AROUND THE TEA TABLE

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 267, 10 November 1928, Page 19

AROUND THE TEA TABLE

'."MATTERS 'I PPaGENERAI; iriTEREST.

%X \ % ••»■'(ByJSHTRLEY;):■;.-!•:»r;; ]

,j .La'dy;Lihdb'Ferguson; of Duiiediri, wife of the eye specialist, having .visited''ltaly,.,professes great. admiration of the Dictator;-' ,'Lady Lindd"is 1 president of a women's club in her./pwh c\ty, while -she likewise, takes ,an admirable part in''other'forih's'of public activity. And,-.shevhasn't : quite».-underßtopd, perhaps,' that' if .-the i admired>dhe •we're, £ force;;in ,New Zealand,'-.nonei thirigsiwduld .be, permitted ;her.> r tßenito'is idea is- that man; gives '.woman. just { much or as little freedom as he,-not she; desires, and the less he gives the better. He'feminds'me.'of ; that:little bby'in this S(ime' Dunedin who 1 , was 'left in charge -of hisi employer's'office, when a meinberiof the^JSociety 3 for 1 thd .'Prevention- i'idf Cruelty 'to ..Women ; and 'Children called ■for. a'donation He' told' his employer later that-a iperspn,had-called in favour of the prevention of women. Perhaps Mr. Mussolini's .idealjwpuld, "Jjo , found'on thai domestically-inclined Auckland lady who stood outside Hall:one night when a political speech Twaarbeing given; The- loui speaker; wasr.perhap's'; not very helpful to all, some words being blurred. •The word'tariff, occurredivery'-'ofteh, and at" last she'-became impatient:'' "What have' carrots got : to •' do 1! with "it V 'she asked;at last,-as she strolled' away. And sOj'iquit'e urideservedly'j';one.'side , haspro.bably lost a vote. ; ""■ :' •* *"■■,■. .-&.'•' * <j. -'i';, t •,•"•' ,, ''' , - »'«,<*«*!»> » % I -"Chiirwomen-get; ten' shillings >a Tr day,?' said clearly; one-tlady'at •ia suburb meeting, when the question of relief - pay'for men. was-engaging^the.speaker's attention. "The "interjector was evidently questioning,the,fairnessofc giving a -mere, womahsb'-vast'a sum'if here; and there'a man'-got.less.i i.Why.jthe-"poor; char":/'is always: "picke'd on'lis ,npt:.cleaf, unless' we. want to get .back.to; the;days when ! she-, humbly. j :repeiyed.,.eighteenpence and some old clothes, the eighteenpence being omitted- if .her matrimoniali'statusiw.as uncertain,-a%'then'-she-,was,.giyeh work "but of charity," which was "more than she deserved/?.' Scrub l women, as,they are called in America, have anyway been sub-, ject for'Bome dashing poetry: It was.pne of the clan: who thought of .'Heaven, as-a place? where' she 'would do "nothingsforeyer ..and Times, have changed nbwi'and she is important , . '"My. char. 1 has given' me'the sack," says-a; lady sometimes'mournfully, "she had too'many "on het Jist;-and:she, ; said" I -was-therone who could, easie'st'do .without, her,'? She.plays thp'.game J better'now, tbbj'sending a c small son with unablelto tend!that. day,'instead of as ; old-, times mysteriously not turning u'p.at all; ;'. '» ' *" » - ■ ■ "» '" ■' \r.

Even' as' we' smile at the earliest motor cars, so did great laughter arise the when a cinema showed our air traffie' , bf'vtwenty years ago and more. Especially hoots of derision arose, largely froml small boys in the audience . .who weren'fcJaliye'then! The old"air omh'i-, ibuses .jwere^-certainly amusing. .jWheii ' jvvnat'lbbked' liKeja 'skeleton house arose ; in "the! air ut' ; was difficult to beiieve.-.this other .thanVfake, still more, when a inan conqueredfthe air seated, on .what looked like a'gigantic trea-tree jack\'' t lt was genuiney.hbweyer, for we saw'onej.ofvthe first ai'r-ijypmen, a'Mis? Quimby,' who got into;the'bddest contraptiony'and survived.' ' ,tb- , s'mile-at,us-later v in her. old-fasKibned long dress and 1911 hat. Accidents, happened »then,,of course, but ih'ese'are'not ,unknown'*npwadays. Yet, •considering that more than 500,000 persons flew in these are-,few. ,TEe ah-,, woman~has this advantage, over., a. manJthattshe does not seem. tb>,knbwL when, an, accident is one, and when it isn't.'Q 'ft -thought they always landed: .tMsiWay,";said.mildly..a-la4yipasseng'er . came a fearful bump," and scores: of .inen rushed forward to soothe her feminine terrors. ~-■. .j,,

■ "Wiat to do if your.cigarette burns a hole in your dress," says seriously : a lady's page' adviser. ■ What, grandnia •would have don& would'have been'.to smack mother 'severely, and see that'sho didn't go-fa), thai kind of party again in a hurry. At that- epoch, however,' mother would probably 'explain the damage as resulting from het gracious permission to young'Jenkins to'smoke in her presence, which might have got her into trouble of another kind, for,why did'she permit the ineligible Jenkins such.proximity? Meanwhile,' cigarette makers ascribe' to us the fact that sales have risen quite one-third' hi recent times. Yet it is still tactful for. j'ttio, sellers to. assume ; that the purchase is for. a'possiblynot -existent husband'.. At a social gathering (if the story is -true)! a dignified and , grey-haired dame-was-once pointed ; out as, "the last; woman inEngland ;toi refuse., iman permission. to smoke, in her presence.'' It vijould.take doing nowadays,,,.: _. : ..;.,,, , -..;;,-..'.

' '', (Published by '.axrangemcEt.)..: -,;:-,