WOMAN'S WORLD

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 175, 23 January 1912, Page 6

WOMAN'S WORLD

(Conducted ky "Eileen.") "WHAT DO THE GIRLS MARRY US FOR " "Problems of a Young Husband" is the title of a series of entertaining papers in Harper's, by Mr. E. S. Martin. In the November number he confesses: "I love the tranquility of the married state. You aren't always looking out for something vital to happen. It has happened. Really, it's an extraordinary condition. It never would work if men .weren't men and women women. I am amazed at the talent women have for living with men, as exemplified by Cordelia's gift for living with .me. There she is, grown up, intelligent, a product of indulgence, trained to fairly large expectations and to "as much liberty of action as her parents could contrive for her; and here I am, used to a still larger allowance of liberty, and with expectations that do not, of course, match hers in all particulars; and yet we make a go for it. ''What do the girls marry us for, anyhow? No doubt it is because there is nothing better in sight for them to marry. We are indispensable; that's our best claim. And they are indispensable; and . that's possibly theirs. Very sound claims both of them, and arranged for us some years back—3oo,ooo,ooo years, I read in last week's paper, but that's not important." Another passage may. be quoted:

"Cordelia and I are fairly pious people. We are even so old-fashioned that we like to go to church. It is not a universally popular pastime amfmg the Protes- I tants of our acquaintance, but, for my part, I have to go, if it's only to be reminded that there is another force always working to make life possible and palatable besides the wisdom of majorities (aforesaid), and the abilities of legislatures to legislate, and the powers of courts to keep them from overdoing it., Those things—the majorities and the legislatures and the courts—are eddies in the great current. I feel, when I am in church, Snore as though I was in the great current itself. I like to go; it is such a beautiful chance to think." To this may be added an apothegm from the editor's easy chair: "Love in women exalts itself through their perpetual self-sacrifice in marriage, and in men it debases itself through their constant self-assertion."

A WOMAN INVEIGHING AGAINST FASHION "Dress and the Woman" is the title of a paper in the November Atlantic Monthly, by Katherine Fullerton Gerould. Its significance lies in that it is a woman's blase against the horrible regimen of fashion. She says: "The most damning thing about fashions is that they make inevitably, nine years out of ten, for the greatest ugliness of the greatest number. Can anything be more absurd than to impose a single style on the fat and the thin, on the minimum wage and the maximum income?

"I admit that no fashion has ever been created expressly for the lean purse or for the fat woman; the dressmaker's ideal .is undoubtedly the thin millionaires. But the fat woman and the lean purse must make the best of each style, in turn, as it comes along. Since 'we must all dress, why not invent dresses that are widely adaptable—to different materials, to different occasions, to. different human types? It would purge our streets of many a sorry and sordid spectacle, and in that case would be an aesthetic service both particular and.pub-

'And that is another sin against 1 uity, for it deprives a woman of the privilege of dressing as best becomes her. There is something peculiarly bitter in watching the superseding of a' mode that wholly suits one. Now and then a woman confides to me her intention of keeping to some style that is especially adapted to her. 'lt suits me, and lam going to stick to it/ she declares. She sticks to it for, say, a year. I never knew a woman to try an experiment longer. The consistent costume is like the nun's habit, the best possible proof of having renounced'the world.

"Our greatest danger is simply the loss of all standards of beauty in dress. 'Why do all the women walk like ducks this year?' was the question put to a friend of mine, years since, by a younger brother. He did not know that a quite new kind of corset had suddsnly, during the summer months, "come in." To wear it meant change of gait and posture, eventually actual change of shape. Where is the woman who could ingenuously report: 'She had on a lovely frock made in the style of year before last'? I could not do it myself; nor, I fancy, could you." •

The writer further disparages the woman who, by her dresa, advertises her husband's riches. "She makes no indiscreet disclosures of fact, but she,rustles with pecuniary implications." The writer thus concludes her frank diatribe: "But the fact that chiefly gives one pause 13 this: that a woman cannot mingle comfortably with her equals unless she can clothe herself each season in a way that both to her and to them would have looked preposterous a twelvemonth before. It is odd that 'dress reform' should always have meant soniething ugly. There would be so tremendous a chance for anyone who wished to reform dress in the interest of beauty!"

FASHIONS FOR BRIDES Coming brides might take into consideration the following note from the Sydney Mail:—The I)ride's bouquet is growing smaller and small. Once she used to be almost hidden behind a huge shower bouquet with hanging foilage and streamers of flower-tipped tulle, and then the sheaf of lilies came into vogue. Sow she usually carries a wee bouquet about the size of a tea-plate., and as often as not, no bouquet at all. But at the same time flowers must make such a pretty finish that they ought not to be set aside in favor of something else. A prayerbook is often liked, and this is usually ivory or vellum. Regarding the bridesmaids, tunic dresses are very popular, and one tone mounted over another is extremely dainty and pretty. The palest blue veiled in mauve is worth considering from an artistic point of view while mauve over apricot has also a very pretty effect. Then, again, some brides like an all-white wedding, a touch of color being introduced into the sashes and bouquets. Black once used to be eyed with much disfavor, but now it,is really popular, and black picture hats and staffs are by no means uncommon. Very dainty ia a costume consisting of a white ninon , gown mounted on white satin charmeuse, with a sash of saxe blue, and a large white hat trimmed with saxe blue ribbons and masses of pink roses, and to which is added a pink bouquet or staff tipped with pink flowers. Of course, one is to a great extent swayed by the complexion of the bridesmaids and the season of flowers. For example, pale yeJJrnv n 111011 is charming mounted on daf-1 fodil satin charmeuse, and the flowers earned might be either daffodils or jonquils Large lace trimmed hats could be added, but I note there is a great weakness for head-gear of the small order Small round mob caps with a tiny wreath

of flowers placed just below the base of the crown appear very popular. Evening \ weddings are gaining a good deal of j ground, and on these occasions evening dresses are usually worn by both the bride and her maids. Under these circumstances Komney scarves for the maids of honor might be added with advantage. A square-cut guimpe is generally considered sufficient for the bride, but the guests go in full evening dress with smart cloaks or elaborate scarves, and with either large picture hats or sufficient on their heads to form a complete covering. At night flowers are not always carried, but this is, of course, a matter of indivdual taste. Wreaths of flowers in the hair are very pretty, and' usually becoming, while "Juliet" caps of net and bead! work are also seen. Little I children look delightful in white muslin frocks tied up with colored' ribbons, while tinv mob caps of net and' lace, with huge rosettes or choux of pastel ribbons over each ear bring the whole to a most successful conclusion..