WOMAN'S WORLD

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 309, 26 June 1912, Page 6

WOMAN'S WORLD

(Conducted by "Eileen.") CATHOLIC SOCIAL. ' A most successful and enjoyable social evening, given by the ex-pupils of the New Plymouth Convent School, was held in the Rolland Hall on Monday, June 17. The hall was very prettily decorated with pale blue and white, and the stage, which was set apart for non-dancers, was tastefully arranged as a drawing-room, while adjoining it was a large marquee, in which a delicious supper was served. The' Mayor (Mr. G. W. Browne) and Mrs. Browne were among those present. The function was opened with an overture by Misses I. Henderson (piano) and S. Fitzgerald (violin). Other musical items contributed at intervals during the evening were:—Song, Miss M. O'Donnell; pianoforte duet, Misses E. Hooper and Fitzgerald; song, Mrs. A. Avery; pianoforte solo, Miss L. Henderson; song, Dr. McCleland; song, Mrs. Power; pianoforte duet, Misses Henderson and Connett; song, Miss Ainsworth. The musical programme was closed witli that ever-wel-come "Killarney," by Misses I. Henderson (piano) and S. Fitzgerald, M. Jones, E. Mannix and O'Sullivan (violins). . Among those present I noticed—Mrs. F. Henderson, black silk, real lace berthe; Mrs. S. Hooper, black silk, braided in emerald green; Mrs. Tully (Inglewood), pale blue satin, with an overdress of black spangled net; Mrs. M. Jones, old gold, relieved with saxe blue; Mrs. F. Orbell, pale blue: Miss I. Henderson, very pretty cream >iL, w.th silver trimmings; Mrs. A. Natnan (Sydney), black and white; Miss 11. Bennett (Christchurch), cream; Miss M. Jones, cream cashmere, trimmed with swansdown; Mrs. Mannix; Mrs. Ham, pale blue satin; Miss Howell, heliotrope silk; Miss E. Howell, white silk; Misses Wallach, white; Mrs. A. Avery, grey, relieved with pale pink; Mrs. Terry, pretty blue silk, trimmed | with brown fur; Miss B. Clark, white > silk; Miss E. Brennan, fiale blue; Miss | I. Connett, white muslin; Miss A. Smith, \ pale green; Mrs. Chaney, black, relieved with pale blue; Miss K. Bennett, white muslin; Miss B. Oliver, pale blue silk; j Mrs. Crawshay; Miss Elsie Gilbert, white muslin; Mrs. Little, black; Mrs. Golding, 'black silk; Miss G. Golding, white embroidered muslin; Miss Miller, white; Mrs. McKean, mauve silk, trimmed with darker shade; Mrs. L. Jackson, black and white; Mrs. Ryan, black silk; Miss Ainsworth, old rose silk, with rich cream lace trimmings; Mrs. Jennings, black and white silk; Miss Jennings, cream silk; Miss O'Rorke, pretty cream silk; and many others.

PASSING OF THE OLD MAID. THE BACHELOR GIRL. In the dim, back ages women had but one profession, and that profession was to get married. To capture a husband and secure a home was the dream of every girl who lived the cloistered life. Those who achieved their ambition settled down to a smug satisfaction; the anglers who obtained no bites were labelled failures, and the phrase "old maid" became their bitter title. Instead of merely indicating a condi- j tion, {lie term denoted a character. To ; speak of an "old maid" was to conjure up an image of a lady of uncertain age, with a bitter resentment against Fate, w.ho consoled herself with cats. She was supposed to have no lovable i traits in her character. Her temper was ' as uncertain as her age, and her thirst j for gossip and scandal was never satis- ] j fled. - I Her appearance, too, was invariably unattractive—she was bony and angular; her hair was scanty, her wrinkles prolific, j and her mouth took the downward droop j of dissatisfaction. Gradually, as woman's sphere of interest grew wider, as she launched out into profession which had hitherto been sacred to the sterner sex, the term "old maid" assumed a new meaning. It was no longer used in a condemnatory and contemptuous manner. Yet still something of the former bitterness clung to the terra—one paused ere using it in connection with an unmarried lady of sweet and gentle disposition. A new word was needed, for the old maid was passing into the limbo of forgotten things. To-day we have very few "old maids," although the ranks of unmarried women are yearly swelling. ; Happiness comes to our modern woman by various roads. Work develops her nature and brings out her lovable qualities as thoroughly as would the functions of wife and mother. The modern girl fights against inactivity and for her own independence. She is rarely satisfied with an anomalous position in the household as "one of the family." She takes her life in her own hands, and makes that life a full one. Our modern women have more "backbone" than had those of the past. Here and there one comes across a woman who has devoted her girlhood and early bloom to the shrine of duty to parents. She has been their slave until death has robbed her of their company, only to awaken to an empty life of insufficient means', lost youth, and no substantial occupation. Woman has been, for some time, in a transitory state. Now she has found her level. The old maid is passing, and in another 50 years will be, something entirely of the past. A new title is needed for the woman who retains her maiden name and lives a life of usefulness. Spinster, as a word, is by no means an apt one. One associates it with lawyers and the marriage banns, but rarely with the laughing maidens who bear this title. Applied to gaiety and youth, it sounds ugly and repellent ;applied to the busy woman-worker, it is harsh and unsatisfactory. Perhaps that is why our modern maids prefer to be "bachelor girls." The word "bachelor" is associated with, freedom and pleasure. Women are 'beginning to appreciate freedom, and, although they can also appreciate pleasure, their hearts are in the work which enables them to enjoy both. Women are just as ready to marry today as the}' were in the days when marriage was looked upon as woman's whole vocation, but the girl of to-day does not mope and languish for a man in the manner of a -maid of the Victorian era. She takes her place in the army of women-workers, and if the man she could love does not come along she does not pine away. Her independence gives her a broader omtlook on life. She improves her faculties by keeping them in thorough working order, and, although her grey hairs may find her still a maid, it is only in experience, love and understanding that she is an old one.

"The day her first book is accepted by, the best publishing house of the coun-i try," suggested the scribbler of the group. ' 'The (lav she first votes," said the ardent suffragist. "You are alt wrong," complacently remarked the young mother. "It's the day she first 'holds her baby in her arms." "It's every day when her husband comes home from business," contributed the bride. "It's the day she finds a jewel of a cook, who promises to stay," said a housekeeper. "Does that dav ever come?" enquired a cynical friend. "Which do you think is the happiest •day in a woman's life?" asked one of the party, turning to a silver-haired grandmother, who had been listening, with an amused smile, to the various suggestions. "There's such a difference," she began, hesitatingly, "between pleasure and happiness. One may have many red-letter days, but the happiest day— —? In the truest sense of the word, it seems to me it would be the day when she comes to a realisation that she can face the future without fear or lack of faith, the day when she knows, without doubt or shadow of turning, that good is the strongost force in the universe, that joy is around her on all sides and in many forms, if she will but see it, and that 'the greatst joy of all awaits her when she joins her loved ones in the Far Country. I think the day when with shining face she knows 1 hat these are truths beyond disproving, and that they will lighten and brighten her path to her journey's end, is the happiest day i-> her life. And it is a happiness that a! ' ' >s." And the light-hearted women in l he group grew suddenly silent, for they knew she was one who had come through great tribulation.