WOMEN'S FORUM.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 264, 7 November 1931, Page 15

WOMEN'S FORUM.

BRUNETTES BEFORE BLONDES. "Whatever Anita Loos may say, gentlemen no longer prefer blondes, according to Mr. Mark; and he should know, for he once wrestled with the locks of Hollywood film stars and is now in charge of the hairdressing establishment of a celebrated London hotel. Perhaps it is the longer skirts which favour the more serious grace associated with dark haired beauties, or it may be that "dolls" have palled in their attraction. Anyhow, red blood is fashionable. The "cutie" has become the "senorita," and inassion has ousted peroxide. "Blondes aro finished," said Mr. Mark seriously. "In the past fortnight I have had thirty platinum blondes here to be dyed blue black. There was the obvious reaction. There were too many blondes. The fashion now is to be blue black in the Spanish style, and' the women are flocking to be tinted in that way. As for the complexion, the olive sunburn that goes with blue black is the newest mode."

VALUE OP SPELLING. Now that our dresses are longer, and our hats becoming Victorian, perhaps some of the virtues of that muchmaligned period will also return, such as thrift and the ability to spell correctly. Education in recent years has worn so many frills on its skirts and flowers in its hair that the supporting structure has been a trifle neglected. Now a new form of amusement has arisen in England, and its nature is indicated by the name of a new organisation, the Girls Schools' Spelling League. Under its auspices girls are forming themselves into teams of elecen, and they go up and down the country engaging in terrific orthographic tussles over long lists of "catchy" words that are dictated to them. The league aims at "exploiting the sporting and combative instincts of youth for the purpose of extending and improving its knowledge of English," and nothing could be more desirable, as may a victimised business man will agree. "But," says an observer, "I have seen a list of words which have been submitted to girls up to the age of 18, and I am alarmed. How, for example, do you spell the name of the throat malady which takes its name from the tonsils? You are probably wrong, as Dent's Medical Dictionary is. Do you feel entirely, spontaneously cheerful about 'Ghibelline,' 'harassing,' 'obbligato,' 'sibylline,' 'Euterpe'? These are for young ladies under eighteen. There ' are worse humiliations in the 'under fourteen' list —cartilage,' 'canoeing,' 'scarlatina,' 'annihilated,' all of which contain just that element of doubt which leads to scribbling on blotting paper to see how it looks or a hasty mental rummage for a synonym; and even children under eleven, it seems, are expected to cope with such vexations as 'flannelette,' 'dahlia,' 'ferreting,' 'caterpillar' and 'battalion.' Four of them, detestable young miracles, scored 100 per cent, and received half a guinea each." ? Mr. A. G. Grenfell, headmaster of Mostyn House School, Cheshire, is the secretary of the league. "It is a genuine attempt tp do something to raise the appallingly low standard of spelling in these'schools for the future mothers of the race," he said. "In one week lately three actual mothers have treated me to 'scarletina,' 'diptheria,' and 'immeadiatly.' The competitions introduce a good deal of fun into the normally dreary wastes of education.. They are held three times a year, and the team's aggregate determines the victory. Eighty-one schools entered teams in the last competition. One school returned an astonishingly meagre score, but it turned out that the head mistress had absent-mindedly added up ages, not marks. Both senior and junior trophies were won this year by an. English school in Wales."