WOMAN'S WORLD.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 127, 20 November 1911, Page 6

WOMAN'S WORLD.

(Conducted by "Eileen.") A NEW IDEA The latest requirement in every modern licmse seems to be a door-knocker placed outside every bedroom door, says a London correspondent. Scope here oll'ers for tin" designer, for of course each knocker has to be unusual, and unlike its neighbor. >Some designers prefer to be artistic, others experiment with the grotesque, and others look to famous pictures for their inspirations. Visits to cathedral cities and to university buildings will repay the designer a round of inspection, for a wealth of inspiration here awaits them —everyone knows the curious knocker of Brnseno.se, while the renowned Tmp of Lincoln will lie selected by the. lover of the grotesque, who will be further aided by giving some attention to the wicked and strange gargoyles which are numerous on all the old buildings. Metal-workers should now be having a profitable time in the doorknocker branch of their art.

DANCING MASTERS' CONGRESS. Dancing masters in France and a con-; tingent of tlieir foreign colleagues have just been holding their annual congress, an it is a fact that may be worth re- j marking that the Herman element was j in considerable force (writes a Paris cor- 1 respondent). Very polite, indeed, was a J speech delivered by a gentleman from j Berlin, who generously absolved Parisian society of any leaning towards the Apache dance. Quite equal to the occasion, however, was one of the representatives of the French capital, who more than hinted that performances of that description had .not originated in his native land. Patriotism, in fact, wius the order of the day, as ail English delegate claims that bows and curtsies of the most elegant description were still held in high honor at his Majesty's Court, as witness the veto against hobble skirts and the Lord Chamberlain's cir.cular to the dressmakers of the West End. During the congress several novel dances were introduced, including variations of the mazurka and the waltz, and a "live-step argentin." Jt is interesting to learn that, in the opinion of these high authorities on matters terpsichorean, dancing, at least in good society, is becoming more, simple. Gavottes, sarabands, and intricate country dances were succeeded by the waltz. Then followed the Boston, and now the Argentine dances appear to be the most in favor. When, argued a professor, people of a certain amount of suppleness take part in them they present an ensemble "less shocking to the eye" than a badlvexecuted waltz or Boston. A simple movement is carried out with more facility. and therefore with more grace and ease than a difficult movement, and this remark applies particularly to the Argentine dances, which, a-s a delegate from South America gallantly declared, are (executed with perfect grace by the Parisiennes. Of those dances the Argentine is in most request. And while such acknowledged authorities as the gentlemen assembled at this congress regard these Argentine dances as at least an agreeable variation from the waltz and the polka, they certainly hold out hopes for people who have not been very successful in round dances, as, if they still possess some amount of suppleness, they may yet figure to some advantage in the Argentine, or at least will present an ensemble ''less shocking to the eye," which means that they will not look too awkward and uncouth.

SARAH BERNHARDT Madame Sarah Bernhardt, who is again in London, has never playeil on the variety stage until fflie appeared at the Coliseum last year. She told an interviewer that, although at first rather alarmed at the idea of appearing at a variety theatre, she soon decided that it would bo very interesting to meet playgoers of a diirerent elass from those to whom she had been so long accustomed. Tint, though Madame Bernhardt had not plaved at a variety theatre until last year, she had performed in many places not usually associated with the drama. Once, in Berkeley, in California, she had an audience of thirty thousand people in a stadium; and during another American tour her theatre was a tent, which went with her from place to place. The famous tragedienne is always received with honors only less regal than those paid to royalty. Once, indeed, when she was to appear at a great charity matinee, the manager made all preparations to receive her at an entrance hitherto ermsemted to an Emperor and Empress. The whole of the theatre staff was marshalled to receive Madame Sarah, and there were beautiful bouquets and a great deal of red baize. But Madame Bernhardt missed it all. She drove up to the bank of the theatre, to the stage door. Finding nobody there to meet her, she drove awav again, and the manager and the audience waited for ' her that day in vain. AT A FEMININE INSTITUTION. ;

The Argonaut thus write.? of the Pomona Club, a strictly feminine institution founded in Washington:—"Do you want to know how to walk properly ala the Pomona Club? Simplicity itself. Stand with your shoulders thrown back. Lift the chin and place the apple on the tup of the head. Take a step. If 111" apple falls oil' you are not one of the chct. You are not sanctified by grace. Try it again. But remember, it must be an apple. An orange won't do. Ail orange is unconstitutional. Are you too stoat? Of course you are. It goes without saying. Nature has been at her old tricks again and has furnished the lower floors instead of the upper. Very well. All you have to do is to place Iwo apples upon the ground. Touch them with the linger-tips only, 'and do not !rl them -top until they have gone a certain distance, say ten times around a dining-room table.' We try to visualise this excruciating picture and we understand why men are not admitted to the Pomona chilis. Let us imagine for ouiselve> half a dozen generously proportioned ladies in procession around the dining-room table, each with her restive team before her. a team that must be touched only with the finger-tips. But then we cannot imagine it. II must be .-ecu, and no man i-; allowed wiihin those chaste precincts. There is nothing that the apples will not do. Boil them until they are soft and put. them in the bath. Let them rot ami daub them on the face. I Cut them in slices and rub them on the scalp. Make a cream of them and apply to arms and neck. Put them in a bag with hot water and use them like soap. The women are doing all these things in the Pomona clubs and thev are coming forth rejuvenated. Why is it that we are so behind the times here in the West?"