WOMAN'S WORLD

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 261, 25 March 1911, Page 6

WOMAN'S WORLD

(Conducted by " Eileen "). AN IMPROBABLE STORY. "Romance" writes under Thursday's date as follows:—I was quite amused with the self-contradictory nature of the story you were pleased to publish this morning, yet indulgent enough to label, "The Romance of an Actress." I may have been in a slightly facetious or holiday mood, but, really, I was puzzled to know how to reconcile the expression "immured in a monastery" with the latitude and "freedom" the young gentleman Koschinski seemed to have enjoyed during his "courting days." How he could be "immured" and at the same time missing late trains back to his mon- , astery is. too much of a joke. More- , over, I fail to see how he could be "immured in the monastery" and yet spend whole nights away from his monastery, serenading a young actress. Let us have something plausible next* time, please. According to tihe story, Koschinski (never mind the color of his hair) had quite an hilarious time. Then, again, how this tall young man was "immured" and yet able to send "five telegrams andi six fetters" daily to his lady-love is a suitable story for the marines. We must consign this story—as we have had to do with so many others in the past—to the regions of invthdom. Xo authorities are given more than the word of a giddy actress. Xo monastery is named and no town connected with the monastery is even, hinted at. We are left in blissful ignorance of many particulars that would have been useful to have. Of course, in romance, I suppose we must not expect the truth always to play a prominent part. As the story stands, we need more than the ordinary pinch of salt to digest it. An over-dose of cayenne pepper would be absolutely necessary. Then even if we allowed a large margin for a strong imagination to work on, there is nothing more strange in a monk experiencing joy at seeing a fair for the first time that there would be in a visitor from New Plymouth to Wellington seeing the harbor lights for the first time. Others experience joy on seeing a picture show for the first time. But even if we suppose the story to be true, the "finale" would be a redeeming feature. According to the flirt of an actress, the tall, slim, fair-haired, aesthetic-countenanced youth returned to his monastery. Evidently he was free to go back. The "immuring" could not be such a dreadful thing, elie he would not have renounced the pleasures of sense and returned. If he repented of his folly then we mußt admiro him more for his repentance than for his fall, just as we admire Peter and Mary Magdalen for their repentance. Allow me to say in conclusion that no monk is ever immured in his monastery any more than a clerk is immured in his office. No young man ever enters a monastery unless he has made up his own mind to do so. That is his own affair. It is but Tight that we should know what faith to put in any fables that find their way to New Zealand.