OVER THE TEA-CUPS

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 183, 1 August 1908, Page 14

OVER THE TEA-CUPS

LUCKY AND UNLUCKY GEMSFew women possess, perhaps, sufficient courage of their opinions as to acknowledge or disprove belief in lucky or Unlucky gems, but, like saltspilling, ■waik-q in* linder ladders, magpies, and other misfortunes of this kind, all but the most strong-minded are apt to waver in their determination, to prove superior to superstitions, eiace the earliest days (says the "St. James , Gazette") the diamond has been credited" -with imbuing its wearer with courage—raoral and physical— and strength as weii as joy and happiness ; while the once despised garnet, which is supposed to encourage friendship and affection, increase - .-reliability and self-dependence, undoubtedly deserves its present rvival whn fashiiSP is concerned on that account alone. ABE NO AFFINITIES. Tie idea always has been held that every one has £s affinity. But this is a grave mistake, ari3 it is too often carried into marriage. i?or a few days and even for a lew months, the two may think they are made for each other, But then the vision falls, for the affinity is too often taken for the real threg. It is much better for man and .woman to enter marriage with Tegsrrd and esteem for each, other and with-out love, and grow up to love each other, than to be carried away with the affinity idea. It is possible for a mass and a woman who love each other passionately to love others, not in the same way , ,, but to have genuine affection for them. .Human nature is large, and a man might kwe m?*"? woman friends, and the woman .might have many men friends. Each still v^ 11 * be a model husband or wife, if' it not for the way in which these are regarded now. WOMEN' AND GAMES. The greater part of what one reads, chiefly in letters to the press, about the modern addiction of girls and women to games like golf and hockey being productive of gauntness and hardness and ugliness, is absolute nonsense. It assumes (says C. B. Fry in "Fry's Magazine") quite 'Wrongly that athletic exercise produces big muscles, and big bone 3, and angles, and I don't know what; really, it does nothing at all which can be ! discerned in the appearance of shape or I build. It does not alter the shape of the I muscular development. What it does is Ito improve the power of the heart and the active quality of the muscles. No girl who was not gaunt and ugly before was ever made so by games; and no girl who was beautiful before was ever made ugly by games—the thing is impossible and absurd. NEW MAKKIAGE SERVILE ->V ANTED. , "Rita" strongly advocates an alteration . in the marriage service. She says it never . seems to have occurred to the compilers of the marriage service that flic two . principals in the service would naturally , have given some thought to the subject I and investigated its fuller meaning be- , fore the hour when they stand at the ! altar. If they have done so the infor- . mation of the officiating priest is quite ', superfluous and equally unpleasant. If they have not, then it is already too late ,' for the information to have any effect. It would really be well to have a new ' and abridged form of the marriage sert vice used in public. Every bride and bridegroom, and every relative and i friend assisting at the ceremony would , be thankful for such an improvement, [ and no harm would be done by certain j omissions. j If the presiding official deemed it was • obligatory on the consenting parties to . have full knowledge of the obligations " for which marriage stands, he might ! suggest their own private perusal of the ' prayer book form before their appear- , ance at the altar. I THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMEN. J During a recent interview, Rodin, the r great sculptor, whom G. B. Shaw eonj. siders the greatest of all living artists i in any medium, was asked what country j produced the most beautiful women, j Rodin said: "All of them. Each country r has its own beauty. What is beauty? No exact definition can be given. Those who most resemble the classic type are some of the Italian models from the ' South, and from Sicily, ieally the Greek part of Italy. These have a peculiarity rarely found nowadays with us, that of the second toe being longer than the bjg toe. One finds it invariably in Greek statues. Another classic feature, the nose continuing the line of the forehead, is rarer. I once saw it in a young Ameri- • can lady, Miss D , who had produced it artificially by injecting paraffin to fill ' up the hollow at the bridge of the nose. " The effect was very ugly." ' Some one having remarked that the Italians and the Spaniards lost their beauty early, Rodin said: "Yes; nowaj days with us beauty is continued much later. Among the English beauty seems to be remarkably preserved. Perhaps it is the effect of the climate. When a. say English, I mean the beauties one sees in London. Generally, no doubt, they are Irish, in whom beauty is natural.-'" » THE WOMAN OF TACT. r Tact is that nice perception which en- ' ables us to grasp the situation, and do - and say exactly the right thing at tho ' right moment. In reviewing our acquaintances, we 3 perceive that it is the tactful woman 3 that out-distances her neighbours. In social life the tactful woman is the fav--3 ourite, knowing, as she does, how to ' skate upon the thin ice of Vanity Fair. J She triumphantly skims over all dif--1 ficult places, leaving behind her the impression that she is a charming woman, and frequently gaining credit for quali- ? ties she never possessed. 1 In everyday walks of life tact is the c lubricating fluid which causes the, social 3 machinery to run \smoothly, and renders c pleasant that which would otherwise be '■ unbearable; we can all remember some li critical hour when we owed a debt of - everlasting gratitude to the tactful beare ing of some one else. f Ask the long-suffering hostess of whom B among her guests she reserves the ploas- ■■ antest memories, and her choice is-cer^ain a to fall upon the person of tact She t gratefully recalls ho-w her ready wit pre--3 vented friction, and poured the oil of dipli lomacy on the troubled waters, thus con--3 ti-ibuting in no small measure to the suc--1 cess of her gatherings. The tactful woman abides in her mcmi ory long after the lions and geniuses are a forgotten. 3 The woman of tact journeys through • life making few enemies and winning the , confidence of all who thoroughly know t her. She gains her own way more i, readily than others simply because she , knows the wisdom of biding in silence, with her eye ever watchful for the turn 3 of the tide. t She has proved the truth of the old n proverb that "persuasion often succeeds a where force fails," and consequently - avoids the mistakes of her sisters, and - loads where she appears to follow, gain- ; ing time by her seeming inactivity; bei cause, having made the bast use of her • powers of observation, she, has no lost ground to corti , .