WOMAN'S WORLD.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 90, 6 October 1911, Page 6

WOMAN'S WORLD.

(Conducted by "Eileen"). LONDON FASHION NOTES. London, August 4. Out of doors, in the West End, horses iiml humans show signs of distress at tin' excessive heat, the former bending their heads wearily under straw bonnets and hat> of red and white, the latter straw-hatted and soft-shirted, or gaily parasoled, according to their sex. Indoor sales hold sovereign sway, but these are not so universally rushed as usual, probably on account of the long spell of dry. hot weather that has forced people into thin garments months before this. All the population that can afford it, too, has gone to the seaside much earlier than usual this year. The doom of tight skirts having been authoritatively whispered in the high realms of dressmaking is responsible for a glut of these shapes in sale windows. Both day and evening gowns of much elaboration as to bodice and ultra skimpiness as to skirt are being offered at a quarter their first price.

| SHIRRING AXD GATHERS. j These are in fashion again, though ■ both are employed discreetly as yet. Some model gowns in white spotted muslin have the waist defined by tiny shirred gathers, with neat little zouaves of wliite muslin above edged with something stiller —linen, for instance. These, it should be noted, are becoming to slim, willowy figures, and to those alone. The zouave has tin* effect of shortening the upper part of the body, and is most unkind to plump outlines. PARASOLS. Parasols have enjoyed such popularity this season as they have not known for over thirty years, I am told, and conse- ; qucntly ail sorts and shapes are being sported. The newest are not at all graceful, and one cannot help wondering, since at least one well-known West End shop has a window full, to exactly what sort of owner such stodginess would appeal. These have very thick sticks and handles—quite as substantial as a man's stoutest walking-stick—and large fiat knobs at the top. They hold a mirror j and powder puff. AMERICANS AXD DRESS. Americans in great numbers invade London in August, arrayed in clothes al-1 ways smart and up-to-date, but not al-S ways graceful or becoming from the Eng- ' lish or New Zealand woman's point of view. Their coats and skirts are as neatly cut as the Frenchwoman's —they probably hail from Paris —and are short and smart, yet business-like looking, with short skirts and no useless trimming about them. Their hats—well, English, Germans and Americans might all have their millinery dubbed weird more truly than anything else, and it would be much more difficult than usual to single out women of those three nations at present. Frenchwomen sometimes have an air that is exclusively their own in millinery, but even theirs lacks anything distinctively becoming at present. One can tell an American at onee to-day by her veil, however, since it is almost always white and rather heavily figurod, a fashion that does not appeal to the delicate complexioned Englishwoman. And rightly, for though there, is something ultra smart about the white silk veils nowbeing so widely worn by Americans, their only virtue in many cases is that they ! hide a bad skin.

HOSE. Colored stockings have never been very popular with the best-dressed Englishwomen, but have, nevertheless, enjoyed a very long term of life, and often, on shapely ankles, give a distinctively original touch to a costume. They are rather troublesome to wash, owing to the color running, and so giving to the stockings a cloudy look. To prevent this, in washing thorn at home, do not use soda or rub soap on them, but put them into a good lather of soap powder and tepid water; the feet only should be rubbed, the other portions squeezed gently in the water. Afterwards rinse them well in tepid water, and finally allow them to stand for one minute in water to which a handful of common salt has been added. Hang them to dry in a shady, airy place, for strong light or sun spots spoils any delicate coloring. After washing line black stockings it will be found a great improvement to rinse Ihem through blue water. Colored boots and shoes, if. cannot but be remarked, are only shown in shops, and nothing more remarkable than brown, tan. black or perhaps black with grey tops are seen in wear.

THE HAREMS. The liarom influence is rather amusingly apparent, in advance models of costumes destined for the moors. The skirts are daringly slit at the sides about a foot up from the hem, but instead of trousers underneath, nothing more shocking that a panel of dark cloth to match or harmonise with the tweed is seen. ABOUT HATS. The hats, mainly small and clownshaped, arc veritable turrets of flowers, fruit or feathers, the majority of the trimming being at the back of the hat. Great plumed hats are still to be seen, however, and there is this to be said in favor of their size and the mammoth plumes themselves —they have found employment for a multitude of clever workers, under whose skilful fingers, as well as in the tail of the ostrich, these beautiful plumes come to their full perfection. So enormous are they (some of them actually 2y,yd> in length) that they might be products of antediluvian monsters. So thick are the curling strands that it is impossible to find any trace, of the quill or of the joinings of the various feathers that: make u|o this wonderful specimen of the feather-dresser's art. The long and beautiful shaded boas, of the same description as the feather-, that were -o much the rage a few mom lis ago. seem to be going out.

A VERBAL DUEL An interesting ilnol of words lias taken place in the London Daily Xews between Miss Cliri*(nl>el Puuklmrst and Mr. 0. K. Chesterton. Miss Pankhurst quotes the | opinions of men "of such experience, and 1 liiix'i democratic reputation as Mr. Ellis Crillilh. Sir Alfred Mond and Mr. Philip I Snowdcn, whose advice we have been ' acting on. and who-e guidance we naturally prefer to that of Mr. Chesterton. | whose object is to exclude all women from the right of exercising I he Parliamentary vote." Mr. Chesterton concludes his reply thus: •■] wish .Miss Pankhurst would n-e her mvii excellent female wits and drop this clinging and dependent attitude towards our sex. 1 want to tell her something that will he much more useful to her than anything she will hear from the three wise men at whose feet she sits. The truth is this: the male animal is vain, boastful and self-deserving, especially in things akin to war and sport. The old-fash-ioned woman knew this, and discounted his tall talcs. P.ut Miss Pankhurst is being stuffed up by the male politicians with stories about "How men won their freedom': about how cleverly and constitutionally, how boldly and yet warily, (he British •deiiHK'rat' gained, inch by inch, his political rights—'freedom slowlv broadening down,' etc. Now I don'tlike to give my sex away, but I cannot

bear to see poor Miss Pankhurst bam- ) boozled like this. I will tell her a / secret. 1 will tell her the truth about ! How men won their political rights.' | They never won them. They haven't I got them. About half the live English- j men haven't got votes at all; and the I other half are not allowed to use them ■' as they like. We shall never begin this . business at the right end as long as wo think the slow extension of the English franchise luis been a 'success.' It has been a gigantic failure. It has utterly failed to give us a grip on our national government. Those potterings and patchings which the Suffragettes are imitating were the defeat of Radicalism. If we had passed a sweeping Act of Universal Suffrage in 1830 we would probably have become a democracy. The 'bit by bit' method since has only made us more of an oligarchy.

SERVANTS IN FRANCE. AX AMERICAX VIEW. It is commonly believed in America that the servant question' in European countries, especially in France, where there is a large American colony, is insignificant compared to what it is in the States. Housewives who have lived in both countries would probably prefer to say that the problem is different. Hours of work are different, and while the French girl expects to perform many small duties that are never asked of 'a general servant in America, a good deal of heavy work, like washing and baking, is always done outside of the house! The French maid puts up with discomforts that an American would not, but she has a great deal more liberty, and the American system of confining a household worker to her kitchen all day would never be acceptable to the Gallic temperament (says a Xew York Tribune writer).

Half-past seven is the average hour when the French servant begins work, this being made possible by the fact that the first meal in France consists of a beverage mid rolls, the latter furnished by the baker.

If there is but one maid, she begins her day by doing the shoes of the whole family and brushing muddy garments; if there are two or more maids, this task falls to the second maid, who also does the greater part of the household cleaning, for the cook is out of the house for ', a good part of the forenoon doing the day's marketing, j The duty is one of the bright features I of the days of the French domestic serv--1 ant, and it would be very difficult to de- ; prive her of it. Not only is it profitable to her purse, but it provides the social intercourse that the French nature craves; the market is to the maid what the cafe and afternoon tea are to her master and mistress. The second maid also has her share of duties that take her outside of the house; she accompanies the children back and forth from school, and is sent on family errands.

Undoubtedly social conditions arc pleasanter for the maid in France than in America. She has more personal independence than is the case here, due to the construction of the apartment houses winch places all the servants' rooms in the mansard story. As a rule each maid has a room to herself. The mistress furnishes it, but after she gives the key of it to the maid it belongs to her as much as if she hired it at an hotel. The mistress has access to the room and the privilege of examining the contents of the girl's trunks, but onlv in the girl's presence. Once on the seventh floor the servants are free; if they go out in the evening no one but the concierge who opens the street door for them knows what time they return.

CAMPAIGN AGAINST HATPINS. A few months ago the Berlin police president, Herr von Jagow, issued n courteous appeal to the fair inhabitants of the city requesting them not to wear dangerously long hatpins in their headdress without covering the points with protecting sheaths. This appeal was the result of several serious accidents resulting from ladies wearing long hatpins in crowded tramway ears, railway carriages and other public places. In one ease a man had his eye torn out of its socket by the projecting point of a hatpin worn l.v the lady sitting next to him. The police president's appeal, however, did not appear to have met with the desired compliance. Herr von ■lagow proceeded to stronger measures, and a new police edict makes a woman whose unprotected hatpin inflicts a wound on another person liable to a fine of £45, and a term of imprisonment no'i exceeding two years, in addition to which the injured partv mav claim damages ud £3OO. ' l