WOMEN'S FORUM.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 133, 7 June 1932, Page 11

WOMEN'S FORUM.

THE LATEST GAME. That stoolball is one of the oldest bull games in the world there can be little doubt; it is certain that it dates from the fifteenth century, and to-day an amazing revival has set in. Women's stoolball clubs are being started ail over the south of England, and school children of both sexes are encouraged to play the game. It is said to be an ideal game for women; there its not the danger found in cricket, it is played with a bat similar to a table-tennis racquet, not more than seven and a half inches ill diameter, and a hard ball, smaller than a cricket ball. The "wickets" are one foot square at the top of supports four feet eight inches from the ground, and are pitched lf'ft apart. The bowler, who bow.s underarm through the air, stands 10ft from the batsman. The beauty of the game is that it requires no laid-out field, nor a perfect wicket; the equipment is cheap and lack of proficiency does not reduce enjoyment. The laws of cricket —a game which, it its suggested, has grown out of stoolball- —are almost the same as those for the revived

sport. A COURAGEOUS FAST. Wo hear enough about diet these days. Sonic of the would-be slim advocate the seven-day diet, others the eighteen-day, and some swear only by a rigid fast with perhaps just a little orange juice to temper the monotony. These fasts generally last a few days and 60ine carry on for a. week or even more, but very few healthy and well people seldom go in for a longer fast. A Leicester girl who , carried out what is claimed to be a record fast in a local amusement hn\\ revealed to a doctor who attended her and forbade her to continue, that her aim was not slininess, but that she had done it for her mother's sake. She was known as Miss X and was offered £200 if she fasted for 45 days. She fasted for 43 clays, drinking only lemonade and smoking , cigarette.?, lying inside a glass cabinet where spectators conl<l see her. Then a doctor said that she was so weak that she must give up. She bogged to be allowed to continue, saying that she had undertaken the fast to get money for an operation on which her mother's life depended. The promoters, however, presented her with the money which she would have earned had she fasted the full period.

SPORTS GOWN FOR EVENING. Fashion seems to be getting a little tired of the ultra-feminine woman. Recently an entirely now type of evening gown was presented at a mid-season dress collection, which seems to show thnt the sports girl is coining into her own again, says an Knglish paper. This novel "sports evening costume," as its designer called it, consisted of a white skirt and jacket with a contrasting blouse. A now British woollen, called irylotii, which feels like silk and looks like rough-surfaced sponge cloth, was used for the jacket (which was made rather like a man's tail-coat) and tiie ground-length ekirt, which fitted snugly over the hips and gradually widened to the hem. Gaily printed chiffon was used for tlie blouse, the neck of which was draped, and a sash, lightly boned to keep it flat, encircled the waist. Another British material, printed piquevoile, was used for some charmingly simple debutante evening gowns. Very coarse Irish linen woven to look like tweed made smart suits, and full-length, double-breasted summer coats were made of furnishing fabric which looked like superior sackcloth. Crochet blouses were trimmed with the kind of roses which used to ornament the d'oyleys girls were so fond of crocheting before the war, and an ingenious bracelet of cord fastened with a .steel buckle was worn to match a cord belt.