my lord. His lordship, in summing up, pointed out that the only question for the jury was the amount of the damages to be awarded.

The jury returned their verdict without leaving the box. Judgment accordingly with costs.

AMERICAN WOMEN "INDISTINGUISHABLE FROM MEN." The strange statement was made on Deccmuer 2, on the authority of two eminent professors of art and gymnastics, that unless she radically changes her habits the American woman will be indistinguishable as regards her figure from a man.

According to Dr. Dudley Allen Sargent, director of gymnastics at Harvard University, the physique of American womanhood has undergone a singular change in the last twenty years, mainly as the result of excessive indulgence in athletics. Dr. Sargent has in his study a composite .statue modelled in accordance with the actual measurements of more than 10,000 women before the year 1890.

Since the statue was completed, he says, the American woman's physique has been revolutionised until it now approximates that of the man. Her feet and hands have become larger, her hips smaller, her shoulders broader, and her neck tkicker. Dr. Sargent's observations are confirmed by Mr. John W. Alexander, the nnvtrait painter and president of the Na'■•■."' Academy of Design.

1 ■ ! lares that the American woman seems determined to lose what constitutes woman's greatest charm. "In no other country do you see such masculine figures as American women have. In France the woman is the personification of grace. In Germany she i« not as graceful, perhaps, but she has that motherly oearing which gives her a lovablei ness not often found in our women.

"In England her stateliness and dignity dissipate the slightest suggestion of the masculine. But the American woman has devoted herself to such an extent to athletics that she has become the despair of artists, with her flat chest, huge muscular waist, strong, heavy arms, thick neck, small hips, and largo feet and hands."

Dr. Sargent predicts that unless the American woman modifies her present passion for outdoor exercise 'her figure in a few years will be so man-like that she will appear ridiculous in female attire.

THE ENGLISH. GIRL. The Englishwoman's fondness for .athletics, despite the slight changes it produces in lier physique, is not bringing about any permanent deterioration in the beauty of the feminine form, according to Mr. John Gray, secretary of the Anthropometrical Committee of the British Association. Referring to the lament published above of Mr. John Alexander, the American portrait painter, that unless she radically changes her habits the American woman in a few years will be indistinguishable as regards her figure from a man, Mr. Gray said: "Although the present fashion of women indulging in athletics has influenced the modern woman's figure, broadeniqg ( her shoulders and waist perhaps and enlarging her hands and feet, such changes arc almost as temporary as the fashions which cause them. An athletic woman may carry the physical signs of her muscular prowess to the end of her life, but the physique and form of her children will not be influenced in the least.

'"The son of the brawny-armed blacksmith, as is well known, does not inherit the huge muscles of his father. In the game way the daughter of a broad, flatshouldered, and heavy-handed athletic woman of to-day will revert to the small hands and the narrow bottle-shoulders of the young woman of the early Victorian period if she is brought up on early Victorian non-athletic lines.

"Unfortunately wc have not enough statistics and measurements to speak with authority as to the amount of change athletics have worked on the modern woman's figure. Roughly, I should say she is about an inch taller than the woman of a generation ago, and perhaps her waist is a little larger and her shoulders flatter."

DOMESTIC DUTIES. HOW TO TRAIN OUR (GIRLS.

An interesting reference to the domestic help question was made by Mr. T. E. Taylor, M.P., in the. court of an address on "Education" at Christchurch last Friday. "We should make," he said, "our system of education on the girls' side, after a certain point has been reached in their general education, bear directly upon the duty of wifehood ami motherhood. We should" see that the question, "Who shall do the work of the house ?" is solved by qualifying every girl in the country to do her share. (Applause). The majority of women are frightened to death when they are called upon to wash and dress their first baby."

Mr. Taylor went on to say that the common sense of the girls should be properly educated in domestic duties. There would be no question as to who should do the work of the house if those who inhabited the honse were properly educated, and there would be no cause to call for assistance from outside labor. After a girl had passed the fourth standard the bulk of her, instruction should be in the direction he had indicated.