WOMAN'S WORLD

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 170, 24 January 1912, Page 6

WOMAN'S WORLD

(Conducted by "Eileen.") FOX-HUNTRESS OF 84. HON. MRS. COLVILE STILL FOLLOWS ] HOUNDS. J London, December 5. The most remarkable follower of Kounds in the country is the Hon. Mrs. Colvile, of Lullington, Burton-on-Trent—-the mother of the late General Sir Henry Colvile—who at the age of eighty-four has just resumed hunting with the Atherstone and Meynell packs. Ringing cheers greet the veteran sportswoman's appearance at the meets. Mounted on her favorite mare, she looks as fit as ever. Practically all her hunting experience, which extends back for sixty-two years, has been with the two packs which she still follows. Her residence is situated between the countries of the Meynell and Atherstone hounds. Mrs. Colvile finished the last hunting season with the Atherstone, though the weather on the day of the closing run was such as few hunting women cared to face. [Mrs. Colvile is the grandmother of the Rev. A. H. Colvile, vicar of New Plymouth.]

BALLET DANCERS AND DIAMONDS DRASTIC PROHIBITION. ON THE STAGE. Paris, December 4. There has been an amusing little storm in a tea-cup at the Paris Opera House. Some time ago M. Clustine, who comes from St. Petersburg, was appointed bal-let-master at the Opera House, and it is his severity which has aroused a tumult among the ballet-dancers. There has even been talk of a general strike. I The young women of the ballet are ' furiously angry with M. Clustine because he allows his sense of the artistic to interfere with their natural affection for jewellery.. From time immemorial every ballet-girl at the Paris Opera House who possessed pearls and dia> monds, or other precious stones of value (and very few of them did not possesi such stones), has made a point of wearing them whenever she appears on the stage, no matter what the ballet is sup-, posed to represent. This annoyed M. Clustine's artistic sense. . This morning he called a special rehearsal of the ballet, and reminded the girls that very severe measures would be taken against the peasant girls, who were to dance in "Roussalka," if they should be disobedient enough to wear I jewels of value of the Russian village in which they were to dance.

There was a moment's awful silence. Then the whole front row threatened to lay the matter before M. Messager. "Do," said M. Clustine quietly; "M. Mesager is here"; and the director of the opera upheld M. Clustine's decision. So there will be heavy hearts when the villagers dance in "Roussalka" ballet tomorrow.

A GIRL AND A FORTU^TELLER

An amusing story is told at the expense of a fortune-teller in Auckland. One of the gentleman's specialities when dealing with lady clients is to tell character from a lock of hair submitted. Two young ladies decided to put the matter to a test, and therefore got a third one to visit the fortune-teller with an envelope containing a lock of hair. The fee was a very moderate one—namely, what is known as the "colonial Robert." The fortune-teller placed the Mck of hair to his massive forehead, ■ ud, no doubt thinking the lady wished ' o know the qualities of a prospective husband, said: "This comes from one of the most scientific creatures I have ever known; one whose influence on humanity will be very great; one who is highly sympathetic, noble and generous,' who will achieve success in whatever is undertaken." There was a good deal of this class of eulogy, and the lady really got a good shilling's worth of it. When she reported the result to her friends, they nearly went into hysterics, in which she also joined when one ejaculated: "I cut it from Fred's calf."

MONKEY SKINS FASHIONABLE. Monkeys are fashionable now in Paris, especially their skins, which are the latest craze for satchels, purses, writing cases, and such articles. Monkey leather is of dark golden brown hue, and is as strong and durable as crocodile skin. Slippers of natural monkey leather are in great demand among smart .Frenchwomen, as are writing table accessories made of that material, which is supposed to be the only thing that matches-the inlaid' intarsia furniture which is just now considered ultra chic. Men carry canes with monkey heads or faces carved on the handles, or with knobs made of monkeys sitting on their haunches. Of course, the carving must be of the finest, or the effect is not good. It is monkeys wherever you look; monkeys on umbrellas, or lorginette handles, on hat pins, on belt clasps, or hanging from watch fobs or bell pulls.

NOVEL MARRIAGE EXPERIMENT. PHILOSOPHER'S SCHEME. How to retain one's individuality although married, is the subject of an interesting announcement made recently by Mr. Max Eastman, a Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University, and his wife, "Miss Ida Eauh."

The newly-married couple inform their friends that wish to be known now, as before, by their own names, so as not to mix their individualities. On the doorplate outside their residence the names "Professor Eastman" and "Ida Rank" are engraved in equal-sized letters, and their visiting cards are similarly inscribed. "I get cross when people call my wife 'Mrs. Eastman,'" the professor explained to interviewers, "for my desire is that she should be entirely independent of me in every way; as free, in fact, as before we were married."

"All marriages," said "Mis Rauh," "are trial marriages in these days, and everything one does in this life' is an experiment. Our marriage, however, is not a trial marriage, with a time-limit as its feature. We have no theories about marriage. We simply wanted to be together."

Miss Rauh is secretary to the Women's Trade Union League, and her husband, like herself, is in favor of votes for women. When asked if his wife's attention to outside matters did not interfere with home life. Professor Eastman exclaimed: "Certainly not. Men carry on tiieir work without neglecting their homes, so why should not women? They also should 'be economically independent, and then we should have perfect homes and perfect marriages." "What is wanted," interrupted Miss Rauh, "is for women to have liberty to choose. If the wife is domestic and wants to stay at home, then she should be free to do that. If she takes care of the home and rears children, she is self-supporting just as much as if she worked outside for a salary. A wife who wants to work at something else and who has talent for something outside the home should be free to do as she likes. Women were not born with

pans tied round the necks as a sign that it was their destiny to wash them. "If women could have this freedom the standard of marriage would be wonderfully raised. The ideas of support and gratitude must be removed from marriage, which is not a sacrament but a legal status." The friends of the couple regard the experiment of separate identities as an interesting social novelty.