WOMAN'S WORLD.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 175, 23 January 1914, Page 6

WOMAN'S WORLD.

MARRIAGE BROKERS s< ■Moving in tin- highest ranks nf Knglisli society arc men and woihen who, all unknown to their friends, make their living li.v earning enormous commissions as a result of arranging mar- y in some cases, it is true, a match is made in tliis way as oil ordin- (l ary Inisini'ss arrangement. Unit is to , say, each jiavty to tin' contract, the f i|iiito aware liow their meeting has been _ brought about. and each party is pre- | pared t'o pay a handsome commission l for the introduction: but these eases _ are few ami far between., , What causes tin' business of the so- , ciety marriage broker to be greatly looked down upon i- tlie fact that most ( usuallv socieiy matrimonial agents ( work 'in secret. Tlicy are received at the best houses, and their hostesses, all , unsuspectingly, are made caispaws secure introductions between desirable parties. Needless to say, in a case like this, there is always one victim, for cither the man or tiie girl is drawn into thinking that the person who brought about the introduction may derive a life-long income as tin: result. Sums of and more have been known to luve been paid in this way. '■SOCIETY" MARKIACF.S. Vciv often a society marriage tout sets ills b.lit bv an advertisement ill one of the most exclusive society papers. Advertisements of this kind are usually shrewdly disguised, taking the form, in most cases, ol tempting oilers of employment for impecunious gentlemen of high birth.' fu this way an interview is arranged, and in the most artful manner possible the proposal is put forward to provide the applicant with a wealthy bride in return for a heavy commission when the wedding is duty solemnised. In many cases the impecunious gentleman falls ill with the scheme. Should he not do so, however, a proposal of strict secrecy is usually extorted, anil j the marriage broker sets about attracl- ' iug some more willing fish to-his net. Too often tlie society marriage is a member of the fair sex. in this case few manage to escape from hor scheming, for in arranging matches a woman is much more unscrupulous than a man. | WllA "WOLVES.'' | Needless to say, if a society hostess I knew of the "wolves in sheep's clothing" they entertain amongst their guests, the socieiy marriage, broker would linil it very hard to make a living, ' for no woman likes to think that there are men and women in her house parties who are scheming from morning till night to obtain commission by bringing about a marriage between an unscrupulous fortune-hunter and some wealthy young girl, who while under her l'oof might, at any rate, be assumed to be safe from machinations of the kind. THE HEART OF THE SPINSTER. "There is a custom, current among _ the baser sort of men and women, to treat as a joke the falling ill love, of a woman no longer young; and this is one of the points wherein life is so much harder upon women than upon men." say s Ellen Thornevcroft Fowler in her new novel, "Her Ladyship's Conscience." As for the young man, the gates are Hung open to receive him, while the youngest and fairest of Eves stand* ready in the midst: to bid hem welcome, lie may have been there before —he may hope to re-enter the magic portals many times again, and lie is right in assuming that thev never are, and never will be. closed' to him. The mere fact 1 of his manhood gives him the right'to ' a private key info the garden of liden, as surely as the fact of his taking a house iii (irosveuor .Square will entitle him to a private key to the square gardens. AT EDEN'S GATE. ''But with a woman it is dill'erent. Should she —when onee her youth is over—tap timidly at Eden's gate, she will always find the armed cherubiii upon duty, and nine times out of ten there will be smiles upon their angelic faees, which will cut deeper than their fiery swords. If she be endowed with exceptional beauty or grace or charm, she may eventually win through, and enter the magic portals; and then the mirth of her friends win be turned into hardly more complimentary amazement, and they will one and all exclaim, 'IJow wonderful, at her age!'

'"lt is iu matters sui'h as thw that men have such an inffir advantage over women; not, only in the extension of their franchise, hut still more so in iho extension of their youth. But an end is coming' to this unfair advantage. "'What women really want—and what they are gradually gaining, if only they would understand i{— is the world's realisation of the faet that age cannot wither not custom stale the, true woman's inlinite variety; that the years give more to her than they takfc away, and that the longer she lives the more competent she is to warm, to comfort, and command. Slowly and surely the world is learning to understand this: every generation pushes the age-limit of a woman's reign further on. Juliet'* halconv scene occurred at fourteen: Jane Austen's unmarried heroines were on the shelf at twenty. But we are changing all this. The women of today are eligible for balconies in their thirties, and ineligible for shelves until shelves an' quite prominent and comfortable resting-places. THE IDKAL, ItUMAXCK. "Nevertheless, to a certain conventional class of mind, the paths of real romance are closed to all except youthful feet. The twentieth century is so far in advance of its predecessors that it cheerfully permits middle-aged women to llirt and to many, and even applauds them for so doing; but it cannot as jet understand that ideal romance —the romance that is too pure for passion and too exquisite for comradeship—linds its home in the heart ol the budding girl. For a true woman's love is of the soul-not of the body: and souls cannot age, they can only mature and develop." A COUNTESS ON TRIAL "Pussy" Uhl. daughter of a penniless journeyman tailor of Frankfurt, and now Countess von Trcuberg-, was put !on her trial at Berlin in November on charges of fraud and usury. The case attained the dimensions of a cause celibre, owing to the fashionable persons concerned. IVmcess Alexandra »f Ysenburg, among others, was to be called as a witness by the defence iu

Conducted by "Eileen."

support ill an allegation that she; was concerned in the negotiation of marriages between clients (if tlii' CountesTrciiherg's Berlin matrimonial agency and wealthy Fiv.nUlurl women. Ihf countess. alter various matrimonial adventures, obtilined tier title ill a way which is apparently not uncomniuii 111 Cerniany. It is alloyed that .she p:treliased it from Count Krne-t von Trciiberg, who in lull was agent for a Hamburg shipping linn in London. "Pussy," as she was generally known in gay Iter I in, oll'ered the count Cl2">o for the right to call herself his wife. The count says that lie did not know her past career, and has petitioned for an annulment. The Judge read letters from a| Frankfurt matrimonial agent showing details of the defendant's oiler. ami the defendant admitted that after tile mar-' ringc. which took place in London on January S, IMII, she had not the means to pay her "husband.liesidcs the matrimonial agency, the defendant managed a money-lending agency. Among 1 her clients was Princess Louise of Belgium, on whose credit libraries to the value, ol' tllU,ll(;;i were purchased and sold. Princess Louise claims that she inner saw anything of either the books or the money. The defendant admitted iu court that her daily average was three bottles of champagne and liqueurs by the tumblerful. Her gowns came from t'aiplin, ami she wore earring- valued at CjOO at a time when bailillis were constantly in anil out. of her I'criin house. Among the charges against her is one of fraud in connection with the alleged matrimonial designs of a !loverunicnt architect, for whom, il is -tatcil. the countess agreed to lind a wife with a dowry of not less than £1.">,000. The countess declare.- that the details she sent to lier clients were scut by the .Princess Alexandra of Ysciiburg. The case had not concluded when the last mail left. DEAR EGGS IN AMERICA American housewives are up in anus against the continued high prices of table necessaries, which refuse to come down, despite the new Tariff Law permitting 1 most l'oodstuli's to enter the country free. A dozen flesh eggs cauTfot be bought in Xew York for less than 2s (id, and retailers declare that they will cost 3s lid before the end of the winter. That this is unreasonably is shown by the State Health Department's announcement that on September 1 there -were 22,0011,000 dozen eggs in cold storage in the .State of .New York, bought from the farmers at ltd per dozen. Every member of the Housewives' League was asked to boycott eggs unless the price is reduced, and in that way it is hoped to bring retailers to terms. If not. the League proposes to import eggs from Kngland, Austria and flermany. IS CHIVALRY DYING OUT? "An Unattractive Woman," in a let. ter to the London Daily News, says:— "I who am neither young nor attractive, can truly say that scarcely a journey passes without, my receiving some attention—sometimes from a man -,vfio offers me a seat, sometimes, and just as often now, from a young girl who feels that she cannot sit while a, grey-hendert woman is standing. Only the other day I hailed a motor 'bus at and round it full inside. I was mounting the steps, when a 'young and attractive' girl, unknown to me, followed me and begged me to go back dud take her sear. The fact is that chivalry is not dying out; it is only changing its form, and is no longer confined to an action between men and women. H is no longer a prerogative of man to be chivalrous;women are learning it. 100, and in future chivalry will, I believe, be shown by youth to age, by strength to weakness. irrespective of sex. And 1 for one say, "to much the hcttter!"" MASCULINE COIFFURE. llcinarkable to relate, the professional eoili'eur for men is a much older occupation in Japan than that for women. As far back as the 13th century we have evidence of male hairdressers'for men: for the samurai especially were very particular as to how the hair was done up, though as a profession the samurai 1 was of some later growth, says the Japanese -Magazine. It may be said, however, that during the later Tokugawa days the men appear to have appreciated in their wives and daughters the same careful attention to style of haiii as was observable among' tlieir lordly selves. It is not without sume ' significance that the first professional hairdresser for women was a man.