WOMAN’S WORLD

Dominion, Volume 16, Issue 107, 22 January 1923, Page 2

WOMAN’S WORLD

MATTimSuxOE INTEREST FROM FAR AND NEAB

(By

Imogen.

SOCIAL AND PERSONAL

Mr. and Mrs. Hope B. Gibbons of Wellington, (ire visiting Auckland.

Amongst the guests recently staying at The Kiosk, Otaki, are Mr. and Mrs. P. Murray (Raetihi), Rev. and Mrs. Cook (Palmerston), Dr. and Mrs. Simpson (Koiburn), Mr. and Mrs. Dunkley (Otaki), Mr. and Mrs. Nicholls (Kelburn), Mr. and Mrs. Parr (Kelburn), Mr. and Mrs. Ballinger (Wellington), Mr. and Mrs. Hogg (Wanganui), Mr. and Mrs. Waugh (Palmerston North), Mr. and Mrs. .Howard Jackson (Carterton), Mrs. and Miss Clark (Martinborough), Mr. and Mrs. Bull (Napier), Mr. and Mrs. Ellis (Kelburn), Mr. and Mrs. Ferininger (Waipawa), and Mr. and Mrs. McNamara (Wellington). Mrs. Mcßae (Auckland) is visiting her mother, Mrs. West (Bolton Street), and will bo spending two or three weeks at Muritai.

Mr. and Mrs. McGowan (Timani) have been spending a few days in Wellington on their return journey from Auckland to the south.

Mr. and Mrs. H. E. Beamish, their daughter and little son, and Miss Fannin, of Hastings, are touring the North Island, and are at present in Wellington.

The marriage was celebrated at St. Barnabas Church, Stoke, Nelson, of Miss Dora. M. Beatsoil, only daughter of Mrs. Beatson, “Rosebank,” Stoke, to Mr. John Perry Robinson, youngest son of tho late Captain E. A. Robinson, of Nelson. Miss Jean C. Strachan was bridesmaid, and Air. Charles P. Strachan best man.

Mrs. George Buchanan ' (Christchurch) is visiting Wellington. Airs. Michael Gordon (Hawke’s Bay) is visiting Christchurch.

The Rev. T. G. Carr, Airs, and Alias Carr, of Auckland, arrived in Wellington at the end of last week from Christchurch on their return to the north.

Miss Freda Marsden and her niece have returned to Christchurch from a month’s tour of tho North Island.

Mr. and Airs. Walter Chiford and Miss Aroha Clifford (Canterbury) are visiting Wellington.

Mr. and Mrs. J. 0. B. .Howe and family have returned to Wellington arfter a two weeks’ motor tour through tho North Island.

Professor and Airs. Richards and Airs. Christian (Brisbane), delegates to the Science Congress, have left lor a visit to Mount Cook. Aliss Frost, another delegate from Brisbane, is also visiting there.

The death took place recently at her residence. 'l’ho Wood, Nelson, of Mrs. Walter Davidson, one of the very earliest arrivals in the Nelson settlement. She was born on board the Martha Ridgway in the Bay of Biscay, her parents being Air, and Airs. Andrew Alalcohn. In honour of the event, tho baby was called after the skipper of tho vessel, Captain Cooper. Airs. Davidson’s parents settled at Richmond, mid remained there for the rest of their lives. For a time after her marriage Airs. Davidson lived at Richmond, and then removed to Christchurch, and later to Dunedin. After an absence of twelve years she returned to Nelson,' and had lived in Jibe Wood ever since. Thirteen children wore born .to Mr. and Airs. Davidson, of whom twelve are living; some being in Nelson at the present, time, and one is in Australia. To have sjient 82 years in the Dominion, as the late Mrs. Davidson did, was a distinction which very few colonists could claim. Mess’s. W. -I. Davidson, Featherston, and E. 0. Davidson, Tawaha. are sons of deceased.

Miss Edith MclHaster (Mastortonl has been spending the week-end in Wellington.

Dr. Elaine Gurr has returned to Timaru from a visit to Wellington and the Picton Sounds.

Mr. H. H. Allison (headmaster, District High School, Greymouth) and Mrs. Allison are spending a few days in "Wellington before going south. They have been the guests of Mrs. Riddle, Hawke’s Bay, for the holidays

Miss Fitzherhert and Miss Goring Johnston are visiting Auckland.

A tennis party was' given by Their Excellencies the Governor-General and Viscountess Jellicoe at the Stanley Street Courts on Thursday for the offi cers of the French cruiser Jules MicheTn the evening Their Excellencies attended a dance given at Dcvonport bv tho officers of IT.M.S. Chatham for tho French visitors.

The commodore, commanding officers, and wardroom officers of the New Zealand i>Souadron gave an “at home” in Adiivralty Hall. Devonport, Auckland, on Thursday, in honour of Admiral Gillv and the officers of tho Freiwh cruiser Jules Michelet. The GovcrnorGoneral and Lady Jellicoe were present and shortly after their arrival danein-t commenced to music bv an excellent Hawaiian band. The hall had been converted into a. spacious ballroom, and flags and bunting draped the walls, iwo lame. Union Jacks being hung across tho raised dais on which the Vice-Regal party were seated. Suppqr was served at small tables in a portion of the hall that had been screened off by flags, and a sit.tine-out room was arranged, with comfortable settees and chairs. Poftlv-colourcd I’rdits gave a chnrm'ng effect to the prettv frocks of the dancers :"vl the cold of the naval uniforms added to the brilliancy of the scene.

“Some peonlc have formed an idea of France which to us is unbearable.” said M. Jean Chauvel, of the French Foreign Office, at the Town TTa.’l Concert' Ob amber. states the 'neklnnd “Herald.” ‘'They picture France as a desolate mother who has lost many of her cherished sons, exhausted. without enemy or vitality 'eft. unable +o do anything but sit on her ruins and wail. Some people have ventured to sav that France was like one of those beggars who show their wounds to pot money from pnssors-bv. Those are abominable calumnies. We do not want the world’s pitv. We want the world’s sympathy and respect. (Applause.) We are nrofopndIv touched by the generous gifts of Allied countries. Tam particularly pleased to m'T-o a special mention, of whnt Auckland had done dur'n.g the war foi our Red Cross, our blinded soldiers, and our war ornhavs. amj since the war our devastated regions, and more especially for tho city of Lonomeva.l, adopted hv New Zealand. We are very proud of such tokens of deep svpinathy from our comrades and companions of the most, sombre days humanity ever know. Their arc to us wonderful testimonials of the high respect and regard our friends formed of our long and hard efforts for the sake of common and high ideals. But we do not expect them, their spontaneity adds to their value.”

Tha Modern Girl. Commenting on a denunciation by a. woman doctor of the “vices and stupidities” of tho modern girl, tlio London “Daily Telegraph” agrees that there may be some preinaiturely agod. products of society life—“already, before the age of 20, as worn out and nerve-tired as if they were 40” —but declares it would certainly bo unfair to pretend that they are a pharacterfstiid type of thici girlhood and young womanhood of our day. Some “society” girls, no doubt, are “ruining their digestion and impairing their livers” by too much smoking, too many cocktails, and possibly even too much whisky. But the average observer encounters few signs of the withered beauty that is the penalty of these ill-habits. Aliddleaged people complain sometimes of tho hardness, the lack of sentiment, and the selfishness cf the girls who have become young women since the war. The young men of their own generation are also critical, but that is because young people nowadayc are more sincere than the: r parents were, make few pretences about tho things that matter, though many about the things that do not. Similarly, the forebodings for the future of the race may seem, to thc.se who indulge them, the soberest deductions from the facts. Unfortunately they have been made often befo.’e. I’ ifty years ago the public invited to believe that it was witnessing “the last jhase of tho gracious womanhood of England, that womanhood which once stood as the symbol of all home virtues, all sweet sorviceableness, all tenderness of jpve and loyalty and duty.” Jezebel was declared to be queen. But she lived to be a. delightful grandmother, and though her daughter,. as described in the “Nineteenth Century” of 25 years later, was “painted, dyed, and powdered according to the inode, her lips red with wino and moist with liqueur,” and Eer granddaughter is, according to Dr. Savill, precipitating “tho downfall of modern civilisation,” our flesh refuses to creep. Youth has a way of becoming middle-aged. ]n its turn, it sets an example to the veung, and in its turn is flouted. Should the day come when youth makes age its leader, then, and not till then, may be despair. I hat will be tho day when our race is ended—the zest of life gone, and no quest remaining for youth.

The Prettiest Ankles. A man who has travelled in every part of Europe expressed tho opinion that the prettiest ankles are to be found in Genoa, and the least shapely in Prague. “In Italy you do not find the atrocity of the silk stocking with a cotton foot and top,” ho observed. “Englishwomen spoil tho appearance of their usually pretty feet not by tho shoes they wear, which arc in excellent taste, but because they will not pay the price for all-silk stockings. They wear stockings with horrible patches appearing above the ankles, thus destroying completely the beauty of the foot. In Italy, and especially in Genoa, women wear' good stockings, dainty high-heeled shoes, in which they look charming. In Prague, where German customs survive, women wear light-coloured woollen stockings on legs that ought to bo made as inconspicuous as possible.” A shoemaker stated that whereas several years ago the shoe most constantly in demand was a fine, it is now a six, or a six and a half. Sevens are frequently asked for. Mr. Edouard van YVaeyenberge, writing tn a London paper from Weston-supcr-Alare, suggests that Englishwomen have the slimmest ankles in the world. ‘T wandered about France for ten years,” he writes. “I visited Arles, which has a groat reputation among artists for beautiful women. I have seen more beautiful ankles among Englishwomen than ever I saw on tho Continent.” “Where is the traveller, who after wandering almut England, does not admit that there are here too many beautiful women for one’s peace of mind?” An artist pointed out to the same panor that slim ankles have not always boon the artist’s ideal of beauty. “Go in to the sculpture section of the British Aluseum and look at Aphrodite entering her bath.” he said. “A beautiful figure, assuredly. But slim ankles? No! In this case tho ankles are decidedly thick and shapeless. In Greek and Roman sculpture the feet- are often concealed by draperies ; but where they are revealed it is rare to find an ankle which, while in proportion, is also slim and shapely, as we understand shapeliness to-<lav.”