WHEN IS A WOMAN TOO OLD?

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2961, 27 December 1916, Page 2

WHEN IS A WOMAN TOO OLD?

SOME AMUSING ANSWERS TO A SERIOUS QUESTION. "To-Day" recently asked its readers this question, and received an afiusing variety of answers. The men (talung them in the cynical bulk) said, "When slio.ceases to take an interest in other women's dresses"; the women said, "When she ceases to love." One competitor broke into verse, and replied to this effect:— WHEN SHE DOES NOT CARE. Too old? Too old for what, I pray? For love, for work, for rest, or play? For anything and everything? That seems immensely questioning! A_ woman, surely, is too.old When Love is dead, and stiff, and cold, When Beauty from herself hath flown. To seek some fresh address, unknown, While jealousy has tinged with green The stage that bore the shifted scene; Whose aim hath set, .yet dares the night To yield tho world-reflected light. But,-having read, hold thou thy peace. No woman wishes the decease Of her sweet sovereignty to be The subject of an obsequy I When is ft,woman, then, too old? You ask, and you shall now be told. Nor is the question put amiss! A parting shot! So mark you'this, -'ly answer: When she does not care What all the other women wear I . Tho judges awarded the prize to the writer of the following reply: The power of Imagination. "It is'a popular theory that a woman is old when she looks old, when her beauty fades.. Entirely with .herself rests the capacity for a woman to retain and increase both outward and, inward beauty. Without inward beauty of mind, outward, beauty of expression cannot exist. " "A woman is too old when she becomes unable to withstand any experience which might shatter her ideals, embitter her emotions, and ruin the tranquillity of hor mind: when adverse circumstances kill her powers, of' sympathy, instead of enlarging them; when happiness makes her self-interested, instead of diffusing radiance and sunshino into tho.lives of those around hor; when, slio allows her.mind to become disinterested and her vision impaired. \ '

"A woman need never grow old; .More than man she is endowed with

that richest gift imagination-; and, as she fosters and encourages' this attribute, she can claim to possess the secret of perpetual; youth.; lot her neglect or <lcspiso it, and : agVclaims her for its own."

Tho female inmates of the Terraeo Gaol were not forgotten on Monday by the Discharged Prisoners' Aid Society in respcet of'their Christmas din-, ner. 'l'lio table was prettily decorated, as also were the walls, with flowers and evergreens and lettering and devices by the_ inmates. The cheer was muchappreciated, also a, bright concprt Riven by Mesdames Lewis, Smith, S. Tingey, and Miss Mueller.. Mr. T. S.'Lambert, gave a ■ recitation, also u sympathetic, and cheering address. Mr. Vincent (Gaoler), Miss Simpson (Chief Matron),. and ■' Miss I'opplewell (Assistant Matron) did all in their power to make tho proceedings as pleasant, as possible. Each woman received a paroel of cake, also one of fruit, etc. Thoy unanimously carried votes of_ thanks to tho entertainers, the officials, and. Mr. Edwin Arnold, J.P. (Visiting Justice), and. a., really pleasant afternoon; was brought : to a close by the hearty singing of '.'God Savo tho King.".

Fiiiglish and American reviews are full of articles on tho need for "saving the babies." Tho belligerent countries are all concerned about the question of "the future, the problem of. a diminished race. Thousands of men are falling on the battlefields of Europe and' of Asia. _ Yet Sir James Crichton Brown, M.D.J '"writes that, .di-; rectly or indirectly, both from actual loss and from, reduced - largely owing to prevniitable causes— tiie nation loses eight babies, for every soldier killed in the war ! That may bo true of Great Britain'only, but it gives eWrpono food for thought. If the wastage of human life can be so great, the matter must ho taken in hand promptly and vigorously. The babies must be saved. for.- the.Empire'..;;, . '.