WOMAN'S WORLD

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 204, 8 May 1912, Page 6

WOMAN'S WORLD

(Conducted by "Eileen"). CHINESE SCHOOL FOR GIRLS, i The only classical school for girls: in Pekin'is rim by a Chinese new woman, an old maid whose ideas of reform are decidedly reactionary. She has condescended towards progress only to the extent of allowing a woman trained in; a mission school to come for an hour once a week and teach the rudiments of arithmetic, geography and English. The rest of the curriculum consists of learning the Chinese classics off by heart and reciting them in a musical drone. This principal was her father's only child, and it made him melancholy to think that when he died his spirit would he a lonely orphan, because he had no son to perform the proper rights. Touched by his sorrow, she offered to -make what, to a Chinese woman, is the great renunciation —giving up marriage; thus she | could serve her father as a son berth during, anil, what was more important, after his life. So she was brought up as a boy; she wore man's clothes, she learned the classics off by heart as other boys learn them; she acted as private secretary to her father during his eighteen years of official life, and no one guessed that she was not a man. When her father died she mourned the full three years and performed air the- rites incumbent upon a son. Her male relatives tried to get her father's property, I but she fought them- ' ough the Chinese i courts and won. Ti, :i she took off her disguise, assumed the dress of a woman, and retired to the inner apartments, but her education and experience had taught her many things, the chief of which was that women should be educated. She I believed that the ills of China were largely due to the neglect of woman's education. She deplored the falling away of her people from the doctrine of Confucius to the, to her, superstitions of the Budhists, Taoists and Christians. To effect a reform she devoted her fortune to founding the Chen-I school for girls, her purpose being to train a band of educated women teachers, who will spread throughout China as Confucianist missionaries.

FASHION CENSOR. j £IO,OOO WARDROBE. ] The recent appearance in Washington ' society of a woman from Muncie, In-" diana, who proudly claimed social prestige because she was the possessor of six pairs of diamond-studded shoes and a wardrobe on which she spent £IO,OOO a year, has inspired an agitation among women of assured social position against ostentatious adornment. Tt is now seriously proposed in the columns of one newspaper that women who present vulgar display shall unite in selecting a "Queen of Fashion, whose pronouncements upon dress shall be authori-' tative as indicating good taste." Mrs. Calvin Gage, the sponsor of this suggestion, is particularly anxious that "the queen shall be a woman whose strength of character and soundness of intellect- are such that she will not be swayed with every whim of the Parisian modistes." Women prominent in Washington society, on being interviewed regarding the desirability of a £IO,OOO wardrobe, assert that dress at the capital is ordinarily far from extravagant. One of them puts the average woman's dress bill at a mere £7OO a year, this including six evening gowns, five morning and afternoon dresses, furs', wraps, boots, stockings and lingerie.

WIFE BUYS A HUSBAND. HIRED OUT AS '''CONVICT LABOR." An auction held at Ashville, North Carolina, recalls the old days when men were hired out as "convict labor" in Australia and some of the Western States of America. In this case a prominent local resident was offered for sale and "knocked down" to his own wife for the sum of £IOO. The man in question, Mr. P. H. Thrash, is a member of an influential family, and is understood to be worth over £20,000, but he was convicted of violating the liquor laws by selling spirits to retailers in a prohibition district. A fine of £SOO, together with the cost of the prosecution, another £BO, was inflicted, and he was further sentenced to thirty days' imprisonment. In response to his wife's pathetic appeal, and on receipt of the prisoner's promise not to offend again, the judge modified the' prison sentence, so.: that the county commissioners could let his services out for hire as "convict labor," provided a responsible employer could be found. The commissioners arranged for a sale by auction, and as Mrs. Thrash was the only bidder, her first bid. of £IOO was accepted,, and she was able to. take her husband home to work out his sentence as a farm, laborer. . , ~'../'

.. SOCIAL DICTATOR.', '",'', .SERVED TWO QUEEXS. r One of the most notable personalities -in society recently passed away in the person of the Duchess of Buccleuch, who, prior to her marriage, was Lady Louis j Hamilton, sister of the Duke of Ab'ercorn. •The family is noted for its brilliant marriages. One of her sisters is the wife of Lord Lansdowne; another, Lady Blandford, is the mother of the Duke of Marlborough; -while a third was Lady Winterton. ' So long ago as ISSA she married Lord Dalkeith, the heir to the dukedom of Buccleucli, • and for more than hfilf a century she. Tided over two great establishments, the chief of which, perhaps, was Montagu House, the London seat of the Duke, which she made one of the most exclusive of the great social'world of Mayfair. • ' • ' \ Every guest in her household had to be personally known to her, and woe betide the luckless aspirant to social distinction on whom, the duchess placed her ban. Beneath a manner somewhat austere in its stateliness, was much kindness of heart, however, and "there were few more staunch friends than the duchess when once the barrier had been removed. One of the humors of society was the nickname of "Tiny" borne by : this most exclusive grand dame of her time. Always a great favorite at Court, she seTved two Queens as Mistress of, the Robes, the chief office in the Royal household held by a woman. The late Duchess possessed some wonderful jewels, which included a priceless belt formed entirely of Brazilian diamonds, whilst her equipage was one of the most magnificent seen in the London parka.