WOMAN'S WORLD

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 177, 25 January 1912, Page 6

WOMAN'S WORLD

(Conducted by "Eileen.") NOTES FROM LONDON WOMEN PASTORS. London, December 8. There are now at least five women preachers in this country —the Rev. Gertrude Von Petzold, M.A., pastor of a church in Birmingham; the Rev. Hetty Baker, of a church in Sussex; Mrs. B. A. Dixon; Mrs. L. C. R. Smith, of a church in Cardiff; and Miss Jane Brown, formerly a country minister in Yorks, and now; a home missioner in Leeds. WOMAN AIR PILOT. Fraulien Nelly Beese, a Dresden sculptor, has recently qualified as the first woman air pilot in Germany. WAIFS AND STRAYS. A movement that has been hailed as "the most elaborate innovation of women's counsel and sympathy that has ever taken place under the Poor Law" is the new Boarding-out Order, which provides that the State's waifs ■ and strays must be officially reported on every six weeks by a woman-inspector, and that women must make up at least one-third of the local boarding-out committees. WOMEN'S MERCANTILE STORE. Such is the name given to a great store that opens next year in Chicagq on the co-operative system. It is financed by wealthv Chicago women, and sets out on a mission to reduce the high prices that now rule the Chicago world, claiming to do this by as much as 10 to 25 per cent, on ordinary American prices. TRADE SCHOOLS FOR GIRLS. A novel 'system, and one which should on all sides yield good results, is being set oil foot by the London County Council, who in January will award to daughters of parents Whose incomes are small, in the county of London, *250 scholarships, amounting altogether to over | £SOOO in value. The training provided ' at these girls' trading schools will prepare pupils for occupations both healthy and continuous, giving them at the same time a course' of physical culture and general training. A committee is to be f of mad, or several committees, on which will sit prominent members of the various trades, who will inspect and criticise the work done; and a lady official will give advice to girls lea\ing the school that should ensure them regular and satisfactory employment. Dress- : making, ladies' tailoring, upholstery, " waistcoat- making, the designing and making of wholesade costumes, laundrywork, millinery, corset making, photo- : graphy and cookery are among the subjects taught. Each girl is required to , ckrry through all the processes necessary • 'for the completion of the article, and this article, if suitable, is placed upon the market. Every girl is trained to remember that speed and skill are essential for her own market value, and a revord is kept to show her real position. . 'WOMEN'S COMRADESHIP. "Woman cannot be expected always to act wisely; she cannot be expected to have the political instincts and experience of men,, or their capacity for organisation. But the woman's movejnent has already shown the growth of a sense of comradeship, as opposed to the old sense of competition for a matrimonial prize, and it is only by giving liberty and responsibility to women, coupled with the full power to make mistakes, that we can hope to find them educated into useful citizens, fit to be the wives and mothers of sensible men. The wearing of skirts, the disadvantage of inferior physical strength, and the long burden of child-bearing will always handicap •vomen quite sufficiently, without the ad- ; 'lition of artificial disabilities in the political world."—Earl Russell, last Friday. A WOMAN COMMISSIONER. The one lady commissioner appointed on Mr. Lloyd George's. Insurance Board (Miss Mona Wilson) will draw what is claimed to be the highest stipend yet paid a woman official in Great Britain—viz., £IOOO a year. A WOMAN REFORMER. The Louisville Board of Trade (Kentucky) recently showed their open-mind-edness by inviting a woman-Miss Jane Addams—to address them, which she did, spea,king of civi improvements in the (large American cities, and not only making a plea for better housing of the poor, but urging the men of Louisville to take a hand in the work of improvement. REVIVAL OF THE LACE INDUSTRY. Queen Elizabeth of Belgium is taking steps to revive the making of Brussels lace by the girls and women of her country. She is having lace-making taught m the industrial schools, and has formed a company for the purpose of getting the lace into higher-priced markets. A YOUNG GIRL ORGANIST. There appeared a few davs ago at the Albert Hall, for the first time, a girl concert organist—Miss Adelaide Parker, who came out last year at Queen's Hall, and for whom a brilliant future is predicted. Miss Parker has devoted only our years' study to the organ under the guidance of Sir Walter Parratt and m Leipzig She won the Charlotte Holmes Exhibitions and also three Council Exhibitions. MEN AND WOMEN'S INTERESTS. There is dismay in the ranks of wo- : men teachers in New York, who, after e . years' pleading, have succeeded in securing equal pay with men teachers by legislation. As soon, says an American ?i ape £i? S « t 1 Ma 3' or of New York signed the Bill "the Board of Education ('mere men ) voted to lengthen the hours and to increase the size of certain classes; the Board of Aldermen passed a resolution providing for the replacing of scores of women teachers by men; and all members of the Board of Estimates but Mayor Gaynor himself and one other signed a letter to Governor Dix askin» him to put his signature to the Bill All these are striking instances of the manner m which women's material interests are looked after by men." A FRENCHWOMAN 'BARRISTER, leading woman barrister in When I read that description or Mile. Miropowlski in the announcement that she would lecture at the Universite des Lettres Francaises, Marble Arch House, on her experiences at the Bar, I pictured to myself a lady of stern aspect, masculine in feature, with a commanding presence and a loud voice (says a writer in the London Daily Mail). 1 had been promised an introduction before the lecture, and I quailed. When ni) intioducer led me up to a charming girlish figure, most becomingly dressed m black velvet and furs, wearing an exceedingly pretty large black hat, I thought n mistake had been made. Could this exquisite Parisienno, with wonderful deep, dark eyes, beautifully modelled features, and a perfect complexion, be really a counsel learned in the law, accustomed to plead in open Gourt, and hold her own with men? '•Yes f am Mile. Miropowlski," she said, smiling, and at once we plunged into converVery soon I understood her success at the Bar. She speaks French very ( rapidly, even for a Frenchwoman, but at lime brae with the clearest enunciation. she enforces the eloquente of Iter tongue with the persuasion of dramatic glance and gesture. I could imagine her effect upon a jury— especially a French

jury. No wonder she prefers to plead in I criminal Coutts, where there are jury- , men, rather than in civil cases before a : Judge alone, "whom it is far more difficult to influence," she complained. Yet .she would not at present advocate the elevation of women to the Bench, though she would like to see mixed juries. "Women, with, their quick sensibility, their common-sense, their practical wisdom, would be most useful, and if they feel more pity than men —well, justice is not a mathematical formula.. It should be tempered with mercy, as your Portia pleads." Women at the Bar, she holds, are specially needed in cases affecting children. They are more capable of putting themselves in a child's place. "It is said they are not so logical as men, but I seldom find this to be true. I think-they are usually more logical." While in London Mile. Miropowlski was entertained to luncheon by Mr. Justice Darling and other Judges at the Royal Courts of Justice. Distinguishing King's S counsel were also present.