WOMAN'S WORLD

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 239, 15 February 1911, Page 6

WOMAN'S WORLD

(Conducted by "Eileen"). THE ART OF CONVERSATION A mother writes to ask the name of a book which will teach her da lighter "the art of conversation." The girl is very intelligent, and not exactly shy, but simply cannot talk to any strangers she meets.

There lutve been published at different I times several books on the art of con-' versation, but it is doubtful whether | anyone ever learned to talk from them, j and it is fairly certain that if they did their talk mast have been very stilted and artificial. The tirst essential for a good, talker is to have something worth saying; the second is to say it simply and clearly, and be done with it; and neither of'these essentials can be acquired from a "guide to conversation." There are lots of people who have a great deal to say, but who are far from being good conversationalists, and the reason is that the subject of their talk lacks in quality what it makes up in quantity, if you wish a girl to be a good talker, you must give her something to think about, for talk without talk is like sounding brass. Give her good books to read—history, poetry and travel, as well as fiction; enI courage her to read the papers —not merely the gossipy paragraphs and exciting news, but the special articles on matters of current interest. And—which is of first importance—encourage her to talk about what she has read. l)o no brush her opinions aside because they are immature, but let her express them clearly before you gently differ with her. If with the hot-headed enthusiasm of youth she raves auout some book or picture that is not worthy of such admiration, do not scornfully tell her it is "bosh," but draw out her reasons for liking it, and a little later on give her a book or picture which will lead her, unconsciously, into the path of purer taste. Of course there are plenty of young people who require no encouragement. They are brimming over with ideas on every subject, and nothing can suppress tliem. They are usually very loud and very decided in their opinions, too, and are quite sure that they are infallible. But that is merely the arrogance and enthusiasm of youth, and tact and care can lead it into the right channel. It is the diffident boys and girls who need gentle and constant encouragement to think for themselves and to put their thoughts into words, and there is 110 place better suited for such beginnings than their own dinner table, where the listeners, though very critical, are kind. The girl who has been trained to take an intelligent interest in current topics and to discuss matters of moment ■with her mother and father 'will not be silent and awkward wheu she goes into a world of strangers and will not need a "Guide to Conversation" to give interest to her talk.

THE HUGE HAT. We are told that at the Eastbourne lawn tennis tournament this year the committee was forced to issue special notices requesting ladies not to wear hats which prevented spectators behind them from seeing the game," says the London Times. Tile notices were issue"! ono morning, and in the afternoon the hats were bigger than ever and "the sward was white with the crumpled notices.'' The trouble about big hats is an old one, and most of tne jokes that have been made about it are also old. But it remains an interesting subject, because it illustrates the difference and the gulf between the sexes. We hear a great deal nowadays about the woman's point of view. But though women are constantly telling us why they want votes thev never tell 11s why they are resolved to wear big hats at all costs. They insist upon the points at which they resemble men; but about the points of difference, which are more interesting to the philosophic mind, they are silent. This is even in the works of the great women novelists. Not one of them, not even Jane Austen or Cnarlotte Bronte or George Eliot has told us why women will wear big hats; not one of them has revealed the secrets of her sex so clearly as the male novelist, Tolstoi. The reason is, 110 doubt, that these great writers were not representative women. Even Jane Austen was too detached to be that; for the ordinary woman is not detached; she is not 11 critic of life; and she does not naturally express herself in words. This does not mean in the least that she is inferior to man; but it does mean that there is a vast difference between men and women, which men find it very cniiicult to understand.

i WOMEN AND AN ENCYCLOPEDIA. Miss Jone Hogarth, (.lie head of the woman's stafl' of the "Encylcopedia Britannica," replying to the toast of "The Work of Women" at a dinner to the contributors to the ''Jineylcopedia," gave an account of what women have done for that enterprise, referring especially to tlx; index. She said: We had LjOO contributors to look after, all eminent, an'd there is no one so careless about his references or so prone to leave mistakes in his proofs as a really eminent author. One distinguished archaelogoist. who might have been expected to have the history of Asia Minor at his lingers' ends, put a battle nearly a century wrong. Another contributor, very eminent indeed, mixed up the toad and the serpent. He corrected Shakespeare by saying that the serpent "wears yet a precious jewel in his head,'' ami that this was an instance of the prevalence of serpent worship. . . . The index stall' is still hard at work preparing the lust and final volume, which is to appear in a few months. We have a stall' of over seventy people, men, women and children, for some of the junior stall' who fetch volumes for the harassed editors to consult are very junior indeed. Between twenty and thirty people are engaged in revising the card entries, which amount to nearly a million, keeping what is worth while and throwing away the superfluous and trivial entries. A hodv of typists are making a copy of these cards. This is again revised by a select few of the editors, and then ' there will be a further revision in proof. Sometimes it «eems an interminable and even a wearv tii-l;. We are almost buried under card's anil boxes of typoseripts, but our gloom is sometimes irradiated by Hashes of that unconscious humor which is the savin™ grace of indexeis. The day goes quicker

; when you light 011 such an entry as J ''Christianity: Disadvantages for NcgI roes," or "Paul, i't., Apostle: Oaths used i l, y"

TRAGEDY ON EVE OF MARRIAGE. The story of a terrible tragedy come.- I from Russia. A young lieutenant of the Yatta garrison became engaged to a very pretty and accomplished girl, the adopted daughter of an influential family in the Crimea. The marriage was to have taken place at the Wolta military chapel just before Christmas, but almost at the last minute it was discovered that the bride-elect was a foundling, who had been adopted by her foster-parents. Further research showed that she was the bridegroom's half-sister on her mother's .side. When lie heard the news the young lieutenant shot himself, and the girl, who knew absolutely nothing about her parentage, lost her reason when told of her fiancee's tragic end.