WOMAN'S WORLD

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 183, 1 February 1912, Page 6

WOMAN'S WORLD

(Conducted fcj "Eileen.") CANDIDATES FOR MATRIMONY RICH ARGENTINE RECEIVES MANY LOVE LETTERS. A rich Argentine, Senor Ramon Barrera, is now in Paris, and the accidental disclosure in the Press that he is matrimonially inclined has led to a perfect deluge of letters from French women of all ages and classes desirous of detaching him from his present state of single blessedness. An enterprising journalist managed to secure a number of these letters from Senor Barrera, and their! publication affords • curious side lights on the French feminine nature. Mdlle. Yvonne V. says she has always dreamed of living in Paris, and asks for an interview with Senor Ramon. In a postscript she begs pardon for the trouble she is giving him. "Laura" begins her letter: "Very dear little missive will doubtless cause you a slight surprise, but I feel drawn towards you by true friendship." She goes on to say that she dare not come to see him in Paris dresse3 as she is, but only waits for him to send 20 francs in order to pour out the "affections of a heart that loves vou well."

It is not only the young and giddy who figure as correspondents. One lady cries—on paper—"Why, or why, is it that good and generous men like you never meet on their way a woman who—having reached a' ripe age, virtuous and pure—discovers that she cannot struggle any longer alone in this great Paris, whose courage, integrity and talent cannot give the satisfaction they deserve?" This writer is a governess and the daughter and grand-daughter of (soldiers.

A widow writes that she does not know what'it is—instinct, perhaps—which impels her to write, and, being a widow with a small family to bring up, she would be grateful for the loan of 10 francs. Of course the concierge, who is always mixed up in every Parisian affair, also appears, with, however a purely business, proposition.'- One of the fraternity thinks that, instead of running about the hotels, M. Ramon would be much better off in a snug little apartment, just such a one as she happens to have vacant—£ls a year and a penny by steamboat to Paris.

There are other letters in every keysome ridiculous, some romantic, and some j pathetic in an appeal for money from the man who seems to be free-handed and good-hearted. One letter is really charming in its naivete. It is from s working girl who finds dress expensive, and says it is all her parents can do to pay for food and clothing. "It is very painful, monsieur,' to be badly dressed amongst a, number of girls who are prettily frocked, although quite good as they in other respects. In the newspapers I read that you gave a magnificent costume to , who has returned it you. lam the same size, and she and I take exactly the same size. Oh, sir, how I should like to have that costume! It is a little thing/for you, but what a joy for my family and for me. Then I could say that I was wearing dresses made for a rich Argentine, etc." The abov£ says, the London Standard, are only a few specimens from a whole sheaf of letters, which show rather painfully how keenly French women readers follow the events of the day in the newspapers. There is, in fact, material for a dozen novels in the love letters of Senor Ramon Darrera.

STYLES IN GIRLS "Styles in girls are as well defined as any other line of trade." It is k *a correspondent in New York who sends fchii j interesting information. The particular trade anxious to assert its taste is that of the theatrical manager, which, we are assured, "sets the styles in girls for America." It seems a hard saying (comments a London writer). When some type or other has a success on the stage, we are to suppose that all the other girls m America try to look like it. Phenojnent of that kind are not wholly unknown in England. Common fashions in hairdressing, and even in clothes, have before now been borrowed from the heroine of a popular play. But America seems to go much further than this. It professes to change not merely accessories, but physique as well, in assimilation to the reigning' favorites of the stage. Here we begin to hesitate. Betaking thought and consulting experts most of us can do something in adding to or diminishing our stature. But what is the use of proclaiming a fashion for girls not to be over sft tall? Some of us woull hi.e to knock three-quarters of a foot from our height, many as much as <un. It is too big a miracle for any costume. Moreover, it is an insult to the Zeitgeist, the time-spirit, which is just as potent in the matter of feminine height as in more ethereal affairs. For a generation or so women have been growing steadily taller. Shall we suddenly reverse the process? Not for all the theatrical managers in America. But this American tale is odd in many ways It is not merely stature, but coloring and complexion, which have to be altered in obedience to fashion. The hapless American girl must be not only short, she must have black hair, she must have an olive skin, she must have brown eyes. Wonderful are the resources of science, ureat is the American nation, and verv great are its girls. But how do they manage the eyes? .... Let us be content with a contrast of a couple of genera ions. Are the girls of Dickens and Phiz much like those of the last popular novel? Your modern heroine is always tall and lithe and willowy. The girls m Dickens, if, they are meant to be charming, are always round and dimpled. ■T l m J°. 0n t0 "&■» that the novelists and their illustrators set the fashJlff y° u a ™ Putting the cart behnr th U is not the but the girls themselves who have clianged the type Womankind has taken to sport and the open-air, and of those causes are born the Dianas of 1911, Dickens may have had a penchant for the little plump species of girl, but it i s no t weri 6 J U flf° Bed that a " his were of the same taste. Yet all thpir books are full of the small, round" n Aowadays our novelists only allow their minor heroines to take this shape. The great adventures are reserved for the tall Of course, you can find instances ouS Z T y - B * ut i. f what one wites Bv» «»ntradicted, you would narwv go on reading it.

THE EARRING FASHION ft the fashion for wearing ear-rin*s on 2er'TlT 7° ?" th ™ ager of a London firm of jewellers re plied in the affirmative. "But I Sice » "S """'^-em.ndforW^ aiscn\e ed that the action of the screw on the lobe of the ear is inclined to ca US a certain numbness, and a S a consequent l4in W g bm>meS easiI ' V det «*<* Wr ,i'k- g "'.'■""a 8 are often loosened by rubb,ng against a lady's fur, or becom waj, and the ear-ring falls off. Mv ex Penence , 8 that the majoriy of our clients are having their eara pferced f" he reasons referred to." & £? ™ jontv of cases women find f1,,, ', But a good deal of discretion mus be exercised in selecting the stones tn i -ornand,the 9tyle S f settog n mos t °u n !

suitable for each individual face. The color of the hair and of the eyes must 1 be considered, and also the particular occasion on which it is proposed to wea such jewellery. The color scheme of the costume must also be taken into account. One of the most popular stones of the moment is the moonstone; it can be had in the less expensive settings, as well as mounted in platinum, when it is fairly costly. In combination with diamonds there are some very charming designs. For instance, what could be in better tfaate than a pear-shaped moonstone drop mounted in gold, suspended by tiny platinum chains from a diamond bow? Turquoises are also much in demand, and for the woman of moderate means the turquoise matrix is made up into some very pretty styles at quite moderate prices.

DECLINE OF FRIENDSHIP 1 . DEAN OF ST. PAUL'S OX WEEK-END VISITS. Dr. Inge, the Dean of St. Paul's, London, addressed a meeting of men at the Polytechnic, Regent street, on "Friendship." Why was it in Christian society that friendship seemed to have fallen from the place of honor? One satisfactory answer that must be given was that among Christian nations a man's best friend was generally his wife, and that a woman's best friend was generally her husband. The friendship between man and Woman was one of the best achievements of Christian civilisation.

The decline of friendship, which he, thought was a fact, wa's to some extent accounted for by tKe conditions of modern life. In old timesi one read of long leisurely days spent by friends merely in enjoying each other's company. A visit to a friend's house lasted a month, or even two months. Now their visits were usually two nights, and they took care not to miss the ten o'clock train on the third day. (Laughter). That did not give much time for acquaintance to develop into friendship. And yet the absence of friends left an aching void in the heart. Their bodies demanded sympathy as much as their bodies demanded food. How were they to choose friendships ? The history of most friendships was that of Emerson: j "My friends have come to me unsought; I the great God gave them to me." It | was the real joy of friendship that they might think out loud to a friend.

ADVANTAGES OP MARRIAGE AGED BRIDEGROOM'S ADVICE. Oliver Franklin Fuller, eighty years old, a wealthy chemist, president of the Fuller Drug Company, of Chicago, on the eve of his second marriage to Miss Rebecca Secor, thirty years his junior, has issued the following matrimonial advice to the world:— "Retire from business and from a state of being wed and you begin to die. "Marriage is the sorcery that rejuvenates a man. ' "Choose your partner in life with the same care that you would choose a business partner. "Lonce de Leon was foolish to set out on an endless search for the Fountain of Youth, He. could hf|ve fpimd it in the heart of some comely young Spanish & T }.\. '•Not to be happily married is to live without joy, blessing, kindness, religion or peace. "Marriage is a great institution, but it should never be allowed to interfere with a man's business. It won't in my case. We'll go away for a secret honeymoon. I ve already changed our destination, so that even my two sons and their families won't know where we are going. The morning after I return home you will find me in my office at 7.45 a.m., where I have always been found for the last sixty years, and where I will be until I die"