I would rather have a big burden and a strong back than a weak back and a caddie to carry life's luggage.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVI, Issue 143, 16 December 1908, Page 9

I would rather have a big burden and a strong back than a weak back and a caddie to carry life's luggage.

Mr. and Mrs. Gilruth. leave Wellington on Monday, the 11th, and go South, taking the Ulimaroa to Australia. They have taken Tor a year (!hc house of the Registrar of the University, which is situated — as are other houses of the Institution — in fine grounds of many acres in extent. Mr. Gilruth's sister, from Scotland, will probably visit them next year. Miss Quick leaves this week for Blenheim wit'-hj Mr. and Mrs. Royd Garlick. Mrs. Wilford and her girl and boy, leave on Friday for Dunedin, where they stay for the summer with Mrs. Maclean. Colonel Tuson has taken Mr. Wilford's house at l&e Upper Hutt. Mrs. Fitchett goes this week to Day's Bay House for a stay of some weeks. Di\ and Mrs. Hope-Lewis, from Auckland, are in Wellington, and are staging at Miss Malcolm's. Mrs. Maclean, of Wanganui, wife of Archdeacon Maclean, is staying at Nurse Palmer's. She goes later to the Girls' Hostel, where she and her daughter, who arrives shorty from Nelson, have taken rooms. Mrs. Rolleston, daughter of the Rev. Shirley Baker, 'Ji-as arrived from Tonga, t and is at the Arcadia. She goes shortly to England. Mr. and Mrs. Cyril Ward returned from a trip in the South by tho Maori tlnX morning. Miss Mina Caldow contemplates leaving for the Old Country next March, to -continue her musical studies. Mr. Chas. SaunderSj the English tenor, who toured New Zealand recently, has expressed *his appreciation of Miss Caldow's singing. Her voice, he says, is of the true contralto quality, and she already uses it extremely well, but ho thinks she would do even better if she were afforded an opportunity of going to England for further study and experience. He has undertaken, as far as ho possibly can, to give her the benefit of his long experience in the concert world, if she decides to go Home. Mr. and Mrs. C. Izard leave for England the first week in March. Mrs. Robfc. Loughnan goes to Rotorua at the end of the week. The engagement is announced of Miss Gwen Platts, sister of Dr. Platts-Mills, to Mr. Tonge, iirst officer of the New Zealand Shipping Company's steamer Opawa. Mrs. and Miss Macgregor, who have been staying at the Grand Hotel in Auckland all this year, purpose visiting Wellington about New Year. Dr. and Mrs. Henley, of Napier, are in town. Miss Fowlds, daughter of the Minister for Education, left for Auckland this morning Farewell teas — both of the morning and afternoon variety — are the order of tha dayJ The- bridal functions are over, and now we are making the most of departing friends. Yesterday there were two large morning teas — extremely wellarranged — given in Kirkcaldie and Slains's tearoom. Mrs. Joseph . and Miss Joseph were the guests of honour at one, the hostesses being tho Misses Nathan ; and Mrs. Ghatfield gave tho other as a f arevell to Miss Cilruth, who leaves shortly for Melbourne. Welcomes and farewells both were spoken at the sociil evening of . the Y.W.C. Association yesterday, when the new secretary (Miss Macky) was greeted, and Mrs. Chappie (the president) was wished God-speed. The rooms were gay with flowers, and the evening passed quickly with games, music, "and competitions. Mrs. Sutcliffe recited, and Miss Macky sang, and there were- a few bright little speeches. Mrs. Chappie and her girls have taken great interest in the association, and her place will not be easily filled. Mrs. ana Miss Joseph leave Wellington the second week in January, and catch theTfTorea. for England. Mrs. W. A. Kennedy's water picnic yesterday was very successful, notwithstanding the rain that fell heavily on the home voyage. Somes Island was again the place of call, and after a solemn reading of the quarantine regulations the guests dispersed over its picturesque downs, as far as the white lighthouse that guards the harbour. Later — after a goodly collection of biddy-bids had been made — the steamer's whistle called a cherry, hungrey throng back to tea, laid on tables on the deck. The trip home was gladdened with a diversified programme of music. It is astonishing how fresh salt air and a certain distance from, the conventionalities of town transform the decorous, dignified, anxious man of business into the care-free, fun-loving boy. The guests — about eighty in all — included several visitors to Wellington. Among these were — Dr. and Mrs. Hope-Lewis, and Mr. Burnes (from Auckland), Major Patterson (from Auckland), and Miss Greta Mills (from Melbourne), for whom the picnic was organised. Miss Putnam's final scene in her year's work — the "breaking-up" of her music classes — was held yesterday, a very interesting programme being played by the pupils, some of whom were absurdly tiny. Among those who performed were — Misses Rita Moss, Eila Bristow, Rhoda Bristow, Naomi Mantell, Ismene Mantell, Lulu Dyer, Sheiia M'Kenzie, Audrey Stubbs, Beryl Earle, Ida Simpson, Katie M'Kenzie, Edna Newcombe, Barbara Waters, Daisy *Lodder. The prizes were presented by the Hon. R. Loughnan, two special prizes, for senior and junior playeis, voted for by the guests, being won by Miss Ida Simpson iuid Miss Beryl Earle. Tea was served in the diningroom, tho dainty dish.es being set out among vases of red poppies and glasses. Mrs. Putnam wore black silk with cream lace and net, Miss Putnam a floral muslin and heliotrope girdle, and her two sisters white muslin trocks. At St. John's Presbyterian Church this afternoon, by the Rev. Dr. Gibb, Mr. John W. Macdonald, assistant-solicitor to the Public Trust Office, and eldest son of the late Mr. James Macdonald, of Timaru, was married to Miss Agnes M. Ross, daughter of Mr. Alexander Ross, of this city. Miss Jessie Logan wfes bridesmaid and Mr. Thomas E. Y. Seddon, M.P., was best man. After the ceremony Mr. and Mrs Ross held a reception at Godber's, and subsequently My. and Mvb. Macdonuld left on a trip to the north.

Mm. Melba has brought from her con- i cei-t tour in Ireland the story of a kindly act performed for her henefit by a young street-vendor of newspapers in Belfast, (says the London Mail). ] "It was one of the^-most chivalrous incidents di my life, ' she is reported to have said on reaching Liverpool, when she expressed the wish to learn the name of the boy. The wide footway in front of the famous singer's hotel in Royal-avenue, Belfast, was heavily muddied by rain showers when the famous singpr, dressed for her evening concert in the Ulster Hall, appeared afthe entrance and hesitated beneath the verandah to make the journey in her satin shoes to the carriage in waiting. One of the hote) servants was called, and laid a piece of carpet, which was not sufficient to cover the muddiest stretch of two or three yards nearest the vehicle, which was a few feet from the kerb. A group of persons had been waiting in the rain to see Mmc Melba, ' and out of this gathering the newsboy, seeing the emergency, pushed his way. He "carpeted" _ the muddy ground with his stock of evening newspapers ; and the celebrated singer, as she passed, smiled at the lad and told him he deserved good fortnno for his kindness. She directed the gentleman who was handing her music into the vehicle to give the boy some reward, "and she waved her hand to me as she drove off,"' said the newsvendor, telling his narrative to The Daily Mail conebpondent, who had discovered his name and address. "No one told me to do it," he added ; "the idea came into my head in a moment when I saw the lady would have got her feet all mud." The gallant newsvendor, Charles Pollock, is an intelligent industrious lad of sixteen, living at No 8, Lower Townsend-strect, with his widowed mother, a sister who works in one cf the spinning mills, and a half-brolher, who is a labourer. The tall Englishwomen who attract the attention of foreign visitors, are generally understood to belong, as a type, to the relatively small upper class (writes a London correspondent). This assumption is erroneous; though the conspicuously tall women are still in a minority, the proportion -to the rest of the sex steadily increases in all classes of the community. One of the most trustworthy evidences of this fact is disclosed by the "stock sizes" kept by London milliners and costumiers. Some interesting particulars, showing the differences of physique between Englishwomen on the one hand, and Canadian and American women on the other, have been mentioned in a case heard by Mr. Justice Channel. Recently a firm rf diapers at Hamilton (Ontario) arranged to get a supply of dresses from a London house. There appears io have been some misunderstanding or omission of cTetails when the order was given. The dresses, made strictly in accoi dance with standard English models, were forwarded to Canada in due course, and promptly sent back to London. The Canadian firm said that the waists were far too small and the skirts impossibly long — "they might suit giraffes, but could 's be given away in Hamilton" — and that the dresses ought to have been cut according to American models. The American and Canadian women, it seems, arc in respects physically alike. Tho majority of them are shorter by a couple of inches, and j have broader shoulders and fuller waists than the average^ Englishwoman of today. The latter is a sort of elongated edition of the French type, and can combine a 24in waist measurement with ' a 46in skirt length. Mr. Justice Channel gave his verdicu in favour of the London costumier, and suggested that the buyer of the dresses in dispute could remodel them to suit the Canadian customers. We are saddened, but not surprised (writes the Argonaut), by learning that a well-known woman's tailor in New York has committed suicide. It is easy to believe that in unknown hereafter could hold no such terrors as the realities by which this wretched man must have been surrounded. There is, indeed, no gi eater mystery in life than the strange force that impels some men to be won.en's tailors when they might occupy the dignified position of waiter in a cheap restaurant or hotel tout at a railway station. But some things are past finding out. This unfortunate tailor was hurried to his rash act by the vexations of his business. He could have endured twins with equanimity and he would have smiled at the rigors of a financial panic, but the vagaries of his customers were more than flesh and blood could stand. With this tragedy before us there is an irresistible temptation to philosophise upon tho trials incidental to the life of the ladies' tailor. Why, we may ask, was not this poor unfortunate content to minister to his own sex ? Even then he would have been but the ninth part of a man. By what system of aiithmetical depreciation shall we assess the value in manhood of the poor worm who grovels under the caprice of woman when woman is, of all other times, the most capricious, who is willing oven for the wealth of Midas to reconcile the prevailing mode with bodily forma that were intended to be divine, but that now are scarcely human? Compared with such an one, the man's tailor assumes a godlike dignity and an imposing self-respect. The duty of the man's tailor is not difficult. When the cloth and the general style have been selected — i matter ot a few minutes at most — the question of fit it left to the tailor If he is satisfied, so is the customer. Very few men will ever dispute such a matter as this. The tryingon process is for the guidance of the tailor, and as a rule the purchaser has nothing to say. He has put himself in the hands of an expert, and would no more think ot challenging his opinion than he would that of the chemist who compounded a prescription for him. But this is not the ease with the woman. Alterations are indispensable parts of the programme, and, however perfect the fit, no woman would be satisfied to omit a delightful preliminary to acceptance. That is one reason why women's costumes cost so much more than men's The piice musl allow for their beinj;' made over two or three times, inasmuch as the majority of women would rather have a change for the worse than no cnange at al). Lady Wilfrid Lauvier, wife of the Premier of Canada, reported in a recent speech to club women that quite a number of women had rpcently gained recognition in the higher" institutions of learning m Canada. Among the women lecturers who were giving special Fatififactini] by their college work she mentioned one woman lecturer of M'Gill University and several in the Royal Victoria College of Women. Also, she' said that Canada had sppcial reason to be proud of her women farmers. During th<i lant vßtu- morn than 15.000 avomon made a' success ;i& farmers in tho 1 Dominion*