WOMAN'S WORLD

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 182, 19 December 1912, Page 6

WOMAN'S WORLD

(Conducted by "Eileen.") WEDDING BROKEN OFF A WOMAN WHO WOULD XOT "OBEY"

A wedding has been broken off at the altar in a church in New York City because Miss Elizabeth Blaucelt, the bride, refused to pronounce the word "obey" in the marriage service. The man she was to marry was Mr. Morris Holmes, a rich banker, of Boston. The churc'h had been beautifully decorated, and was 1 crowded with friends "of the bride and bridegroom. The principals stood before the chancel rail. Miss Blaucelt in an elaborate wedding dress, with four bridesmaids standing Beside her. The service had begun, when the bride interrupted to instruct the clergyman to I omit the \vord "obey.""' Mr.* Holmes said: "Certainly-not.. That word is in the; service," and the clergyman remonstrated with the bride. .She, however, refused to use the word or to say that she. would obej-. • Mr. Holmes then, declared that lie would not be married to a woman who would not obey. "I insist," -said he, "on- my- wife obeying my every wisli." There was a dramatic scene. The bride burst into tears, and implored the bridegroom to reconsider his decision, although she was unwilling to Surrender her position. The clergyman and. the friends of both parties sought to bring about 'an agreement. Mr. Holmes, however, refused to'proceed with the wedding ceremony, iind the two separated at the altar ,and left ■ the church in separate carriages.' .

TRAINING THE ,PERFEGT

WOMAN To become the. world's 'moat perfect woman physically'is'the future mapped' out for Margaret' Terty 'Hudson Gra'rit, i'tw6 years :and two'months old,-by her 1 I father, Richard Grant, director of track i I athletics of the University of Minnesota. . | Evfer since> she -was ; three < weeks . old . (states the hew- York Herald), the baby, been training for the-place she ia' expected to fill. Systematic exercise under the careful supervision of her I father, who himself was -^formerly. a.' | track star who has: "made" ' many Minnesota..athletes, is as much a part of little Margaret's daily, life as the food she 1 eats.. The little girl, who has just begun to talk', delights in -her exer-, cises. ■ The more icommon of these in-, elude a wand drill, to.Strengthen andt 'de ; velop 'the chest, muscles;: exercises-ion a ; horizontal- bar! /.consisting' «jf a -can Mil in the hand of her father, to> which., can hang for 45 see.; swinging back and ' forth While holding to her father's. fingeit,ij and recliningn.on . the 'floor and -rosing without .touohing her. hands to the floor.' The exercises have alreadynh.xd;; wand sin! ful results. Some: of the ways, in wjuch Margaret differs from other two-year-olds are these:.Evjej'y .pact qf her body is perfectly 'formed. She "h&s chest measurement of 19in, and an expansion of nearly" 2l&r*"Her~" biceps' muscles -piftfsuj-fsin.,. She, could-, walk when she was' ten fcYontlis old. ' 'She cbuld swim when, she .was eight months old. She weighs 281b, Without an ounce of fat on her little body

GENERAL The leading hotelkeepers of Philadelphia liaVe decidied' to abolish - mirrors from their lifts, because there have been innumerable com'plaiiits by men that the women passengers waste time by putting the finishing 'touches to their toilets while in the lift.

One of the chief causes of complaint set forth by a &ew York woman in an application for separation Was that her .liqsband had refused to speak t® her'for more than a year. When he had occasion to communicate with her, she said, he always wrote her notes, some of which, it is alleged, were insulting. In the suburbs of Paris recently a landlord, in advertising flats to let, announced that the rent would be diminished by 20 francs per child per annum. His patriotic initiative has not been long in finding imitators. Already the directors of the cheap hygienic flats in ■ Vincennes—founded by M. Charles Stern—j have improved'upon it. They announce that in their four buildings, which comprise 110 small flats, occupied by 400 persons, henceforward the birth of a new baby will dispense its parents from the payment of the rent for the succeeding quarter from £2 10s to £4. In fulfilment of her ante-nuptial contract to be self-supporting aftd to contribute half, the cost of running the home, Mrs. Caroline Washburn has begun her business career at Los Angeles, California, where she accepted a position with the publishing company of which her husband is a prominent member. The "contract bride," as she is termed by the American newspapers, is a talented illustrator, and she will devote herself to illustrating the pages of a monthly magazine, to wiiich her husband is chief contributor. The young couple declare their conviction that the assumption by the bride of business is "an auspicious beginning of our partnership." Since their marriage they have received hundreds of telegrams congratulating them on the sanity and reasonableness of their contract which provides that their marriage "shall end with the death of love on either side." We are nothing if not individual nowadays (says a writer in the Lady's Pictorial, of Otcober 26), and the bride who rode'her hunter to church,, wearing her riding habit and bowler, and cantered gaily away to the meet of the Devon Somerset hounds afterwards, accompanied by her husband, also in hunting dress, has started a fashion which may be followed widely, perchance. Many brides have longed to revolt against the traditional white satin and orange blossom, reception and speeches, but lacked the courage. The bride in this interesting marriage was Miss Constance Helen Mod'meister, of Countisbury, a greatgranddaughter of Cosway, the famous miniature painter. The bridegroom hails from Baltimore, U.S.A., and the venue was the classic church of Oare, where giant Jan Kidd and Lorna Doone were wedded—or so said R. D. Blaekmore, the novelist. Bride and groom both wore sprigs of white heather in their buttonholes. The bridesmaids, Miss Evelyn Hoffmeister and Miss Vera Sanders, each came in .hunting kit, and all the countryside were there to cheer the bride and bridegroom and wish them happiness.