WOMAN'S WORLD

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 228, 25 March 1912, Page 6

WOMAN'S WORLD

(Conducted by "Eileem.") WHAT A WRITER THINKS. In the course of a drastic criticism of! women's modern tendencies, a writer in j the Woman's Magazine says:—"Nothing is more humiliating to me than the sight of women in a toilet room, in a place like any of the big stores, puffing out their hair and powdering their faces. If ono watches long enough, one sees so much pitiful vanity that it makes one sick and furious at once with the conditions that foster in woman this silly passion—personal vanity. I have seen them proving this, and finally getting the crowning mark of imbecility, the hat that covers one eye, set cocked at the proper angle over hair ridiculously arranged, and resting on a bare back, and a pair of shoulders humped into a fashionable mannish attitude, until I have felt like shrieking out and thus getting myself safely established in a madhouse, where a straight-jacket would seem the only garment that could cure my disgust with the pitiless caricatures of womanhood that stalk the streets of the great city in interminable processions all the day long. At such times my heart harks bnck to farmhouse kitchens, to find there some plain, busy woman, and to have it aching over the follies of her vain sister in the towns. A REAL HEROINE

The roll of heroines for the .year 1!)1-1 has been indeed a long and remarkable one, containing as it does a list of old and young who in the presence of great danger have shown wonderful coolness and courage (writes the journal Votes for Women). None has been braver than old Jeanne Monnot, the French nurse, who paid with her life for an act of self-sacrifice on behalf of three children committed to her cars. Jeanne was seventy-four years old, and spent the greatfer part of her life in the service of the same family. Recently she was looking after her old mistress' grandchildren, and one evening, having given them their supper and put them to bed, she began to prepare her own meal. In filling a lamp she spilt some paraffin on a plate which she had left on the kitchen table, and, when lighting the lamp shortly after, dropped a burning match into the plate, which instantly blazed. In trying to extinguish it the nurse became enveloped in flames, but,' throwing herself on the ground, she hdlled herself in a rug until thev were extinguished. Fearful lest she 'should frighten the little ones, who were just .going to sleep, the faithful servant never uttered a cry, despite the awful pain she was suffering. Crawling back to the besdside, she sat crooning songs and b'alby talk until her charges were asleep, and was found, in silent agony, sitting at the bedside- of the sleeping children" so terribly burned that when taken to the hospital she only survived a short time.

A DEVOTED FRENCHWOMAN (says the London Daily Telegraph) lias raised a million voices to claim the medal offered by the Government in tardy recognition of the herots of the - Frahco-Prussian war of 1870. One voice alone is feminine. This solitary signature of a woman is that of widow Anchin, who followed the canteen throughout the campaign, toiling for France with a devotion that was heroic, and that to-day modesty asks for acknowledgment. Wherever the lads of the 9th Artillery went, she followed. At the canteen, where she worked, there was always food, if it had to be concocted out of the most meagre ingredients. The widow likes to tell of her campaign. She . ecalls the battle of Wittenberg, for she went through.it. She thrills as she remembers, though vaguely, her experiences when she was taken prisoner at Lechfield, and kept within walls until the end of March of the following year. The widow lives in a garret now in a small town. From under the close, black bonnet, that is the badge of her loneli-' ness, her keen black eyes look out with a cheery, shrewd air, as if to say that they have beheld many things, and have learned the art of judging lenientlv. A Frenchwoman is very practical, and the' erstwlnle cantinier has made the best of her humble circumstances. Determination 1S expressed in the wrinkles about her mouth,, albeit the bands that once worked so well are now crippled with lheumatism. A coffee-pot and mill are on the narrow shelf in her tiny room, a casserole is on her slim-legged stove, for she has not forgotten the art of preparing a savory meal out of the most modest materials. A garret is two stairs up, and even if the house is not by anv means a skyscraper it is hard to toil down and to remember that one must wend one s way up again. So Widow Anehin makes shift with the skylight window, which she unlatches, and out of JL, * ~¥ a ! 1 1S thrust every now and then, for life in the open has accustomed her to breathe fresh air. If this brave veteran does obtain her medal the bestowal of the reward will be one more instance of the way in which France appreciates and rewards the tasks of tho woman s department in domestic life. A PATHETIC DISASTER. I

The circumstances attending the icebridge disaster at the Niagara falls (recently mentioned in the cable messages) were moat pathetic. When the brid S a broke away five persons, there were six others on it. They ran away to the Canadian side and escaped. Those drowned were Mr. and Mrs. Eldridge Stanton, of Toronto, and Mr. Burrell Heacock, a youth. They were at first eomn aiUl r WheU th ° y re g ain « l their composure endeavored to reach the Canadian shore, but found open water. Thev hen retraced their steps to the Amcrf can e but Mrs. Stanton fell exhausted and her husband and Heacock endeavored to assist. A friend of Heacock, who was with them, went on, caught a rope thrown from the s h o re. and was >ave< on an ice-floe that was passing down t it nver. I'irenten on both sides of the three I Tl ,lUiffcc | u,,ll . v to re«cli the til ee helpless people with ropes, and so did others stationed oil the steel eanliMUf " f' IV'"" ,lear tllC Maid of tlie -Mist landing the ,ce lloe on which the hree people broke. The man and his were on one portion, and Mr. Heacock oil the other. Mr. Heacock waved a farewell. On passing the bridge he grabbed a rope. The firemen tried to haul him up. but the yoi.th was exhausthv n lllto thc water ' was crushed the ice and sank in the spume. The thousands of spectators 011 the banks gioaned. Passing the cantilever bridge, ; Stan / i °» grabbed a rope and tried ! " S ,vifo ' but with the fo 10c of the current tlie rope broke, and - . i t.niton waved .the torn end to the sip, 7 i dlaiK '° romahll 'J at the stctl-arch bridge. As the lloe rushed under it Mr. Stanton caught a rope and srV'i 1 out the slack. As Mr. Stanton tried to pass it about the waist of his wife his hands were apparently numbed, for suddenly he looked up and let go. Ho th"n rai.sed his wife and kissed her and clasp--7 "' r •»*«*. The woman crossheisclf and sank on her knees. The man dropped down on his knees beside In entwining her in bis arms. The ic<> 1:11,1 « great wave and shivered,

and the man and woman passed from view. A LAW COURT AND WOMEN A French law court (states the Argonaut) is supposed to be always susceptible to feminine charms, but La Belle Otero has discovered that there are exceptions to that rule. Of course her opponent may have heen equally beautiful, and when a Judge is confronted with two angry ladies his only possible course is to give his award in favor of the faireat. The trouble came about in this way: Mme. Otero sent some valuable lace to a modiste and then called in person to explain her wishes. The lace was discussed from all points of the compass and was then laid on the mantelpiece. It disappeared and was never seen again. Mme. Otero charged the loss to the modiste, who responded with a declaration that the lady had taken the lace away with her. She saw her do it. There could be no question about it. Her memory was absolutely clear on the point. Ladies' memories are always clear when their interests are at stake. No woman ever yet lost an advantage through a lapse of memory. But La Belle Otero had a crushing reply, and we can "imagine the fine toss of the head with which it was delivered. Carry a parcel? Is it conceivable that she would so far forget herself as to do such a thing! The impossibility of an action so derogatory was a sufficient reply. The honorable Court would doubtless laugh at such a plea. They would be aware of the canons of fashionable propriety and would ! break all the Ten Commandments, but that she would never be guilty of infringing the laws of etiquette. But the Court found against her. They imeathed a law to the effect that the evidence of a person becoming the depositary of an article must be accepted in the absence of a reeeipt proving the contrary, and so Mme. Otero retiree' thinking thoughts no mortal ever dared to think before, thoughts that defy expression, thoughts that wither and scorch. FALSE HAIR. Every now and then we read som# ' indignant denial of the assertion that human hair is shipped from China for use by the women of America and Europe. We have always been suspicious of those denials (states an Ameri- ) can paper). That women use a vast quantity of hair that is theirs only by purchase is unquestioned. There can be no doubt that human 'hair has a market value. Then wliy must we not believe that the hair of dead Chinamen is ac- , tually exported and used? There are J a great many dead Chinamen that it j would be a pity to waste. Their hair I is long and admirably suited for the purpose. Why, then, should it not be used for that purpose ? Obviously it is so I used. Now c-omes a report from London lon this very matter. It quotes "one of the largest dealers in human hair," and it is to the effect that the revolution in China, and the abolition of the pigtail, is likely to glut the market, and that artificial fringes, tails and "rats" will be cheap. We are told that the only white countries that do not use Chinese hair are France and Austria. These countries prefer to be supplied from Bohemia and Moravia. America, England and Germany depend largely upon China. And there yon are. There is no particu--1 lar objection to using the hair of Chinamen except on the part of those who do object to it, of which we are one. But it would be nice to know its antecedents. If it comes from the head of some nice clean little Chinaman who has abandoned his pigtail in order to show his political opinions, well and good. Even then we should like to know that it had been boiled for a month in carbolic acid. But it is evidenfthat the hair we have been using so, far has no suclf* source. It came fvohi the dead Chinaman of the common or garden-variety, from the Chinaman. *ho had diecFa natural death, and natural death includes all sorts of nasty things, and also from | the Chinaman who had died an unnatuj ral death at the hands of the executioner, j although it seems natural enough that l a Chinaman should die after his head is cut off. But there, what's the use. If woman's vanity demands the use of a Chinaman's hair, she will be quite indifferent whether the dear, dead Celestial came to his end by cholera or by blighted affections. She needs the hair!