LADY POORE AND THE AUSTRALIAN GIRL.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 227, 18 June 1908, Page 5

LADY POORE AND THE AUSTRALIAN GIRL.

Lady Pooro, wife of the Admiral in charge' >f the Australian squadron, has been giving iier opinion of Australian life to a Sydney ivoraan journalist, and very much pleased must the Australian. women bo with her spinion of them.

"One of the most charming things about you Sydney peoplo," says Lady Pooro, "is that you are so easy to know. I was warned that you would be dreadfully critical, and that everything I said, 'did, or wore would be commented on; but I have found nothing but friendly hands and welcoming smiles. And you are just the very easiest people in the World to entertain. You bring all tho enjoyment with you, and tho hostess has no offort' at all to make things go. It seems to me that I just press p. button, and everything goes,on of its own accord. You think there may bo some art in pressing the right button? I think it would bo hard to find tho wrong ono, for there is always a ready responso.'in your'hearts."And"l like your girls* so much. I have met a good many of them, and I find them so easy aind natural and bright. They seem Bp capablo, to«i and ablo-.to mako dresses and-cakes just as well as they dance and play. I find that there aro three classes of girls very distinct in England, which do not seem to exist hero. At, least, I haven't met them. First, there is tho soulful girl, who reads Bernard Shaw, goes to Wagner matinees, and has a nasty, introspective habit, of turning ha soul inside out on tho floor; then there is the 'smart' girl, whoso vocabularly consists of about 200 words, and for whom everything that isn't 'ripping' is 'rotten,' and what isn't 'rotten' i 3 'ripping.' I have not seen a sign of her hero. And there is tho third girl, who I don't think' can esist out of provincial England; tho girl who delivers .tracts, and visits the soup kitchens and sows for tho poor, and is very kind,- very good, and very estimable, but, oh, so. dull, and stodgy, and uninteresting. Hor wliolo lifo is spont- in dull surroundings, and she never has any fun to brighten her

wits and her spirits. Do thoso girls exist h<!reP If so, I am sure thero aro not enough of them to go rouud, for I haven't met any of them. And I notice that the girls here don't uso slang, and are quite respectful to their elders. I haven't yet hoard a girl call her mother 'a silly, old Juggins,' nor do the mothers soem altogether dominated by their :daughters, as is quite common with 'smart' girls in England. Of course, yju understand I am only speaking of certain types thero"; the average English girl is just as sweet and nico as any girl in the wor'i " Lady Poore is brimful of that enthusiasm and brightness so characteristic of her nation, that Irish humour and vivacity whi.'.b carries all bofore it. And behind her /early

wit and laughter is a strong mind and intellectual force. She is one of a iitera v family; her eldest brother has written many Irish songs, best known of which is "Father O'l'lynn," whilo a. younger brother, Mr. Charles L. Graves, who is sub-editor of the "Spectator," and one of tho "Punch" roundtable, has also recently published a book of verses, "Humours of tho Fray,'' which in their genial satirq' remind ono not a little of Calverley. Lady Poore herself writes, too, and is a frequent contributor to the "Westminster Gazetto" and "St. James s Gazette," and other London papers of Ji'terr ary standing.