WOMAN’S WORLD.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 March 1922, Page 10

WOMAN’S WORLD.

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING % ATTRACTIVE. AND THE ART OF BEING NATURAL. Is there a normal woman on the face of the earth who does not wish to be considered attractive? If so her sex would be quite justified in disowning her; she is a betrayer of their interests, a renegade, a slacker. It is one of the important duties of life for a woman to cultivate her appearance. Powder and paint are only admissions of failure; confessions of a lazy mind concerning a lazy body. The well-groomed woman disdains such adventitious aids, though well she knows that, for the sake of her own dignity and self-respect, she must assiduously study her tyjie, her age, and her pursuits if she is to develop a personal and distinctive style that will suit her—make the very best of each of her good points—under all conditions.

It is not altogether that she may be attractive to the opposite sex that a woman instinctively desires to make the best of herself, though, to be frankly truthful—human nature being what it is—that motive cannot be entirely denied. Chiefly for her own delight or to satisfy the instinctive feminine craving for beauty in everything concerning her person and possessions, the woman of decent up-bringing gives thought and infinite care to her appearance. It is the well-groomed woman of whom I speak—she who in a little cotton gown stands out as something eminently pleasant to behold, often eclipsing by her freshness and good, healthy, cleanminded air her silk-clad sister, who has resorted to the usual artifices for her adornment. You see the difference in the women’s minds; one is direct, goes straight for the object she aims at, acquiring a beauty which is more than skin deep. The other is content to pause half-way in her quest; her nature is susceptible to the allurements of a subterfuge by no means subtle; she is satisfied with the pitiful palliative of a very evident “make-up.” “Bring me a nice clean one,” were the parting instructions of a young man the other evening to his hostess, as she set out to find him a partner at her dance. And, turning to an ekferly woman who had known him all his life, he explained that he could not stand the perfumed peris who left lingering traces of Morny or Coty on his coat, and as for the cherry lips and rosebud cheeks, for whose tint Nature was not responsible, “the truth is not in them,” he brutally remarked. A very rude young man, no doubt; but there are many who share his sentiments.

Make-up spoils a woman’s manner—she cannot help being conscious of it, and the consciousness always shows.

The brightness of well-brushed hair, the clearness of a carefully tended skin, the easy, steady look of eyes that do not shrink from broad daylight—these are charms to hold and keep the heart and interest of everybody. The woman who sets out to captivate only men will find that she has succeeded in captivating—only men. That is a poor compromise to accept whene she might have the whole world at her feet. Imitation looks inspire imitation sentiments. There are no short cuts to the high places of love and honor. £25,000 LOVE SUIT. BRIDE AS STAKES FOR A CARD GAME. New York, Dec. 15. An action to recover £25,000 damages for the alienation of her husband's affections has been begun by Mrs. Elizabeth Schill, wife of Mr. Bruna Schill, formerly purchasing agent for the Esthonian Republic, against Mrs. Amy Crocker Gouraud. multi-million-airess and society leader. According to papers in Mrs. Schill’s suit, Mr. Schill became Mrs. Gouraud’s secretary, and later accompanied her to Em-ope, returning with her. He has now disappeared. Mrs. Gouraud’s lawyer, Mr. J. C. Oldmixion, was arrested yesterday on Mrs, Schill’s complaint that he extorted from her papers which would discon-->tinue the case against Mrs. Gouraud, on the ground that Mrs. Schill had made a mistake. Mrs. Gouraud’s other counsel say that Mrs. Schill voluntarily offered to discontinue the case on learning that Mr. Sehili had become a fugitive from Justice.

Mrs. Gouraud has had an ex-tensive matrimonial career. She is the daughter of the late Mr. E. B. Crocker, one of the wealthiest Californian millionaires. She first married Mr. Porter Ashe, and, according to romantic stories at the time, he won her hand in a poker game with Harry Gillig as a rival for her affections. A year later she divorced Air. Porter and married. Mr. Gillig. A few years later she divorced him and married Mr. Jackson Gouraud. a famous figure in New York. He died in 1911. Three years later Mrs. Gouraud married Prince Alexandre Miskenoff, of Russia, and recently divpreed him. LOVE ROMANCE OF A PRINCESS. FIGHT FOR HER FORTUNE. An Emperor’s consent to a wedding in return for a photograph is recalled by a suit which has been filed in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia to recover a share of nearly ‘300,000 worth of property in Columbus, Ohio, which was seized by the Allen Property Custodian from a German Princess.

The action, says a Central News Washington message, is against Secretary Mellon and Allen Property Custodian Thomas R. Miller, by the heirs of the Princess Zu Lynar. who died recently at her home in Lindenau, Germany. The plaintiffs contend that the property should be returned to them under the special Act of Congress authorising the return of property seized from American women who married foreigners. Before her marriage in 1871 the Princess was Miss Amelia Parsons, daughter of a member of the Ohio Legislature. Shortly before the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War, when visiting in Paris, she met Prince Zu Lynar, an Attache at the German Embassy. When the war came the Prince had to leave Paris, and he had not then proposed to Miss Parsons, but he took away with him her photograph. This was seen one day by ths Emperor, father of the ex-Kaiser, who gave his consent for the Prince to marry an American in return for a present of the photograph. Immediately peace came the Prince,

by special authority of the Emperor, went to Columbus, and made Miss Parsons his wife.

She was afterwards a favorite of the Court, and had the title of Serene Highness. The father of the Princess died in 1897, leaving personal property valued at £lOO,OOO and an estate in the heart of Columbus worth nearly £300,000. The share of the Princess was seized during the war. SOVIET GIRLS, BY A RECENT VISITOR TO RUSSIA. To talk of Soviet girls is to talk of the Russian girl in general, because at least three-fourths of the women of Russia are at present employed in the numerous offices of the Soviet Government.

You meet an ex-maid of honor to the late Empress working side by side with a former milliner’s assistant, or a highly cultured middle-aged woman with at least six languages at her command calling the little messenger with ehawlcovered head tovarish (comrade) and meekly taking orders from some young Communist giil of the very humblest extraction.

They one and all help to bring more and more muddle and confusion into the intricate, bureaucratic Bolshevik Government.

Whatever difference of opinion there may be as to their efficiency, the verdict on their personal appearance is unanimous—nearly all of them are beautiful.

I would not be afraid to say that the Moscow women are without a doubt the most beautiful in the world. It is -a perfectly natural beauty—the beauty of expression, of fine carriage and free movement (due probably to the absence of corsets). a beauty that triumphs over a total lack of the most elementary toilet accessories.

For the past three years no clothes could be bought, neither were there fashion papers. During that time the Russian girl has been living as best she could, sans shoes, sans hats, sans hair-pins, powderpuffs, lip-salve, and the hundred-and-one little things which the Western damsel considers essential to her appearance. And yet the Soviet girl, in spite of all those difficulties, manages somehow to give an impression of smartness and to keep up a semblance of style and fashion.

How she - does it is a mystery and certainly speaks well for her ingenuity and resourcefulness.

I admired one particularly becoming frock which to me seemed very much what my women friends at home call a coat frock.

“That,” my companion informed me, “is an old tapestry curtain belted in with its own cord and tassel.”

“But. the hat; surely chat never began life on the furniture?” She examined it with the eye of an expert. “The cardboard foundation is appropriated from the office where she works, and the covering is an embroidered towel. In the old days,” she explained with a sigh, “our towels were more handsomely worked than our r f rocks.”

The Russian girl, aristocratic or Communist, is in a chronic state of being in love; she feels that her life is being wasted if she finds herself, for a time, without a lover.

Love is as necessary to her as the air she breathes. The conversation during office hours is all of love and lovers; the chief, in fact the only, happiness in their lives is to love and be loved. They are so simple, so childlike, so uncomplex in their love, and yet their devotion and self-sacrifice are unlimited. When the lover fails or deserts her it is sad indeed. I venture to say that there have been more eases of suicide from disappointed love than from all the hunger and privation of the paet three years.—Daily Mail. DREAMING OF LOVE. THE FOLLY OF IT. Most of us know the woman of whom I write, who is living years of wretchedness with a dead hope in her heart. She is chasing the shadows of a dead love, pining for the affection of some man who once was all the world to her, but who passed out of her life. Years ago he had come along and they were lovers. Then somehow or other he had cooled, and his affectionate attentions ceased. The dream was shattered. Once or twice perhaps he had returned and she had seen him. He had tried to be polite and even kind, signs that she mistook for the old flame, and the hope in her heart had revived, only to flicker out on his departure. But day by day ever since she has dreamed that he will come back and be just as he was in those delightful days when he thought he loved her and she loved him.

He had realised in time that his profession of love for her did not ring true, and he did not wish to make two lives miserable.

So he passed out of her life, and can never be hers again. Indeed, one hears that he is about to marry another woman.

Yet still she cherishes the love that is dead, and will not be comforted. When a thing has turned to ashes, it is futile to try to keep it alive. The very best thing that this woman can do for the sake of herself and all around her is to cease grieving and wearing out her soul in vain regrets. Cost what it may, she should strive to crush this illusion that he will come back to love her.

Let her take heart. There are many other good men and true in this world —others possibly even more desirable than this lost love of hers.

He may have had certain charms and delightful manners. She may not find an exact duplicate of these in others, but probably there will be compensating qualities. To build up her mind to this one ideal is foolish. While she does so si ? cannot be expected to see anything worth admiring in others.

And she is doomed to a cheerless life while she hugs to her heart this dead love.

This concentration on what is now unattainable detracts from her attractiveness to the rest of the world.

It overshadows her finer qualities, keeps her from making fresh friends, and closes the door to the possibilities of another love.

How many a women, a prey to such hopeless memories of a love that has failed, has become old before her time, wrinkled, grey, and unattractive, while holding fast to her false hopes. When her beauty and brightness have gone, what prospect has she of happiness in her later years? Let her throw off her melancholy mien, and try to be gracious and charmi&g to others who come her way, ceas-

ing her sighs and turning a smiling face to the world.

Then it is quite possible that the real, right man may come across her path. The man who left her could not have been her true soul mate whatever she may think. His action proves it. By reason of it she may have escaped an unhappy married life. So the sooner she buries her dead love the better. TOPICS FOR WOMEN. NOTES HERE AND THERE. • It is a new notion to have ornaments to vary the same pair of shoes so as to suit different frocks. Smart decorations can be made out of chiffon shaped into bows, fans, and horseshoes. Organdie and tulle are also used. Small gilt or steel beads or tinsel stitching make a finishing touch to the ornament, which is sewn on to a small safety pin so that it can be put on the shoes as required. Germany appears to be scarcely a paradise for domestic workers. Since 1914 their wages have risen only four fold, while the general cost of living has increased fourteen fold. A new aet concerning domestic service provides that servants must not be kept op. duty for over 13 hours a day,, with the deduction of two hours for meals. On one week day, on alternate Sundays, and cn official holidays work must cease by 3 pm. After nine months’ service, a servant may claim one week’s holiday on full pay. Servants must carry an official reference of the nature of a passport, bearing a photograph.

About three years ago a titled lady, wife of an English baronet, created some sensation by assuming the management of a fashionable West End hotel. Since then several other ladies of good social position in London have followed her example, and many of them with great success. This is not surprising, for a woman who has managed a large house with a staff of servants has already much of the experience necessary for the management of a high-class hotel. Some of the hotels thus managed are praised as eminently homelike, comfort, refinement, and quiet being the special characteristics of, their furnishing and management. When Lady Glenconner marries Lord Grey of Falloden she will become the wife of “the greatest statesman In .Europe,” as the famous politician has more than once been described. The engagement reveals a hitherto unsuspected romance. Lord Grey is 59 years of age and was the “boon companion” of the late Lord Glenconner, who was Mrs. Asquith’s brother. The bride-to-be is 50 years of age, but looks easily 20 years younger. Lord Grey has also been married previously, his wife having been killed in an accident to a trap in 1906. Lady Glenconner, who lost a son in the war, is interested in spiritualism. Until lately the woman chef in England was unknown, but the war brought women to the front in the culinary profession, as in so many others. Now cooking is one of the most remunerative positions open to women, but, of course, the plums can fall only to high-ly-trained and capable cooks. The training of the lady chef is expensive, <he fee for the special course at the English National {School of Cookery being £4s’ for a period of 39 weeks. A few lady chefs are in receipt of over £lOOO per annum. Less highly salaried, but remunerative, positions are held by skilled lady cooks in numerous clubs and institutions, as well as in private homes.

Even before the war many women in England were earning salaries of £3OO or £4OO as manageress of first-class laundries, and since then salaries have ranged much higher. In order to obtain such a position a thorough course of practical training in every department of laundry work is requisite. Many big hotels run their own laundries, as do institutions. Some skilled laundresses have done very well by starting small laundries of their own for washing and getting up the more delicate and costly articles of feminine apparel—in thin silk, or crepe de chine. Such things are carefully washed by hand and with special soap, and the ironing is done by hand with electric irons. The household linen at Buckingham Palace is very fine, the table linen being generally reckoned the finest - In England, though that at Chatsworth has also a very high reputation. Some beautifully hand-woven tablecloths are kept for special occasions. One of these is that made for the coronation banquet of Queen Victoria, which is the largest of all the Royal tablecloths. It can cover a table laid for two hundred and seventy people. Naturally, this only makes its appearance on the occasion of big State banquets. Two linen maids are employed at Buckingham Palace, who each day distribute the linen required for use, and when the court is in residence they have a busy time. The linen is kept in a large apartment lined with linen presses, which are divided into lettered sections.

In reference to the origin of jazz, a writer in an exchange says: —“Travellers state that instruments similar to those used by modern jazz bands have been found in Peruvian graves and ruins. Further proof of this has been found on old Peruvian pottery. The Indians, when dancing, used to clap their hands, stamp their feet, and beat their hips. Later, the drum was devised to keep a sort of time. The first drums used by the Peruvians were made of deerskin stretched tightly over a wooden hoop or section of a tree trunk hollowed out. To strike terror into the hearts of their enemies, one tribe, the Hauncas, used for their drums the skins of their fallen foes —and used to boast about the fact. Quite a cheerful suggestion as an additional attraction for a jazz cabaret. BABY’S INFLUENCE. A year’s reflection and the birth of a child to each of them has caused Charles and Hamilton Garland, who 12 months ago refused to accept paternal legacies of £250,000 each, to change their minds. They have now consented to receive the money without conditions, says the New Yoisc correspondent of the Daily Mail. When the father died Charles, the elder, was an undergraduate at Harvard. He left the university and returned with his brother to a small farm in Massachusetts, where they have lived the simple life, working hard from dawn to dusk .

Their reason -for refusing the fortunes was that they had done nothing to earn the money. The system by which one man could accumulate large sums while others practically starved, they declared, was unjustifiable, and they refused tn participate in the fruits of the labor of others. ut<e while later both married. Within the last few weeks a baby has been born to each couple. It was the advent of the babies that had the effect of changing the views of both brothers. They were also influenced by the argument that they were more likely to put the money to good use than anyone else who might inherit it. Both state that they do not intend to give up their lives aa farmers.