WOMAN'S WORLD

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 234, 8 February 1911, Page 6

WOMAN'S WORLD

(Conducted by " Eileen "). j KNITTED COATS Years ago the sweater was worn by i the brash college youth; then his sister adopted the comfort of knitted jackets, •but style was not one of the features. Now womankind dons sweaters for any outing, and looks her best when wearing ( the modish garments; they epitomise I color, durability and grace. White is the most favored. It washes well and has a charm of clean softness | that most women like. It is combined with other colors, knitted in with the main body or the coat or with leather on revers and cuffs. Grey, tan, red, blue and brown are next in order. These are relieved by touches of white in stripes, borders or collars. The serviceability of these depends upon the ability to withstand the action of] grime or dirt that is quickly felt by, white. Long coats are in fashion. And why not? Surely the warmth is increased,, and there is a more graceful contour j if the edge of a sweater come below the | hip line. j Collars for the newest sweaters are of various kinds. Large rolling sailor collars for the model with a front fastening, standing collars that fit closely around the neck for sup-over type, and; broad, turned-back collars for the sweater coats are in fashion. The collarless coat is still good.

Plenty of room is afforded by the sleeves that in the majority of instances • are full at the lower band. And pockets! No longer will brothers ridicule the "pocketless sex," for ample room for stowing away things is given by pockets, large and small. The touch of leather ic extremely chJc. Chamois revers and cuffs are attractive on white coats. They are washable and are new. In other models the soft leather must be removed when the sweater is sent to the cleaner's. This is allowed for by the wide binding used on the edges, which covers up the sewing; the stitches of removal can be concealed.

A RICH GIRL. LEFT SIX MILLION POUNDS urTEif FOURTEEN. Catherine Barker, of Michigan, is the richest girl in the world. Oniy fourteen years of age, and still at school, she has come into a fortune of £0,000,000, which has been left to her by her father, the late Mr. John .uenry Barker, the president of the Haskell and Barker Car Company, which is probably the largest car works in America outside the Car Trust. Mr. Barker, who died in the early part of December, had one of the most successful careers in the business history of the world. The full value of his estate has not yet been ascertained, but information has just been received by relatives in England that it will amount to about £10,000,000. The only other beneficiaries under the will are:—Mrs. Barnes, Chicago; Mrs. 11. A. Richardson, Ascot, England. Both are nieces of the dead multi-millionaire. Mrs. Richardson is the wife of the inventor of the Richardson armor plate, which is likely to supplant anything of the kind in use. Mr. Richardson was the Unionist candidate for the recent general election for the constituency, and with two weeks for his campaign, he reduced the Liberal majority from 1113 to 070, despite a solid Irish Home Rule vote of about 800 against him. Mr. John Henry Barker was born in Indiana, and was sixty-six years of age at his death. His father was a North of England man, who emigrated to the States. The man who has now left such a colossal fortune was thirty years of age when he succeeded to the business his father had founded. Then the works gave employment to about 1000 men; now over 6000 people are employed. Efforts were made by the Car Trust to get Mr. Barker into the combine. He was offered £2,000,000 to join, but he refused to entertain the proposal. He was of a very philanthropic nature. Many Indiana institutions were richly endowed by him, and his gifts td cnartties were numerous and princely. Mr. Barker spent comparatively little on himself. He took little, if any, recreation. Every day he was to be found at his office from 9 a.m. to 0 p.m. The workmen went direct to him with their grievances, and the relations between employer and employed were such that the works have never been closed by reason of a strike.

WOMAN'S SPIRITUAL DIGNITY. AUDRKSS BY ISRAEL ZAXGWILL. Mr. Tsracl Zangwill, the novelist, delivered a very striking address in the Albert Hall on November 10, which "Votes Jor Women'' reports in full. "The suffrage movement has brought many useful side-les-ons," he said. "The penetration of its martyrs into our prisons has thrown most valuable illumination upon the abuses in those prison/;, and the penetration of the cause into Parliament has turned a searchlight upon the abuses in Parliament. "Laymen like myself, driven from our desks to the platform by the stupidity of | the professional politician, stand in amazement before the defects of the political machine. Any blockhead in Parliament can block a Bill, any parrot can talk it out, while even when a large majority has endorsed it, the Prime Minister can cut it dead. We men at least imagined we were livjng under representative government. But where is representative government if a majority of 110 can be mocked and nullified? (The. second reading of the Conciliation Bill for Woman Suffrage was passed by 110 votes). "What is the unanswerable reason for women's suffrage? It i.s that votes for women arc demanded by women's spiritual dignity. It is a spiritual unrest which is stirring the world of women. That wind of the spirit which lifts the curtains of the harem and shakes the walls of the enana gathers itself here in England to a higher force and threatens the ancient foundations of Parliament. "Tt is urged by Mr. Chesterton and others that this isolation of women from politics springs not from man's contempt for woman, but from a tender consideration for her. Tt is an attempt to shield woman from the rough realities of life. •

It may be so. But the Turk or the Hindu would douutless allege a similar chivalry for the isolation of his womankind. Indeed, does not the very wowi 'harem' mean a sanctuary? But whether contempt or consideration inspired these phases of woman's status, they are bott outgrown. The Doll's House is too smal for the woman of to-day. She wants a house with more breathing space, nor do we hold her less immaculate because she concerns herself with the drainage. "Woman no longer desires to lie wrapped in pleasing illusions and to bask in that man-made social order whose foundations are laid in ruined souls and bodies. We are witnessing, in fact, a new phase in human evolution. As the demand throughout the Orient for Parliament makes the awakening of the men of the East, so the vote is the seal and symbol of the evolution of the women of the West. And because this evolution is a spiritual phenomenon, it needs no argument, no statistics. It is its own justification.

"Vainly it is urged that only a minority of women feels with you, that yon must first convert all the others. Whj ' should the higher 1 type be dragged back by the less evolved? No! When you have based the claim of votes for women on the spiritual dignity of women, you have based it on elemental and eternal rock. You have formulated a demand which cannot he out-argued by the stupidest politician or the cleverest epigrammatist. You have said the last word, the word that can be neither added I to nor answered.

"From the lady of quality enduring the torture of the feeding pump to the illnourished factor}- girl saving her halfpence for the cause, from the amateur news vendor facing the scoffs and chills of the street to the speaker braving the rowdiness of the public meeting—you have raised up a very cloud of witnesses."