LADIES' COLUMN.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XII, Issue 2446, 28 August 1891, Page 2

LADIES' COLUMN.

I bavo to reiterate the fact tliat. plain sHrts are gradually going O ufc of fashion. Jabbed edges and flounced edges are very i general. Three very narrow frills also. Then dress skirts are slashe 1 m front and at tlio sides to show the under-dress; or there are panels of velves, brocade, or silk let m. Again, the skirt proper is cut m front lonsideraWy longer than the foundation .skirt, and is lifted and arranged fj\lno» fashion near the bottom of the skirt, the festoons being.caught up by jet ornaments. Luce flounces are put on m this uu-.'.uhtiiig fashion—one, by the way, that was general some 25 years ago.— (" N.^. Herald " correspondnnl.)

The relative value of Indian and CliiiKt-e teas hag been asqertained by an authority^ of unimpeachable impartiality. The Board rf Customs lias arrived at the conclusion that. Indian tea goes half as far again as Chinese tea, so far as depth of colour and fulness (not delicacy) of flavour are concerned ; that is to say, if lib of Chinese tea produces 5 gallons of liquor of a certain depth of colour and fulness, lib of Indian tea will produce 7£ gallons of a similar bevenge, On Lhis basis the statistics of tua drinking show that the population m 1866 consumed 17£ gallons of liquid tea per head, and that "m 1890 the consumption rose to 33| gallons per head—an increase due no doubt to the fact thai; the luxury was a great deal cheaper m the latter year.

In an account of a recent drawing room an English contemporary says :—"A story going about is that of <% dowager who, seeing a hated rival's girl pushing on a?id getting past her own, deliberately put out her foot, and tripped the damselup, with the result that sshe fell forward on her mother's ample shoulders, thereby breaking her own fa11,.-but at the t>ame time scratching her beautiful chiselled nose so badly against the maternal diamonds that she will not be presentable for a fortnight at least. Another lady had armed herself with several sharp-pointed bracelets, which she used with such signal effect on the bare arms m her vicinity that she succeeded m entering the Throne Room well m front of several others who had arrived before, but had succumbed to the pain of their wounds. Altogether, the lumber of black-and-blue bruises that were visible on delicate Arms at the teas which followed the drawing room was something shocking.

Hero is a clever but by no means convincing reply to the question, " What is a society nvm ?" "The society man must, first of all, be a gentleman m manner and speech, or the name is misapplied. He is the man who knows how to speak properly to all women, and no matter what his own private life may be, he never says anything to a young girl that will cause her to blush, or to an older one that will make her,think less of herself or of him. If he. talks m a very free way to a woman, the fiances are 10 to 1 that she has by word, look, or, action invited this freedom of speech, anl so she cannot complain. The society man makes life go smoothly, does; not ask after people who died six months ago, does not trot out family skeletons and think it tunny to induce them to make each separate bone rattle and cause innocent pcoplo to suffer agonies. The society man bus a good memory, a courteous manner, and uses pleasant words."

A curious cjuesfciou was asked the other, day by the Paris' 'Figaro 'of its readeri s —its women readers especially. A novel entitled " Cceur de Mere " appeared m the feuilluton of the paj. er. In this story, a mother of strong reliuious convictions refuses to consent to the marriage of her daughter with the man she loves because he is bound by a vow, made to his dying father, never to be married m church, or take part m a religious ceremony. The girl dies broken-hearted, and to the last the mother refuses the permission that would .save her child from the grave. The "Figaro' asks its readers, was the mother justitied m withholding her consent, and thereby bringing her daughter to an early grave ? The editor received 1431 answers. Of these 621 considered the mother justified m preferring her daughter's death to her dishonor m contracting a marriage, unblessed by the Church ; 570 took the opposito view and blamed the mother ; 200 answered hesitatingly, and suggested, various solutions to the problem." The editor expressed his admiration of the style m which the letters, as a rule, were written. Some distinguished women took part m the correspondence. Answers reached the office of the *' Figarp '. from distant parts of the globe. "I would lynch the mother," telegraphed an American lady. > " ■' ; J \

The infant daughter of Fife takes rank, ! by royal decision, nob as a princess of the blood, but as the daughter of a duke, and it may be interesting to know that theugh the Queen has decided, authoritatively that the daughter of the Duke and I Duchess of Fife is to have the rank of a ! duke's daughter with the title of " Lady," this.rank and this title are not recognised by the English law. A duke's daughter, whether the duke be royal or not, is exactly on a level m the eyes of the law with the ordinary miss of daily commerce. On the list of precedence of course it is different, and from that point of view there is a marked distinction between the. daughter of a royal and any other duke. The Duke of Fife has shown a great deal of senso m everything connected with his marriage. First, m stipulating that his wife should not have a lady-in-waiting ; secondly, m altogether separating himself and his wife from the royal family and not permitting himself .to- sink- into a jj n-lant of the unlucky' Lor'rie ■ 'thirdly, m receiving and treating the Prince of ■ Wales and the Duke of Clarence simply as his father-injaw and brother-in-law without any parade or perenjony, rlhe Duke of Fife has been thoroughly consistent m his determination that his daughter shall be simply the daughter of himself and his wife, and not the daughter of his wife alone. He has the satisfaction of. knowing that his wife thoroughly agrees with him, and he may have the. further satisfaction of knowing that the sympfi 1 hy of the nation is entirely with him, a.nd that though at first they distrusted him, and were not sure what was the meaning of his |marriage, they have watched him, and ate satisfied that he has played an honest, manly, and creditable part throughout.

They &ay that women are no logici-ms.-They are capable of gravely arguing; that a friend is a lofty genius because he has a lofty forehead.. But, m argument, woman has a gift for beyond reason. She has memory. She always remembers that her antagonist said something different on another occasion. Now, . there is no "Hansard" of domestic debates, and, as nobody can prove that woman's memory is wrong (for nobody remembers anything about it), she triumphs m every controversy. Woman is her own "Hansard," and abuses the advantage. She needs it the less, as she has, m argument, a secret botte of her own. which nobody can parry. This is to assume that you hold a position the very reverse of that which you really occupy. Woman then pours all { her fire into this fortress of her fancy till man perceives some weak pqint m her attack on the opinions winch he does not hold. I^e is weak enough" ''[ m the mad pridi of intellectuality," to reply, merely provisionally,' and then lie is lost. }Voman has tJernuced him to occupy the pqsf tiori' which is not his at all, whu;h he knows' tfyat he cannot defend, which he does not want to defend—and »U is.oveFwith him. Woman will never allow, henqeiorft, fch^fc lie is

not an adrooato of the slavo trade, or of cannibalism, or of human vivisection, or atheism, or of free divorce, or whatever ifc may be. Now, those positions cannot be held by many people, and woman's triumph is therefore assured, m the pedantry of boyhood I once replied to such tactics by telling my fair adversary that she was guilty of a if/noratio elenchi. But the result w,ts not encouraging: nor is the parry legitimate. The arsenals of a dead language, and of an obsolete science, cannot fairly be employed against the cleverer sex. I wish I could think tint politic* will become purer when w..m n comes lo hr own. But can we hope for this lAt pre , sent many ladies think that a novel, or other treatise, ouuhb to be, and must be, applaode I, because i i. written by somebody whom they know. Its merits have nothing to do with the matter. , Woman is a lawless creature. She-does not recognise the state. She smuggles for the mere fun of the thing. At "the Italian or German frontier she smuggles lac 3 and eau de cologne, and even tobacco not because she wants them, but because it is forbidden. Her excesses m smuggling Tauchnitz novels neyer cost her conscience a single qualm. I cannot believe that; all the Tauchnitz novels m England are introduced by their authors as presents for their friends, though this,; to be sure, would account for their being found on all the cheap second-band bookstalls. That is the destination of all books presented by their authors. I cannot here draw up the whole indictment of feminine iniquity, but who invented antimacassars? Who clings as fondly to all such gear as it clings to the tail button of the masculine coat? Who says "aggravating" when she means "irritating V These are among tlie blots on the sun ; these are a few of the things which the progressive sex may reflect upon and amend. It v not enough to conquer the world s to excel man m his studies, sports, and professions. Woman must find out a way ot wearing, pockets ; must keep her change handy, "like, men do, 1' to employ her own idrnn. " What Shakespeare did and Furnivall approves cannot be wrong."— Andrew Lang.