WOMAN'S WORLD

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 266, 20 March 1911, Page 6

WOMAN'S WORLD

(Conducted by ".Eileen"). , NOTES FROM LONDON. London, January "28. '■ A great disappointment to all femiu- I ists was the defeat by two votes only of 1 Madame Curie on Monday last in the i candidature for a seat at the French ' Academy of Sciences. At the first time 1 of asking she received 28 votes, while ' her opponent, M. Branley, received 2!), ' and another candidate received one. ( There was, accordingly, a second ballot, < and the waverer apparently gave his < vote to the male competitor, for M. ' Branley received 30 votes to Mdme. ' Curie's 28. In the circumstances her candidature is almost equivalent to a vie- i tory. Many authorities are of the ' opinion that she will obtain the next 1 vacant seat, and so join the illustrious I band to which her husband, Professor * Curie, belonged. I AVIATION SCHOOL FOR WOMEN. j Mrs. Maurice Hewlett, wife of the well- ( known novelist, conducts with M. Blon- s deau an aviation school at Brooklands, ] where, among other pupils, M. Ducrocy ] and Lieut. T. Snowden-Smith have pass- < ed through her hands. Mrs. Hewlett ] hopes shortly to qualify for her pilot's 1 certificate. i FLAT FOR SCHOOLGIRLS. ] The London County Council are build- , ing a school in Pitfield-street, Hoxton, where 200 girls will be instructed in the art of household management. A flat to house six girls and a teacher is being ; erected in connection with the school. WOMEN AS RIFLE SHOTS. Miss Eva Fenton is the founder of a ■ new club, called the Imperial Rifle Club, i of which. Lord Roberts is the first president, and out of the 500 members who have already joined it is interesting to note that quite half are women. j ANOTHER INNOVATION. A lady dentist, of Japanese birth, has just started practice in the West End of London. FRENCH ACADEMY OF WOMEN. In connection with the defeat of Mdme Curie, Le Matin states (says the Central News) that a number of Academicians are preparing a scheme for the establishment of a sixth academy, to be known as the Academie Francaise des Femmes. The members, who would number forty, would be nominated in the first place by the Institute, though later by the new academy itself, which would comprise brilliant Frenchwomen in the realms of art, literature, and sciences; and heroism and philanthropy would be also represented. A NOVEL CONFERENCE is being held shortly in London to exploit the advantages of simple life and healthy food. The platform of the conference hall will represent a meadow carpeted with grass and flowers. Tents will be fixed there, and wax figures will recline inside the latest hygienic bed. From this unconventional platform addresses will he given by well-known doctor!, and also by the ''Derbyshire wolf" —the resourceful enthusiast and disciple of Thoreau, who lived in caves on the Derbyshire hills for seven months. All the accompaniments of the simple life will be exhibited, including meals of un-1 cooked food, which are guaranteed to support a family for 6s a week. Luxury will be found to be condemned, because it does not spring from any desire for greater comfort, but from a desire to excel one's neighbors. The wearing of expensive jewellery, rare feathers, and extravagant clothes will be traced to the passion of ostentation and display, and is condemned as a Common cause of financial embarrassment and consequent illhealth at the same time. An exhibition will also be given of how a house should be furnished from the health point of view. The spreading taste for uncooked food is one of the chief topics of the conference, and several people will bo there who will tell the audience that they live quite successfully on nothing but fruit, nuts, brown-bread, cereals and olive oil. A WONDERFUL COUPLE are Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Robert Macquoid, who this week celebrated their diamond, wedding. Mr. Macquoid, R. 1., who was ninety-one this week, lias been well known for half a century as a water color painter and black-and-white artist, and Mrs. Macquoid, who was eightyseven two days later, is the authoress of over sixty novels and books of travel, which have been very popular since she began to write at seventeen. Mrs. Macquoid's views on the modern girl, expressed to a friend this week, are interesting:—"l think she is much more frank and unaffected and truthful than the girls of my youth, but I must say that she seems to be rather selfish, and she sometimes makes me wince. She talks about things that I can't always think suitable, and she seems to me to marry only witli the idea of having a good time. She talks to me. about her house, her furniture, the entertainments she has been to, and the many enjoyable things <die is going to do in the future, but she rarely mentions her husband or her children. I have always found that the only happiness is in trying to make someone else happy, anil I advise all young people to marry with that ambition." 1 FASHION NOTES. . DEMORALISING EFFECTS OF SALES. " London, January 2S. The bargain sale began, suggests a 1 writer in a daily paper, when .some of the rude forefathers, who knew no hamlet other than a cave, found that they had collected, or purloined, more beads and arrow-heads and skins and Hint instruments than they could immediately use, . and when thoy summoned the neighbors to chaffer for the surplus. Be this as it may, one thing about sales in London is very evident, and that is the demoralisation for which these semi-annual af- ' fairs are responsible. London shop windows at the end of January are' a disgrace, and a stroll past some of the biggest. West End shops just now must be a grievous disillusionment to the visitor j from abroad, who looks to see the spieki and-span up-to-dateness for which the i shops of the metropolis should be famed. 1 had this week to subject myself to a ' rigorous self-examination to see whether

[ the careless and ugly state of things I j saw did not, perhaps, spring from my own unhealthy mind. But no, I found myself quite normal, quite good-humored, quite ready to be pleased and give admiration. But how could one admire a mustard-colored costume, marked at eleven guineas, in one of the biggest shops in Oxford Circus, when the nap of the cloth was so dirty that the "creation" looked like a piece of soiled chamois leather? How admire a hat at 3.15, when the white bow that lay on the black velvet brim was filthy, a black velvet toque with sodden-looking and tarnished silver lace, or a blouse so grubby that it was hard to imagine it ever spotless, ft bedraggled skirt marked down from five guineas to 425, and not—honestly—worth forty-two pence to the woman of daintiness? There must be buyers for this kind of goods, and moneyed buyers, too, or the shopkeepers would hardly dare display them; but who can such buyers be, and what must they look like? One shop that prides itself on being creme de la creme in all that is artistic and charming displayed shamelessly in a window a crushed rose du barri gown of silk embroidered bodice that didn't even fit the dress stand, so slovenly was its make! Yet that was marked in plain figures, ",tll 10s, sale price,'' and one presumes that some buyer pays that price and wears the garment. Not only the soiled goods offered, but the price set on their undesirableness, ever fills me with astonishment. If the goods were abnormally cheap one could understand that there are people who will have tawdry finery if they can, and sp would purchase them; but how can one aver that a silk petticoat at 10s lid, for instance, is cheap, when the very pegs on which it hangs are sticking through its silk, and when actually in the window is an underskirt shamelessly parting with its frill, so careless lis its workmanship. THE FASHIONS. I In spite of prophecies that the tunic is doomed, a new fashion for this graceful overdress has been devised within the last few days. This is Magyar style, the tunic and sleeves being ail in one, and of different material from the gown veiled. Thus, sleeves and tunic of black lace over a gown of soft blue would be very smart-looking. This garment is being already made to conform to the shortwaisted effect introduced on all new gowns, and some pretty examples I saw this week were of soft-tinted ninon edged with black marabout. Home dressmakers will be glad to hear that there ■will probably be a revival of the pinafore style in the spring. THE IMPORTANCE- OF FOOTWEAR, Since Frenchwomen will have tight skirts, they have solved the shoe difficulty, that yet remain* a hideous bar to the general adoption of such a style in this country, by donning very smart shoes or boots with colored heels. There is one thing to be urged for the hobble skirt, and that is that it was short, and so kept one's footgear clean, though it cannot be denied that it made the wearer's feet abnormally large. The walker in London in the sodden weather, to which we are treated generally during the winter months, finds that not a short skirt or even one well held up will protect her boots from the constant splashes thrown on them by motors, carts, etc. I For this reason it seems strange to nie that women bootblacks, for women, are j never seen. The Parisian woman of fashion now has buttoned boots made entirely of black or dark-colored velvet, and some have patent leather lowers with velvet tops. The first, however, are the newest. These are intended for walking, and are provided with low heels, and the buttons used on them are large, and in many cases of a contrasting color. A fact, perhaps not generally known, is that the Frenchwomen seldom wear enormously high heels, but instead slips a false heel made of cork or indiarubber into her evening shoes or slippers, which gives her height. The latest conceits in footwear shown in London are evening slippers of gold cloth covered with black and white lace, and ornamented with tiny buckles and round rosettes. ENTER SOFT MATERIALS. There is a tendency to depose satin charmeuse—prime favorite among the rich materials of hist year—in favor of soft dull fabrics, and many of the new gowns now being wade are of crepe de chine veiled in chiffon and ninon. EXIT COATS AND SKIRTS. It is extraordinary to note how little the coat and skirt is seen at present in , London. Long coats prevail everywhere, and beneath them a one-piece dress is generally worn. Tins is only a phase of mid-winter, however, it is safe to predict. Coats and skirts are too firmly rooted in our affection to be dispensed with.