AFTER THE BALL WAS OVER.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 300, 12 September 1908, Page 11

AFTER THE BALL WAS OVER.

As tho scraniblo for cloaks and umbrellas at tho Lord Mayor's reception in Sydney tho other day nearly resolved itself several times into a Ireo fight, nobody is likely to forget it in a hurry (writes "Cristina" in the "Australasian"). It was a shocking affair. The mon's coats wore on one'sido of tho vestibule, the ladies' on tho other, the passageway to snd from the hall in between, so it was little wonder that tho congestion just there became terrific. But the fault lay in tho mixing-up of tho numbered bundles, dumped without method on tho temporary stagings behind the counter. Usually at our town hall the ladies have to 1 push for themselves in their own inadequate' cloakroom, but on this occasion the arrangements wero different —and worse. The men began by clamly matching the womenfolk six deep struggling to get near the counter, where four maids endeavoured vainly to find bundles corresponding to the tickets thrust at them. Soon, however, it was more than masculine flesh and blood could stand, jso the men took mattors into their own hands. Half a dozen, furious at seeing their wivcsl and daughters in such a melee, their pretty frocks being torn off their backs, their .hair dishevelled, rushed through and clambered upon the staging. The fracas now developed into a kind of auction sale. "Two double 0," shouted one man, holding up a bundle. There being 110 response, as the owner was probably waiting inside the hall till the fuss was over, out would como the pin, and the cloak and goloshes were held up for inspection. Bundles wero held up, and numbers shouted, the ladies calling out "Here" as they recognised their cloaks, when the roll would bo thrown over the surging heads, caught by some man below, and delivered to the grateful owner. Getting umbrellas was even more difficult, for Jiundreds had all been stacked together, and sorting out ,was done at the counter when you got to that haven. Valuable laee and umbrellas were lost in that hour-long scrimmage, and as many last trams and boats were lost, too, tho people who attended the Lord Mayor's reception/have causo to remember the fact. j " TO LOVE, HONOUR, AND Was it not a Greek philosopher who said that obedience is the mother of .success? Yet among the "now" women (says an English paper) there is many a bride who would rather risk tho succcss than pledge herself to obey her husband, as she is now compelled to do, if she is married according to tho service of the Church of England, or the formula of most dissenting bodies. This question of the pledgo of obedicnco which is extracted from brides who profess these forms of religion is continually coming under discussion, and in theso days, when tho equality of tho sexes is demanded, and when many clergy as well as laymen admit that it should be recognised, it seems inconsistent that this vow should bo demanded of women. As has been pointed out, brides of tho Roman and Greek communions, Jewish bridesj and thoso who belong to the Society of Friends, are not asked to mako such a pledgo, and what is not common to the whole body of the Church and is not considered necessary by the .members of the ancient Hebrew faith, may certainly be unnecessary for other women- scattered over the world. Why such pious horror should be expressed at tho suggestion that it should not bo formally required of us to obey when our sisters who are married according to other forms of religion, and prove to bo no less good and faithful wives, aro not asked to do so. it is not easy to say. But wo English folk are curiously illogical and infinitely strange in our views of morality. Whilo it is thought nothing short of shocking that onr daughters should rebel at this idea of placing themselves in subjection to their husbands, many ore not avcrso to giving them in marriage to men already possessed of wives from whom they have been divorcod and, whilo many consider it a fearful sign of tho times and an indication of coming disastor that it should oven be proposed that this vow' of obedionco should be deleted from the Anglican marriago sorvicc, yet few would bo prepared to say that, bccauso women of othor religious views do not mako this vow, they aro therefore bringing their _ sex to nought and uprooting ail tho traditions of the English race. WOMAN—ACCORDING TO JOHN KNOX. Of those who have championed tho divino right of man on Scriptural as well as other grounds the most redoubtable is John Knox. He oven outvied tho Christian Fathers, who had a most distressingly low opinion of the "weaker" sex, in his wholesale denunciations of woman. The story of tho Fall and somo unhappy references in tho Epistles, supplying a far-fetched theory of hor depravity and essential inferiority to man, has been made tho very most of, and ever since, as it has been said, woman has lain "buried under a couplo of Pauline texts." In an article in tho "Scottish Review" on John Knox's book "Blast Against<-i#o Monstrous Regiment of Women" tho writer points out that every evidenco is brought forward to show that she is by nature a poor thing. "Nature, I say, doth paynt them furtlie to bo weake, fraile, impacient, fcble, and foolisho; and experience hath declared them to bo unconstant, variable, cruell, and lacking tho spirit of counsel and regiment." ' Such is the judgment of a man who had twice married, and who found in women his warmest admirers! In support of his ungallant pronouncement tho writer proceeds to quote the authority and experience of tho ancients. Aristotle, it seems, decided against tho constitution of Sparta "because tho magistrates and Tulers of tho same wore too rnuchc goven to plcaso and obey their wyvos," and so on. Turning from profane antiquity, Knox calls to witness "the.mosfce auncicnt amongst godlie writers" —Tertullian. Augustine. Ambrose,' and Chrysostom. The bitter denunciations of women found in tho writings of these early Fathers aro quoted with gusto, among them 'Tertullian's "Thou art tho porto and gato of the Devil," and Chrysostom's "Womankind is rasho and foolhardie, and their covetousness is like tho goulf of hell — that is insaciable." Tho interest for us of John Knox's "Blast" lies not so much in its appeal to Scripture—which, after all, is usually callcd in to support views already formed on other grounds—but in tho fact that it reveals tho opinions hold nearly three and a half centuries ago by a man of lofty principle, who was, moreover, both a husband and a father. No doubt had he lived in these days his strange opinions would have undergone a total transformation. THE QUEEN AND THE DIRECTOIRE GOWN. Queen Alexandra, with a fine regard for the liberty of tho subject, rarely sets hor face sternly against any fashion (says an exchange). Among tho very few exceptions is—or rather was —tho fashion of wearing birds for dress and hat decorations. Against this she has always made a stand. Another, and more recont v instance, is her practical pronouncement against -p-, tho all too clinging garb of tho ultra fashionable woman. She \ has now gone so far as to rcmonstrate with one lady, which ' s hardly to bo wondered at, vOv\ seeing that at a recent luncheon KvuSv ) party, given by somo very disfHiß!U tinguished mombers of society, O no of the guests found herself unablo to sit down ! Tho climax goes to show that thero is hope for women oven where fashion is concerned. Tho follow guests not only laughed, but \ chaffed, and the victim finally subsided, seeking relief in tho good old-fashioned feminine way—in tears. In tho Royal enclosure this year a lady was given an uu.mistalcablo hint that hor apparel was unsuitable to her surroundings. The women," says a commentator, "of the period that wo aro endeavouring to imitato died off liko (lies. They went from an extremo craze' for furs to ono for insufficient clothing. So great was their desire for slenderness and length of outlino that they took all sorts of silly measures to mako themselves thin." Tho modern woman is unlikoly to 50 to extremes in this respect, and that will partly be because the fashion may change so soon, j