WOMAN WORLD.

Taranaki Daily News, 8 July 1916, Page 6

WOMAN WORLD.

I « —— •*• SOCIETY NEWS. Evening 'Party.—Last Wednesday, Mrs A. 1!. Lcnnou gave a jolly party in honor of her daughter, Monica, whu is just home from Victoria College. Games and competitions were the main attraction of the evening, the prizes oeing von by Misses E. Baily, L. Mills, and h. (Ireatlmtch. A dainty supper was served in the dining room, the lloral decorations being greatly admired. Amongst those present were: Mis.ses Greatbich (2). J. Wilson, F. Stuitevant, M. Corkill. Mills (2). K. McCleland, E. Monleath, K. Leatham, X. Billiard, L>. Saxton, M. Roekel, 0. Palmer, Baily (-2), and R, Renaud. # * » ft Euchre Party —Miss K. Hamerton entertained a number of young people at euchre last Thursday evening at "Kingsleigti." Irene Hirst winning the first prize, and Leslie King the gentlemen's. Farewell Social.—Last Monday evening a farewell social was held in St. John's Hall, Waitara, to bid bon vovage to Miss Mari.iw. A.R.C.M., who'was leaving •• ■ '■■.ri-iehiireh the following day. 1),.. .;.■ evening the Rev. C. F. R. Harri.-.i. .n behalf of her pupils, their parenK and friends, presented Miss Marlow with a handsome silver jewel case, and from the members of St. .John's choir, with a prayer book. Musical items were rendered by Mesdames Marlow, W. H. Nosworthy. Were, Miss .Marlow, and Mr. Newton (Urenuii. After a recherche supper was served, an enjoyable evening was brought to a close by the singing of "Auld Lang Syne," and the National Anthem. Pantomime.—Lasi Thursday ''Mother Goose" was presented by ,1. C. Williamson, Ltd., at tile Theatre Royal, and like all other pantomimes by the same company, was received with a crowded house, yet the managers dare complain, and say it never pays them to give a performance in New Plymouth. Amongst the crowded audience. I noticed: Mrs. D'arcv Robertson, Mrs. A. Itirkby,, Mrs. Uollo! Mrs. Maicolmson (Wellington). Mrs ..J. Glenn. Mrs. 11. Collier, Mrs. W. Weston, Mrs. R. Cock, Mrs. Williams, Misses Capel, Mrs. F. Fookes, Mrs. Penn, Misses 'Penn, Mrs. H. Weston, Miss Brewster. Mis* Blundell, Misses Bedford, Miss Peart, Miss Maekay, Misses Harrison, Mrs. B. Chaney, Mrs. F Blundell, Mrs. K. Bain, Mrs. T. Anderson. Mrs. A. Grant, Miss R. Clarke, Misses Blytb (-2). A progressive euchre party was given iu Wellington last week by Mr. and Mrs. F. B. Smedley, of Oriental rfay. The honored guest was Mr. Cyril Goodreds, who recently offered his services for the war. The ladies' prize was won by Miss Tavendale. PERSONAL ITEMS. Mrs. C. F. Atkinson (Rotorua) is the guest of Mrs. D. M'Allum, Omata. Mr. and Mrs. M. Fraser are staying at Wellington. Miss Doris Bradbury is holiday-mak-ing in Wellington. Mrs. Rogers (Hamilton) is the guest of her sister, Mrs. E. Griffiths. Mrs. Peat (Otaki) is visiting her daughter, Mrs. A. H. Colvile. Mrs. Hornsby has returned to Wellington. # * ♦ * Miss Allan (England), who has been visiting New Plymouth, left for Auckland on Tuesday. Mrs. Stephenson (Tariki) who has been on a short visit to New Plymouth, has returned. # * * « Nurse Holford, matron of St. Helen's Hospital, Dunedin, is on a visit to New '.Plymouth. Miss G. Marriner, who has been the guest of Mrs. A. H. Colvile, has returned to her home in Auckland. ' Mrs. Percy Lawson. who has been on a lengthy stay in Wellington, has returned to New Plymouth. Mrs. Brodie, who has been spending a few days in New Plymouth, has returned to Wanganui. i -i # * Mrs. Vicary has returned to Wellington after a short but pleasant stay in New Plymouth. Mrs. Edwards has returned to Auckland after spending a few days in New Plymouth. -Mrs. Brown, who has been staying in New Plymouth, has returned to Wellington. The engagement of Miss Edith Atkinson, only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. C. F. Atkinson, Rotorua, to Mr. Leslie Luxton, of Wha'katane, is announced. COURAGEOUS FRENCH WOMEN MEMORIES OF GERMAN CRUELTIES. Paris, April 18. Parisiennes of every class make light of their sufferings. Indeed, the courage of the Parisienne of the educated classes is sublime, and appeals to one's love of lirave and gallant attitudes. She makes light of her own sufferings, and prides herself in realising that life can never be the same again. If she is young enough, she has hope for the future, nevertheless; if sirs has heard many warning bells in the thirties, she tells you with that touch of delicate cynicism which is so essentially Parisian, "Pour nous, tout est fmi." Many such women are doing quite useful if not very strenuous work in the hospitals and "ouvroirs," others are economising at home; a certain few (and every country can show them) are falling back on their former frivolous existence, so that we hear of bridge parties and other gaieties again. The dressmakers are fairly busy once more, and the crowds in the shops every afternoon are stupendous. Very rarely is there any grumbling or repining, for such is not the Frenchwoman's way; but just now there is a good deal of criticism and intelligent comment on the situation in general. It is always interesting to hear the Parisienes talk about anything, for they are as neat in their eriticisma as they are in their dress, although not always just or kind. One particular little group of Frenchwomen, all of them Parisiennes, of whom I am thinking, expresses very fairly the opinions of the middle classes, One is the wife of an officer of superior rank, a man who had beaE in the field

since the beginning of the war; another lias her only son preparing for the front, almost on the front itself; a third is the quite young wife of a young officer, with practically all the men of her family in the very dangerous parts of the line. Another is in deep mourning; and one wlio lias no one nearer than nephews on thi' front, has aged perceptibly since this time last year, in an all-pervading an.viety and love for her country. There is also in the group a grandmother, a true bourgeoisie, of solid build and emotional expressions. She had been to meet her grandson at the station, as she had heard he was to have leave. She had spent five hours of her day. waiting for him, and he had not come. "1 met every train, no matter from where it came," said the dear old lady. "I have seen men from every front, T believe, but not my boy. And now I hear he is to come next week, so I must begin all over again. This time I shall take some food and a mattress, for I am very tired." She laughed and cried together, for her grandson is the light of her eye*. The younger women of the group touch on Hie war and its effects with a light, but definite touch. They never got the lines of it muddled, and the salient points, as far as they are concerned, are France and their own particular part in the struggle. Very rarely does the Frenchwoman show a vague point of view, and that is why she seldom gets led away into doing more than she can perform. It is the triumph o f reason over impulse, and it is a marked characteristic of the educated Frenchwoman. THE WHINING HUNS "l was a baby in France during the Franco-Prussian war," said a native of Lorraine the other day. "When Germany asks for milk for her starving babies it would be well to remember the babies that she starved in besieged Paris in the winter of 1870-71. My mother fed her babies on soup cooked out of i, horse hoof, and there was not too much of the soup either. We. used the hoof us often as four times over again. These flerman hausfrauen cry for milk. I would suggest that some of them try the horse-hoof soup for their babies. What was good enough for the French babies in IR7O ought to be relished by German babies in 1910. "I was an infant at that time—T think I was not more than two and a-half years old.* We lived in quaint little Rahaling for generations. One night the Bavarians came marching into our I'illage. Mother never forgot that night, any many years after she would tell me of how they came to our house and shook us out of bed. They dragged my mother's brothers out; one was 17, the other 19. and they stood them against the garden fence and then they shot them. Then we went to Paris. We had relatives there, and we were supposed to live with them. They helped us all they could. But there was nothing to eat. For hours and hours the long line of pale, weary women would stand on their feet before a little hole in the wall, waiting for their little portion of black bread. Then there would be a deafening shriek as a shell swept through the streets and mowed down the waiting women. That's what" those Germans did, and are they any better to-day? "Why, do you know that when a shell felled a horse on the streets of Paris in those days, the people would crowd about the carcase, devouring the flesh. Cats and dogs were no longer to be found, and at the time ive came to Paris rats were sold at the high price of 4s apiece. Is it any wonder tnit more than 70 per cent, of the babies in Paris died'! And the Germans plead that the cruel Allies should not blockade them a few hundred miles away, for fear they cannot get milk for their babies!"