OVER THE TEACUPS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 225, 20 September 1913, Page 15

OVER THE TEACUPS.

THE "NEW" SUNSHADE. At an afternoon tea gathering the other day (writes a London correspondent of the "Manchester Guardian"), I found myself the only man. I had more or less to take a listening part in the conversation—mainly on dress—until a young girl suddenly "exclaimed, "Oh, have you seen the new sunshades?" Professions of ignorance and- glances from her friends drew a detailed description of a sunshade which, when opened out fully, was found to have a hinged joint immediately below the converging supporting stays which enabled the shade to be tilted,at any desired angle from the rod. I mentioned casually that this sort of sunshade had been advertised in the daily papers nearly a hundred years ago. Pressed for an explanation, I admitted that only a few hours before in a private museum two hundred miles away (Poole's Cavern, Buxton), I had seen a copy of the first number of the "Manchester Guardian" dated May 5, 1821. In that issue one George" Bryden, of Market Street, Manchester, had an illustrated advertisement of the kind of sunshade und.r discussion. NEW CUSTOMER'S CATECHISM. The decision that a s husband is not liable for a wife's extravangances, made m Westminster County Court by Judge Woodfall at the beginning of July, was discussed subsequently by the manager of one of London's largest shops. He explained that elaborate inquiries are now made before a new woman customer is allowed to obtain credit. "We first inquire if she has a separate bank account," he said. "If she has one we ask her to fill up this printed form:— I desire to open an account with: Messrs I refer you to my bankers, Messrs and other houses "We then make inquiries of the bank and also of the firms she mentions. If they state she has been a satisfactory customer we allow her to start an account. "If she has not a separate bank account we ask if she has her husband's permission, before we allow her to come on to our books. Failing the husband's permission or a separate bank account we refuse to give credit. "We have other sources for obtai'nin" information about new customerthrough the inquiry agencies." SKIRTLESS BATHER'S RIGHTS. An athletic woman physician of Chicago, Dr. Rosalie Ladova, was the defendant recently in an amusing policecourt case, designed to test the rights of women swimmers to discard 1 their skirts. The fashion which permits American women to promenade public thorough-' fa-res in slit skirts and "X-rays" blouses decrees that on the bathing beaches and in the sea they shall wear dresses of ampler proportions. They must be clad when in the water in a bathing blouse, bloomers, skirt, and stockings. Declaring that it was impossible to swim in a skirt Dr. Ladova discarded her skirt and hid it under a rock before plunging into the water of Jackson Beach, a popular lakeside resort; and though still dressed in blouse, bloomers, and stockings, she was arrested for violating the police regulations. Dr. Ladova vainly aragued to the magistrates that her swimming costume was more proper than the costume worn by men bathers. "I was clad from head to foot," she declared, "while all around mc were men with bare legs. It is impossible to swim comfortably in skirts." Released on bail provided'by a prominent Suffragette leader, Dr. Ladova expressed her intention of fighting the case in the highest courts with tlie object of securing greater freedom for women swimmers in the matter of costume. s STRANGE WAYS WEDDING. There are thousands of roads leadin" to the altar. Soma of the strangest are the 'wife contests," in which the wife n T? n , eatilel V b y chance and where Cupid has J'ttle to do with the subsequent marriage ceremony. One of the oddest of the marriage contests took place recently in Italy . wealthy Neapolitan named Tesino ottered his name and fortune to the young woman who could best please his palate by her cooking of macaroni. As Tesino was good looking and rich, and as there were many unmarried girls in Italy, there were over 150 entries in the contest. Tesino tasted the dishes of macaroni that were presented to him and then carefully looked over tlie contestants. Whether or not he - those entirely by the taste of his favourite dish was never found out, but he did lead one of the contestants to the altar soon afterwards, and gave her a wedding present of 20,000 lira (about £800) on the eve of the wedding Miss Elizabeth Magic, a young°Washington woman, started to raffle herself as a "..lave for life" at so much a chance, the highest-priced chances being £2? in order to get money for voice culture. But before tlie contest was completed a suitable suitor presented himself. Miss Magic had met him during the contest, but he objected to her carrying out her plans of marrying the lucky" winner, and insisted on her returning the money to those who had taken chances. But the result was satisfactory, for Miss Magic got a husband and her voice cultivated, too, which was the real object of her raffle, after all. A tea company of London offered a husband to its most successful tea saleswoman. The offer read: "Tho canvasser who sells the most tea during the next six months will receive, in addition to a prize of £500 sterling, the privilege of marrying an-v single male member of this firm. Should he refuse to marry her, we will pay her breach of promise damages, £100 sterling, extra." The young woman who wae successful in the tea selling contest looked at the single men in the firm, grew sarcastic over the limited field offered her to make a choice, and accepted the £100 as breach of promise instead. She then married her [ real fiance,.and started up in a rival tea •business immediately afterwards. , A pretty Scotch girl..Marie Portious, could not decide which of two lovers she preferred, so allowed them to play a game of archery for her. Strangely enough, she did keep to the rules of the game, and married the loieky contestant. An impecunious German student, Heinrich Getz, too poor to continue his studies, offered .himself in a German paper as a "big prize, object matrimony." A rich widow of Frankfort who wished someone to take care of her affairs answered the advertisement. Although more than twice tbe age of the student, she promptly proceeded to fall in love with him, and, to all appearances, the [marriage is a successful one.