WOMAN'S WORLD.

Taranaki Daily News, 12 January 1918, Page 6

WOMAN'S WORLD.

SOCIAL NEWS. PERSONAL ITEMS. Mrs. l'\ B. VanScliurrel (South Africa) is the guest of licr mother, -Mm. 11. I'. Cuttley. Miss 0. Palmer, who lias been on a. visit to Christchurcli, lias returned. Miss M. Deneon is on a visit to Wanganui. « : si,. , • • * • Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Moycs, who have been on a visit to Feilding have returned. *•♦ ■ * Miss F. Sturtevant, who has been tlie guest of Mrs Cousins, Devon port, has returned. * • • • Mrs. Ward, who has been on a short visit to New Plymouth, has returned to Wellington. . , i . i * * * * Mr. and Mrs. Boston have returned from a visit to Auckland. * « * » Miss Renaud is on a visit to Taihape. » » * • Miss Webster is the guest of lier sister, Mrs. J. Morton, Timaru. Mr. and Mrs. R. Thompson (Patea) are on a visit to New Plymouth. '# # * • Mr. and Mrs. T. Anderson have re- J turned from a visit to Geraldine. Miss E. Horner (Patea) is on a visit j to New Plymouth. Mrs. Olover has returned to Dunedin after a short stay in New Plymouth. » • • • Miss Stephenson, who has been visiting, New Plymouth, has returned to Havelock North. * ••* • ' Mrs. and Miss Mcintosh, who have been the guests of Mrs. Budge, have returned to Wellington. • » # • Mr. and Mrs. Eric Shaw, who have been spending the holidays at the Ngamotu Beach, have returned to Inglewood. • * ♦ * Mrs. H. R. Cutfield (Inglewood) spent a few days in town this week. * * * • Mrs T. C. Fookes and family, who have been visiting New Plymouth, have returned to Stratford. » » * * ■Mrs. Allan Good (Hawera) spent a few days in town this week. Miss M. Fookes is the guest of Mrs. T. Fookes (Stratford). * * * * Mrs. Budge has returned to Stratford. * » * » Airs. Alf. Elliott and Misses Scott (4) (Hawera) are on a visit to New Plymouth, having taken Mrs. V. Elliott's residence for some weeks. • * * •

Amongst the visitors staging at Chatsworth House are: Miss Orfnrd (Nelson), Mrs. and Misses Grant (HaWera), Miss Tliompson (Patca). Misses Watson (Waitara), Mrs. Heard (Palmerston North), Mrs Bennett (Hawera), Mrs. Harding and Miss Philpott (Auckland). # # » • Amongs the visitors sta.ving at Niger House this week are: Mr. and Mrs. Wright (Auckland), Rev. Evans and family (Hamilton), Misses Mellor and Miss Ware (Palmerston North), Miss Ropewell (Matron of the Hamilton Hospital). Misses Hay and Misses Dabett (Wanganui) and Miss Ormston (Auckland) are staving at Mrs. Braseh's. «' * # * Mrs. and Miss North (Napier) are at present in New Plymouth, i ♦ J. Mrs. and Miss Lloyd aiyl Mrs. Mo Nickle (Wellington), are honday-making in New Plymouth, \ • « # # ■Mr?. Hamerton and Miss Honeyiield (Patea) and Mrs. Patrick, Mrs. and Misses Morrison (3) and Mrs. Lawrence and family (Stratford), are the guests of Mrs. W. J. Honeyfield (Moturoa).

Mrs. Hartgill, jnr., has returned to Dannevirke. Mcsd.ime.s Franklyn ( Peildinpr), and Kindoe (Wellington), are at present in New Plymouth. * * # • Mrs. and Miss Campion and Mrs. Reilly (Wanganui) arc on a visit to New Plymouth. » • » » Mrs. Harper and family (Feilding) are on a holiday visit to New Plymouth. Mr. and Mrs. N. Balharry paid a short visit to Hawera this week, and are able to'announce that Mrs. N. K. MaeDiarmid (the lattor's mother) is making rapid strides in a speedy .recovery from her recent motor accident • * « « Mrs. 11. Abraham, who has been the guest of her mother (Mrs. MeKellar) has returned to her home in Khandallah, Wellington. Mrs. S. Rennell, with her sister (Miss Foote), am} Mrs. 0. Hob'os- (Inglewood) are staying at the Mountain cottage. Mrs. W. J. Clianey leaves on Monday for Trentham, on account of her son's (Mr. W. Chanev) serious illness. Mrs. Dawson (Dannevirke) is on a visit to New Plymouth. Mrs. and Miss Medley (Wellington) arrive in New Plymouth on Monday next, where they will be the guests of Mrs. J. S. S. Medley, Wallace Place. # » • »

The Mountain House.—The visitors staying for this week at the Mountain House have included Mr. and Miss Skeates (Auckland), Mrs. and Miss Wood and Mr. Drake (Auckland), Mrs. and Miss Fuller (Wellington), Miss Roberts (Auckland), Mil. and Mrs. Archibald Clarke (Auckland) and Mr. Clarke, jnr., Mr. and Mrs. Belliss (Feilding), Mrs. Martin and Miss Thomson (New Plymouth), Miss Glaisby (Auckland). Miss Thompson (Hamilton), Mrs Mayne and Miss Whitcombe (Auckland).

AFTERNOON TEA. Last Thursday. Mrs. Standish gave a very enjoyable gift afternoon, at her pretty residence in Devon Street, in honor of Miss 0. Shaw's approaching marriage. During the afternoon musical Items were given by Misses C. Leathaui and M. J3lundoll, and at the close of this very pleasant function the guests sang "For She's a Jolly Good Fellow," followed by 'Auld Lang Syne." Amongst those present were Mesdames Courtney, C. Oray, P. Fitzlrerbert, Sladden, Syraes (Christchureh). Hursthouse, Ausfonl, Abraham (Wellington), and Misses G. Shaw, B. Matthews. Dempsev, S. Thomson, Crooke, Greatbach (2), McKellar, Wade, Blundeli, H„ Cutfield, Simpson, A. Wilson, Percy-Smith, Robb, Fookes (2), iw«th>m ,(2}. Armstrong. Cwel '

R'Al/MivIOKT IS SOT THE GOAL OK THE TRAINED NURSE. Whenever a nurse atui her patient marry the newspapers heize upon the incident as a romance, anil the reading public, .forgetting thai it is the unusual that is chronicled, have come to regard matrimony as the natural goal of the trained nurse. As a matter of fact, the reverse is true, according to a recent investigation made 'by the Journal of It j.J, which finds that less than half graduates of the best training gch: marry. The lowest percentage is leportcd from the training school of the iViisliington University as "21, while the highest (52) is recorded at the school connected with St. Luke's Hospital, in Sew Ytlc. The writer thus sums up:— No amount of optimism can bring one to conclude that the marriage rate of trained nurses—or at least of the graduates of the test training schools —is even reasonably high. On the whole, the education of a nurse fits her admirably for home-making and roothercraft. It might be supposed that such women would be in great demand as wives. The fact that they marry to audi a small extent may indicate: That men do not use good judgment in selecting wives (this criticism has been heard more than once from graduates of women's colleges), or that there is something in a nurse's education to which men object. That the nurses prefer to remain single. Many of them doubtless are set on a career, but evidently not all, for of the living unmarried graduates of Bellevuo who have left seho.ol, but whose whereabouts are known, lfi nci cent, are not following their profession, but have apparently given'it lip and are living at home. It is doubtless true that nurses,,having careers offering abundant employment and good pay, can be and a,re much more exacting in their requirements of a suitor than are girls who have no future In sight, except matrimony. Their celllacy cannot be very largely due to lack of opportunities to meet men, for their opportunities in this respect are notably good. Any attempt to analyse the causes of this low marriage rate must be futile until some data are available, for the factors involved are doubtless mostly complex psychological influences. But there is one simpler cause that may he suspected—age. Ten or fifteen years ago the age of admission to good training schools was from '2l to '25 years. The average age of girls at graduation was certainly not less than 25. The nurses who graduated from the four large schools in classes prior to 1902 were therefore well toward the end of the most marriageable period in a woman's life at the time of their graduation. Lately the age Vandards of training schools linve been steadily reduced, 2fl perhaps being an average minimum, although many schools will now admit pupils at the age of If). The average age of graduates is therefore now about 23, according to those who are in t • position to form an intelligent, opinion. 1 This decrease of age alone should tend 1 to increase the marriage rate of the more . recent graduates as compared with those [ of a decade or two ago.