WOMAN'S WORLD.

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2834, 27 July 1916, Page 2

WOMAN'S WORLD.

MATTERS OF INTEREST FROM FAR AND NEAR.

(By Imogen.)

SOCIAL AND PERSONAL Patriotic Cake Room. The committee of the Pntriotic Cake Room acknowledges with thanks gifts of home-made cakes, sweets, etc., from the following donors:—Mr. and Mrs. Firth, Mesdames Askew, Badham, Finch, Smitten, Clayton, Nation, Peacock, Findlav, Christie, W. Gavin, Telford, J. M'Leaii, G. Didsbury, Palmer, Holmes, Isaacs, von Dadelszen, W. F. Ward, Hnmer, Hurst, A. Myers, G. Fulton, A. Williams, J. H. Williams, Misses Rose, Gavin, Cameron, Clayton, M'Kellar, Chalmers, Wheeler (2),, Macintosh, Drummond, Wright, Didsbury, Davies, M'Menamen, Kirkcaldie, Johnson, Jacobscn, Webb, von Dadelszen, Sidey, Maudsley, Richardson. Alarming M Writing from London, whither he had been invalided after the Gnllipoli campaign, an Anzac from the South Island says in the course of a letter to a relative: "Are 'the Government taking any steps to stop our fellows from marrying in England. All the boys seem to bo picking up their affinities here, so I am afraU that the result will be that the ranks of the spinsters will be alarmingly increased in New Zealand after 'the war is over. Our. chaos have all got a name for being most affectionate fellows. Isn't it too terrible?

"The noor Nine Islanders have had awfully bad luck. They were so prone to pneumonia in France that they have all had to be sent back here. They arc i"st like, kiddies, and cannot understand English. An English instructor was put in charge of them the other day, aud after he had been roaring at them for about ten minutes ho found that the whole thing was a practical joVe. as thev could not understand a word he said. He was wrath, but thp perpetrators were immensely amused." The Inspiration of Music. A wounded soldier lately fighting "somewhere in 'France," records that the sound of a lilting tune had a wonderful effect upon men worn out, dogtired, and desiring nothing so much as sleep. "One night," he said, "when wo had been • days in the trenches—something or other had happened to the .relief—the order came to go forward. Well, most of us were feeling half-dead. We had bad a' rotten time—shell-fire from somewhere we couldn't see, and not much chance of hitting back.. Wo hardly seemed to 'have n leg to stand on. Then somebody began : to. play on a mouth-organ, 'Hearts of . Oak/ He played it pretty badly, but there was something about the old tune that bucked us up like anything. We took three German trenches that night."

French Peasant Women and Their Work.

A striking example of what women can do on the farm in i» time like the present is afforded by the peasant women of Prance, who have dono their part as nobly as their men folk in the trenches. The situation in France after the mobilisation.of the army must,have been sufficiently disheartening. , Apart from the women, in very many cases none but children and old men were left. Great demands were made by file military authorities on French farm horses, find tbo autumn manuring could only be carried,out with great difficulty, as part of .th* artificial: manures had been requisitioned for the manufacture of explosives, while the rest remained at the railway stations for lack of transport facilities. The peasant women, however, (lid not lose courage, and it is due to them that the agricultural life of France was not totally suspended. Making great efforts, they bravely took the place of. the men. They sowed, cultivated, and harvested, they led the horses and attended the cattle;'they faced the .roughest work; and they spent their evenings in making up accounts after the hardest work in the field in the daytime.. They carried on the work even in the "army zone" behind the trenches, and many of them have not hesi-. tated to cultivate their farms under fire. After the first shock of war the task confronting the women did not get ens. ier; one by one further classes of men •were called up, and the story of the French agricultural labour, problem is to a largo extent that of the way in which ttiese women have been able to draw on various resources which the country has attempted to place at their disposal. It is a great tribute to these admirable women that many of them have tolerated the presence of German prisoners even while monroing the death of a husband or brother. It is recognised in France that the strain of eighteen months' work under such conditions cannot have been without effect, and there is no, doubt that in some cas«s women have given'up and left the land; : but the conviction is expressed thaflhe 1 others will long find the strength to continue the fight. There is no question that the women of France, no less than the Army, have helped to save the country, and their example should do away with all arguments against the employment of women on the farm at a time of dire necessity.

The formal onening of the new quarters of the Soldiers - Club in Wellingtn is to take placo on Monday afternoon, at '.'.30. His Excellency the Governor i= the patron of the club, and will attend the ceremony. An "at home" will also be given in the evening, and dancimr and music should provide very pleasant entertainment.

The death took place at.lier residence, Onehunga, on Tuesday of an old resident, in the person of Mrs. Louisa Somerville. She was the widow of the late Mr. Archibald Somerville, and was the daughter, of the late Mr. C. G. Stone, one of the first merchants in business in Auckland.

Ths "Canterbury Keel Cross Record" is in future to be known as the "New Zealand lied Cross Uecord." Arrangements have been made to extend the circulation of the magazine in the Wellington military district, and it is to be increased in size.

On Friday evening the "Busy Jiec Club" will be hostesses at the Soldiers' Doom in the place of Miss Kennedy.

The fortnightly meeting of the Wellington Nursing Division of St. John Ambulance Brigade Overseas was held Inst evening. Good work was done in "First Aid and bandaging.

ANSWERS TO COKP.ESPONDENTS. (By arrangement with Mrs. 'Kolleston, Ilair Physician and Face Specialist, Qualified. London and Paris.)' "Hopeful."—Your scalp evidently requires treatment/. There appears to bo a great amount of dandruff and want of tone. You will improve the condition generally and prevent the hair falling by using the homo treatment preparations, including the necessary Pomade, Lotion, and Shampoo Powders. Suflicient for three months' course may be had for IBs. Cd., post free, with full directions.

"J.K.K."—Combings may be made up into switches, braidings, and washable hair pads. They arc not suitable for transformations or toupees, which require natural wavy hair. Combings arc made up at 2s. Gel. per or.. Further replies by letter. Advice and consultation free. Mrs. Kolleston, 25(1 Lambton Quay, Wellington.-Advt.

Worth inspecting! Herb. Price's splendid line of 2s. M. Ties. A. big variety of colourings and designs to choose from. Call in to-day—Advt.

Wedding Announcement.—Beautiful roses and the choicest of flowers only are used when designing wedding bouquets, which I make a speciality of. Packed and forwarded through the Dominion. Miss Murray, Vice-Begat Florist, 3G Willis Streat.-i.cTvt.

New Zealand Nurses, The following New Zealand nurses have been appointed for duty at the New Zealand Hospital at Walton, under the new arrangement of the medical services in England, states a London correspondent of June 16:—Sister: M. G. Atkinson, Auckland. Stall' nurses: Edith M. Pnsooe, Christchurch; Ruby J. Kelly, Auckland; E. P. Stanton, Auckland; M. Montgomery, Auckland; S. Nicholas, Wellington; E. I. Schaw, Taranaki; Jessie Walker, Napier; Effio Williams, Auckland; N. E. Mandena, Te Awamutu; Jean Macpherson, Auckland; Agnes Kenny, Auckland; M. Miller, Dunedin; Mrs. M'Ara, Gore; Jean Clennie, Wailcato; Alice B. Finlayson, Hamilton; A. Hamann, Dunedin; C. Walker, Hawke's Bay; J. M. Mercer, Dunedin; J. B. Porteo'us, Southland; I. J. Scott,- Southland; A. P. Don, Dunedin; L. J. Campbell, Dunedin; and J. P. Arnold.

Sister G. Sisley, of Auckland, has resigned from the staff of the hospital at Walton-on-Thames, and is returning to New Zealand by the Corinthic. The Returned Soldiers' Club, Yesterday morning a little party, under the guidance of Captain Simson, and consisting of the Mayor (Mr. J. P. Luke), and Mrs. Luke, Colonel Hume, Mis. Bullock, Major Corrigan, and one or two other friends, were taken over the new building recently acquired as a permanent residence for the Returned Soldiers' Club. Up' to now, in spite of a membership that reaches (at the present time) to about 700 soldiers, the club has been housed in. very limited space, and tho activities of members must have been severely cramped. That, however, will all be changed, as there should be room for everybody and everything in the new buildings. In spite of ladders, traps for the unwary in the shape of buckets of paint, movable woodwork, etc., the fitting of the club had been sufficiently advanced to show what it would look like very shortly. The whole of the building, consisting of four floors, has been acquired, and the various necessary alterations have very nearly been finished. The entire first floor ihaa been turned into a "social room," very spacious, .as are all the rooms, and fitted up with a platform at the further end for concerts, entertainments, etc. All the windows open on to tho Quay, and the colouring of the Toom has been carried out in brown and cream. A curious observer might have wondered what was the reason of a barrier or partition about four and a half feet high, which extended some distance into the. room, making, with tho wall, a passage from the door. Tho explanation was simple, and showed a'sympathetic understanding of the little ways of soldiers. It was a vantage point for the soldier who wished in certain moods to be a spectator only of what might be going on, with freedom to ocmie or go, as he wished. It should certainly answer to that purpose. At the entrance to the room was an inquirycounter, and.at tho back' of it a room for cloaks, parcels, etc., for which tho men on depositing would receive a ticket, to be presented when.he wished to obtain his goods on leaving. In tho social room the weekly'soldiers' evenings will be given, and once a fortnight subscribers will be the guests of tho soldiers tit "social" evenings. On the next floor is tho billiard-room, with space for threo billiard tables, also carried out in the same colouring as the room below. Outside is a long, wide .balcony, which will bo. glassed in at the ends. There are even hot and cold showers provided for in tho building. Above this room is the tea-room, with kitchen and. pantry, counter, and all the necessary fittings, where tho members of the club will be able at any time of the' day to secure light refreshments. At the other end of tho room are the club offices. The room above is for dances .'given by the.club, and should baan admirable ballroom.. Later on the walls of the club will, have interesting decorations, as' trophies won by the veterans of this country will find their home- there.. The veterans themselves will also hold their meetings there, and so the past and the present, both having fought their, battles, will' find a common meeting-ground. . The roof-garden should in the, time to when plans hnvo become reality,.. and it is made beautiful with flowers and creepr ers, be a delightful place for men who are, after all. whether it: is realised or unrealised, only gradually creeping back to tho ordinary life of the ordinary man. It will take many months for the man who 'has been fighting to pick uj; the tbreads- of. life and weave them together neaiii, and such a place as this Soldiers' Club should certainly be a big factor, in helning to bring this about.

The club's committee is formed by Messrs. V.. T). Bell, Alex. Gray, ,T. A. Simson, P, .f. Nathan, C. If. Smith, N. Broad, M. .[). Loftus. D. Mansfield. ,T. T). Harper, Major M'Killop, with Captain Donald Simson as chairman.

Miss Susan Patterson, sister of Mr. George Patterson, of Auckland, is at present in Austria. As a girl, she was sent by her guardian to England to be educated. While at Home, jfiss Patterson mado acquaintance with some young Indies from Germany. At their inritation she went to the Continent, and was in Hungary in 1882, also visiting Austria ami Germany. Finally Miss Patterson' settled down in the latter country as a teacher. When war broke out she "was in Austria, where she had been residing for some years. Sir Thomas Mackenzie was able at length to traco her through, the agency of the. American Consul-General at Budapest. The Consul, writing on March 6, states that Miss Patterson was being well cared for in a sanatorium at Szombathely, a city some three or four houra' journey from Vienna; also that her furniture and, eft'eots linve been carefully stored, and her money deposited in a savings bank. Miss Patterson is a native of Taranaki.

"L'Oeuvre" tells a story regarding the I'resident of the Kepubiic's vieit to the Belgian front last Easter, which it says the censor lias hitherto refused to allow to appear. While M. Poincare -was motoring in the. neighbourhood of Nieuport a shell burst a short distance away. A second fell immediately afterwards much nearer. It did not explode. An officer of the President's suite picked it up, arid found that the fuse had been extracted before firing. The shell bore the following inscription :—"This shell is an Easter egg to 11. Poincare, and comes from his own stock of munitions." The missile was in fact"a "75" and had been fired from a French gun captured by the enemy. The shell now occupies a place among President Poinenro's war souye.nirs of the Elysee.

ANTARCTIC VIEWS

'A LAND OF SNOW AND MYSTERY, Yesterday afternoon at the Pioneer Club a most interesting exhibition, of views ,of Antarctic scenery' was to be seen. Tho views were reproductions of the lato Dr. Wilson's water-colour sketches, taken when on the South Polar expedition with Captain Scott,, and. tho exhibition was given for the'purpose of assisting Mrs. Wilson's fund for tho widows and children of the men who were lost in that great but ill-fated adventure. -Naturally, even apart from such an object, it was impossible not to feel greatly interested in these glimpses of such a. mysterious and so little known land. So perfectly had the reproductions been done that it was said to be a most difficult matter to distinguish them from the originals, and in their delicate colouring and suggestion of infinite space and stillness they were, many of them, exquisitely beautiful. It was a beauty, however, that was associate';! with utter 'desolation and terror, in spite of its dolicacy and aloofness.

There were between fifteen and twenty of these views arranged about the/oom. Mt. Erebus showed in several of them in different aspects or at different times, and some were very beautiful, especially one that showed this snow-clad volcano in the faintest rose of sunset, an icy monster with a fierj\heart. Extraordinary and weird to a degree, even in a land that seems the incarnation of the abnormal and the terrible, was the view of Para Selena at Cape Evans, with snow-, covered slopes stretching- up and away into thick darkness. Against this was thrown a double lunar ring and an addi- . tionnl spectral suggestion was given, to the scone by several skis standing upended, like sentinels iu-the snow. Men] on. skis, dragging a sledge, give a human | nolo lo.another picture, and also iiutho ona showing the ponies being exercised. Interesting was that of tho Great Ice Barrier, east from Cape Crozier, and oven more so one of a sunset looking west from Hut .Point and showing the] - hut at tho bottom of a valley, its smoking chimney and yellow 'light showing | from the windows, giving a home-like touch to a vrildly desolate Oftltenf all, perhaps, the most curiously fascinating was one of Hut Point taken from a height, from Observation Hill. Colourless, shadowy; it suggested nothing tangible, arid might liave been the land of ghosts itself, even. the waters being haunted by the faintest suggestion of it I reflection of the height from which tho | view was sketched. It was a picture that was extraordinary in its faScTnatioji and in its power of suggestion. , In very riiany of tho pictures strange cloud effects were seen, but of course it goes without saying that nothing is ordinary or could be ordinary and commonplace in such a land. ■■"• • v. During the afternoon about thirtythreo orders jn all were taken for reproductions of these views, and as theso orders have lo be. sent to London, Mrs. Birch, who arranged the 'exhibition,- will . bo very- glad if all orders for views are sent in to her at Miss Malcolm's by the end of this week. By sending all away at once postage and duty will bo shared by everyonewith, obvious advantages. • Her Excellency tho Countess of Liverpool who. has been taking a practical interest in the matter, was present at the exhibition. In-addition to Mrs. Birch and Mrs. Atkinson (the president of tho club) tliere were also present Mrs. J. Mackenzie, Mrs. Fitcbett, Mrs. Atkins, Mrs. F. M. B. Fisher,- Mrs. Bamieoat, Miss England, Mrs. H. Hall, Miss Moore (Wanganui), Mrs. Myers, Mrs. Gray, Mrs. Leicester, Miss Helver, Miss Holmes, Mrs. Fulton,. Mrs. Tripp, Mrs-. Moorhouse, Miss Watson. Mrs. Martin, and many others. The common room in which the exhibition was aeM had been charmingly arranged with camellias, sent by

Her Excellency the Countess of Liverpool, and rhododendrons and quantities of heath which Mrs. Birch had received from her home in Marton. The teatables in the adjoining room had also been prettily arranged with, beath and other spring flowers.