OVER THE TEA-CUPS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 215, 7 September 1912, Page 15

OVER THE TEA-CUPS.

BACHELORS TO PAY BABY BOSCS.

Prizes for mothers of more than four children will be provided in a Bill "Which M. MBsaimv, ex- Minister for War, will shortly introduce in the French Chamber. The sum of £20 per child, is suggested, half to be payable to the mother on the birth, the other half to 'be held t>y the National bank as the nucleus of an annuity later in life. A tax. on bachelors and childless households is suggested as a means of raising part of the money.

A WOMAN PIONEER. There will shortly be erected in the Rotunda at Washington a silver statuette in honour of Mrs. Victoria WoodhuU Martin, who forty years ago -was ofn-c-iall v nominated "for the Presidency of the United States. X>uring her candidature for the Presidency, and afterwards, Mrs. WoodhuU Martin allied with her woman suffrage propaganda questions of -eugenics which are matteTß of common disctresion to-day, and which will shortly be engaging the attention of the Eugenics Congress.

WOMEN LAWYERS IN GEORGIA. Georgia is one of the few States in America which still refuses to allow women lawyers to practise at the Bar Two Georgian women, however, who recently graduated from a law school, aro asking for recognition, and will carry their fight to the Supreme Court. A bill granting to women tJhe right to practise law is to b«> introduced into the legislature this year, but there is little hope of its passage, ac the Georgia Bar Association is against the admission of women, and caused the defeat of a similar proposition last year.

A LADY ENGINEER. The first woman in the United States to qualify as a contracting and consulting engineer is Mrs. Mary Ewinp;. For a quarter of a century she acted as her husband's assistant in Chicago, and after his death took up, and is carrying on, sewerage and water systems of a cost approximating £100,000. Mrs. Ewing appeared before the Boards of the towns and the different companies with which her husband had contracts, and made such a pood showing of her technical skill and executive ability that each Board agreed to pass the unfinished contracts on to her for completion. WOMAN—IN THE EAST. A little pamphlet of Turkish sayings is bring distributed gratis by the Sheik-Ul-Tlam. Here are a few of the Oriental views of women: — 1. Under a mother's sole heaven itself springs into life. 2. Whoever is good to a sorrowing mother will be rewarded tenfold. 3. A woman's words are a witness to her work. 4. Woman can make heaven or hell for a man in his home. 5. The brains of a quarrelsome woman is night without ;i moon. 6. A stupid wife will harm a man more than his deadliest foe.

7. A happy love must be hold with both hands, with the eyes, the ears, and with every thought. 8. Who wishes to marry must have money in his safe and credit in his pocket. 9. Whover wants to know his own worth let him go a-oourting without money or possessions. 10. Liove makes man rich, woman poor; it makes man slrong, woman weak. SERVANTS' PARADISE. Mr*. John If. FJapler. wife of the multi-millionaire railway and Standard Oil financier, has told, in an interview, how she manages the twenty-sewn servants who comprise'her household corps. She says she has solved the servant problem because: — "I never cheat a girl out of any pleasure she has planned by asking her to work when eh-e has exported to get off. "When I entertain I notify Ihe servants at least two days in advance. *o that tJ»ey -wont make any engagements for that d?y. "When 1 give big entertainments I employ extr*. help. "My servants arrange among tlH«inw.lves so that some of them have Sundays off.

"My servants have access to my library, and they take advantage of it. too. They like to read, and they have the time to do it.

"I *houi!d feel conscience-stricken if T thought persons in my employ slaved all day long. The work in my house is so sy~n>matieed that they Sr*-not compelled ix> do so. ' 1 "I urge them to go out every afternoon and get the a.ir. if they only remain out an hour.

"I do not know who ever started ■that -halfday-a-week-ofT rule. I do net know why women, supposedly intelligent and sympathetic, should continue to practise it on their servants. One hallfday a week is not enough to popularise a mistress in the eyes of tli-e maid."

GREAT ADVANCE OF THE GERMAN WOMAN. The common notion of our Gentian sis'tor has too often been demarcated by 'the Kaiser's famous "three —Kuehe, Kinder, Kircho. She has been regarded as essentially the Haueffran. This, how-' ever, is Rhow by Huga. Munsterberg. in the '"AUantie Monthly.'" to be an impression wholly out of date. He tells how only Wast year, in a meeting of leading professors, a young woman stood up and ! opposed the prevailing sentiment, and I quietly but firmly turned the meeting to her side. "Tt was distinctly the influence of woman's oratory over a large group of important men. Twenty years ago that -would have been entirely impossible in Germany." Shortly afterwards he was present at a great banquet to .1 leading jurist. The best-known professors of law made speeches, and the guest of honour told how he had devoted his life to the idea the* one nation ought M have one law. Then a young woman arose, with a champagne glass in her ! hand. She brilliantly interpreted the. J speaker to mean thai there should bo one law only, the same law for men and women, and that the women must therefore have the same rights as the men in ] public life. "In all my life in the . Fatherland I had never before heard a j woman making a toast at a public din- . ner." The girls" school of Germany until j recently stood immeasurably below the { boys' school. Mow the girls' chances are 1 not inferior to those of boys. In every ; family it seems beyond discussion that the daughter shall prepare for a definite line of activity. About ten million women are breadwinners in Germany, 3i million women in industrial work and business, and "738,000 women are. independent owners and heads of establishments." The number of women students at the universities -this year is about 2,460, . . V '. I " """{