WOMAN'S WORLD

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 14, 11 July 1911, Page 6

WOMAN'S WORLD

(•onducted by "Eileen"). THE FASHION OF LOVE AVe are told that moil do not so readily fall in love nowadays because up-to-date women are less feminine in appearance, or because their views are stronger, or because they are less sentimental, but not one of these arguments holds water when one comes to think of what has passed. One could quote instances of women who, both in appearance and views, were neither "Huffy little girls," nor the masculine equivalent to "strong-minded," which is "womanly," but which never means what it appears t» convey. Mrs. Groe, for example, and George Eliot were not of this pattern, yet they were both idolised wives. And * farther back than their timo were Bluestockings, who were happy wives and mothers.

Fashion is certainly no bar to love. Girls set hearts aflame when they wore crinolines, they drove men to romantic despair when their sleeves were like balloons not so many years ago; whether they have worn hideous "pork pie" or modern "cart-wheel" hats they have proved equally irresistible, and in hobble skirts they seem to bo no less fascinating to the other sex than they did in voluminous and much befrilled gowns.

THE WIFE'S SECRET Generally speaking, who i* the engineer? The wife! She gives her first attention to her husband. He is her first thought. She makes him happy, nor, with the normally-minded man, should this prove any anxiety at all. A woman's natural care towards the object she loves is all he asks. This ho gets, and the "contractor for fuel" for the machine does not fail her. lie goes to his duties happily, and is content to leave all domestic affairs to his good wife. She, like the "Self-made Mer-I chant," realises that there is nothing like a woman at home to spur on a man at the office. She also is wise enough to know that a married man is worth more salary than a bachelor, because she can make him so. Therefore she] looks after his personal comforts. She makes his home so like club that he goes not forth at night, and -as a consequence he retires early, and is able to get about his work early. It was that astute person, the "Selfmade Merchant," who said to his son, "Instead of hiring women, I try to get their husbands, and then I usually have both working for me." And the guidwife agrees with him in toto, for she knows this is true. Thus her influence is felt by the employer. But the husband himself does not guess why he is so happy, and his life and prospect* so rosy. The wue's tact does not let him know what is the mainspring which actuated his zeal, and the consequent rise in salary for unremitting attention and punctuality the results of careful living. This is her secret —maybe the only secret he will never know.

NOTES. A Vienna Court has sentenced a woman named Leopoldina Futschel to three months' imprisonment for abusing Empress Maria Theresa, who died in 1780. Prau Futschel, who had been ordered by the police couTt to be expelled from Vienna for some offence, heard from a fellow-prisoner in her cell that the law providing for expulsion from a town was passed in Maria Theresa's reign. She then relieved her feelings by violent abuse of the great Empress, not knowing or caring that under the Austrian law the ancestors of the Emperor are protected from unduly unfavorable criticism, written or spoKen, for 200 years back.

The ex-Governor oi Victoria (Lord! Brassey), in declaring his complete ad-i nesion to the cause of woman suffrage,] said that his experience in various parts of the Empire had convinced him that not only would social improvement receive a new impetus when the women of Great Britain received the vote, but also that external affairs—foreign policy,' as well as defence—could be quite safely entrusted to an electorate composed of men and women, as was already the case in New Zealand and Australia.

The President of the French Republic is an ardent supporter of female enfranchisement. On a recent occasion in Paris M. Fallieres is reported to have said: "There is no reason for refusing to women the right of voting, no matter in what election. They have the same interests as men, and are no lcs» cloai-sighted." I Two brave women have just received | at the hands of King George the Albert i medal for bravery. Miss Jacques, ofj Beaulieu, in the New Forest, won her] medal for her remarkable courage in protecting her father and brother from' a mad bull, which she siezed by tinhorns until her relatives were out of danger. Nurse Wolsey saved the life] of a patient at Hanwell Mental Hos-I pital. In doing so sho had to follow] her some GO or 70 feet along the narrow i guttering at the edge of the roof of the building. I The woman's question has penetrated I even Mussulman Egypt! At the recent Moslem Congress at Heliopolis, the most I interesting feature was the discourse on I Moslem women by Mme. Badiah, daughter of Hafni Bey Nasif, vice-president of tlio Tantah Tribunals.- This speech was! read on behalf of the authoress, who is well known among natives for her enlightened views and her learning. Among other proposals she asks for Moslem women the right to attend prayers and] sermons in the mosques; to have primary education of young women made obligatory on all parents who ean afford i the expense; to increase the number of nursing homes, and to admit young girls to the schools of medicine; to use practical means for reducing polygamy and the abuse of divorce; and to teach Mohammedan girls needlework, housekeeping and hygiene. Miss Caroline Spurgeon, who was a prominent figure lin -the great women's demonstration last month, lias just taken, with brilliant success, the degree of Doctor of the University of Paris in belles lettres. The subject of her thesis was: "Chaucer devant la Critique en Angleterre et en France depuis son temps jusq'a nos jours." Her "soutem-

anee," a defence of her thesis in public before the professors of the Sorbonne, gained for her the additional honor of "mention tres honorable," a distinction that is rarely gained by a foreigner. "One who was present" at the ceremony says: "I should think that no one was ever more cordially received, or more 'en confrere.' Her judges nore testimony to her ■burden of erudition, which she carried without being weighted down, anu she was congratulated on her excellent French style. Evidently she is considered, admired and respected at the Sorbonne."

The women of Dublin have presented Mrs. Dr. Farrell, the mayoress, with a. handsome tara brooch, suitably inscribed, in recognition of her warm interest in the suffrage movement, and her young son with a silver cradle and a badge. She accompanied her husband on his mission to London last month a.s the mouthpiece of the Dublin Corporaation, when that body appeared at the Bar of the House of Commons, and took her infant over with her. That is practical enthusiasm if you like, men have formed a fire brigade, and after a month's training have been pronounced thoroughly efficient. They have galloped the engine to a given point,

'•'run"' 75 yards of hose, and started their engine pumping water in three minutes. A prominent member of the Burton Corporation Fire Brigade has stated (says the Nottingham Guardian) that "he would gladly, and with every confidence, take the ladies' brigade to any conflagration." On Tuesday. May 10, IS members of the brigade gave their first public drill. With their captain, Mrs. Roger Green, they got their engine out and dashed full speed to the scene of the supposed burning, where they fixed the hose and had water playing on the house in 2'/„ minutes. The women are to wear uniforms, wear helmets, and carry axes.

The passive resisters have been very much in evidence at Home lately. The, Princes* Sophia Duleep Singh, who was a member of the deputation who tried to force their way into No. 10 Downing street iti November, was fined £3 for refusing to pay her license. Her counsel contended ineffectively, of course, that the Princess took this course as a protest against the gross injustice of reducing Englishwomen, who were liable to taxation as property-owners, to the level of lunatics and criminals. And 1 the aged Mrs. Despard (sister of Sir John French) i has again had her personal effects sold I up for refusing to pay income tax and) inhabited house duty so long as she isl denied the right to select her parlia-J mentary representative. Miss Dorothy Evans suffered a week's imprisonment for refusing to pay the dog tax for the same reason, while the tax collectors took possession of tlm residence of the Missu..- Mackenzie at Kensington for refusing to pay local taxation.