WOMEN IN PRINT.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 76, 1 April 1910, Page 9

WOMEN IN PRINT.

Lady \N «rd is having •» small t«R on Wednesday f«r her Muter, Mr*. Hoyes, who is leaving for England on Thursday. Mm. Boyes is now in Napier, saying farewell to her friends tkere. Mrs. J. Stuart Kelly (Christchuroh) is the guest ef Miss Kelly, Central-terrace, Kelburne. Tho invitations for Miss Kelly's marriage are isiued for Saturday, 23rd. Mrs. Kenipthorno (Auckland) is the guest of Mm. Gavin, Kciori. Mre. Warren (Napier), who has been visiting her pi«t«r, Mis» Hardy, Wadestown, returns home to-day. Mrs. Bristow had n party lost night for the coming of age of her daughter, Miss Vida Bristow. Mrs. Seaton leaves for England on Thursday by the Rimutaka. Miss Bulkley and the nurses of the Thorndon Private Hospital gave a pleasant tea for Miss (Nurse) Kohn, who is leaving far a visit to Australia. Mrs. W. Fitzherbert, •who lately arrived from home with her family, is staying at Miss Malcolm's She has taken Mr. Lathom's house at Lowry Bay. Another effort' in aid of the Free Kin* dergarten funds is being made in the form of a dance in tho Town Hall at Island Bay this evening. The Kindergarten School there hap not been lone: established, but it flourishes and 'vs well. It evidently meets a great need, and both mothers and children regard it with great favour. There is a special tram from Island Bay after the dance at 1.30. Mrs. Newman returned from Masterton yesterday, whetc- »he had gone to attend Mr. Erie Williams's marriage to Mks Vallanco. Mr., Mrs.,\#nd Miss Hi?lop have been spending Easter week in Wonganui. Lady Ward has kindly invited tho little " Peter Pan " artists to afternoon tea next week. Few people realise that these children are only children, and that their lives, divided between travelling and hotels, must be quite bare of much of the comfort nnd freedom so dear to a child. Lady Ward's kiud.ap[ireciation of the circumstances of their ives will give them a happy change, which they will greatly enjoy in the, pleasant surroundings of her beautiful home One of the results of the practical interest women are taking in public matters is the keen feeling that of late years has been awakened as to who becomes our mayor. As a rule, it is eminently distasteful to most of us to hear of women in public places and on public platforms being conspicuous except by their absence. But it i« of such moment to all that a good, honest, kindly man should hold the high office of mayor. As to his business ability, it goes without saying, as om city finances, Jike all oth^r largo undertakings, need much knowledge and skill. We do not pretend to know anything of such abstruse matters, but our common seiihe takes it for granted. But for our mayoress we know extremcJy well what we are grateful for. Tho last two ladies who have held this onerous position have shown how much can be done for tho good of the- city by women, of high purpose and patient work. It is» only natural that it is this appreciation which has awakened a new interest of late years in the minds of our women in. the mayoral elections. As we all have votes, our opinion is of weighty value in the coming election. Tho late Mrs. Hislop, as well us our piesent mayoreM, could tell a talc of incessant work needing both tact and skill, showing the position is far from being » sinecure. Mi. and Mrs. and Miw. Eleanor Judah Myers and Mr. and Mrs. John Myers, who have had a delightful trip to Itotoma, returned home yesterday by the Main Trunk lino. Tho Victoiia League is spreading i(n inteiests and work in many useful directions. An Advisory Board nas been set up, of which men in high positions are members. A large Hospitality Committee is enrolled to welcome new settlers, and advise and help thorn 7an well as tourists who bring Victorian League credentials. , A Correspondence Committee is also arranged, with an honorary secretary of its own, as this branch is getting onerous and needs a great deal of attention. There are other useful 'branches growing out of the needs of this truly patriotic organisation, which •hows the practical advantages of its work, and that it is far from being a merely sentimental league, such as people who know nothing of its real work were fond of bitpposmg. The executive committee and secretary can teU "quite another story." Mrs. M. L. Reading, of Upland-road, Kelburne, is giving a linen tea for Miss Kelly on Saturday, 9th. Everybody is skipping this winter, states a lady writer in the London Daily Telegraph. Stout people skip to grow thin, thin people skip because they believe that exeicise tends to make them plump. Elderly ladies are skipping in tho hope that agility will keep their figures youthful in appearance, elderly gentlemen indulge in the pastime because it is said to be good for the liver. So, in flats, in villas, in chambers,' in lodginghouses, and in hotels, everybody commences the day by jumping over a hempen cord. And the young people ! Not only do they skip, but they dance as the ropo flies under their nimble feet. Ropes, as demanded for the present fashion, are about four yards long, and they are fixed into' box handles pointed or in the form of round knobs. Naturally they are adjusted to the height of j those whd use them. Most people pull ; the rope up us high as their ears, and | then fasten it to the handles. Favourite ! ropes are in the possession of ardent votaries of the pastime, and though the price of the whole affair is lOJd, such a request has been known to be sent from a six-foot man a.«» a demand for the repairing of his skipping-rope and new handles. As the rope was worn to a thread in the centre, and the handles rubbed, the question waa how to repair the favourite, toy without substituting an entirely new one. No particular reason seems to be forthcoming for this adoption by elders of what ha* been from time immemorial a plaything of the children. Certain it is that Londoners know very well the value of exercise, and just a* certain is it that far too many have got into Ihe habit of using Tube .iml motor-but-. People who live in Unts where lifts lire in uae do not even obtain the healthy and vigour-iiicpti-uitf stimuli!.; of running upstair.*. So men "Jii'l womci >\l>«J aie not itulinecl to spend theii cvtvunjs in a «ymiiaHium fall bail; upon what i*. after all, a rational Form of pxerci»i» «k»Hv »«cur«d hy mean* of a ikippUig-ropt of nominal price.

"Higher education for women, moro freedom, moie independence, aye, and moro respect too, is now the try all over Europe." The speaker was Mdlle. Bel. Soref, the much-travelled prima, donna. She enlarged upon thp theme, and when challenged to name the best tjpe of girl amongst the nations of the earth, rather astonished her hearers by quoting those of Warsaw, St. Petersburg, and Moscow, as her ideals. Years ago Mr. Henry Bracy used to sing 'The Polish Girl's tho Girl for Me." It now appears that she is aho iho girl for Bel. Sorel, who thus delivers herpelf briefly upon "The Women of Vaiiout Nations': — "My contention is merely this, that- the higher classes of Poland and Russia present a compiehensivc group of wonderfully intellectual, cultivated, young women, and that, as regards liberty, you meet them as doctors, lawyers and so on battling their way brightly through their arduous careers, and, perhaps, all the happier for it. The smart set is very rich and generous, to that tho ladies give us artists the most costly presents. I remember when I was singing nt ihe Imperial Opera Hou^e, St. Petersburg, that our tenor, Hobinoff, was loaded with priceless gifts, as were also, on other occasions, Battistini and Masini. Unfortunately, in those countries the dividing line between rich and poor is too great. The poor are 'your very humble servant' — much too humble for happiness.. Kngland.' Well; I do not like to say much about the charming Knglish girls of that great country and her dependencies, as I know too little about them. Your great author, George Meredith, declares that, in his attitude towards his womenfolk, the typical 'Englishman has not yet doubled Cape Turk' ; but they seem to me to have heaps of individuality and independence. So different in Madrid. 'Man, the brute, is wholly in the ascendant — he is such a politely aristocratic brute, too— and tho education of tho girls is of Oriental seclusion. No; it does not work out well at all. On the piazza we thought wo had never seen so many pretty girls with their splendid eye*, and wo saw them also constantly gazing from the balconies and latticed windows. Yes ; all day, all day, just as it was 'in the romantic period of two centuries ago, and there they 1011, and become lazy and vapid, instead of educating themselveh to serious thought. Generally, the Spanish girl is an indolent creature, butj oh. the fire, the abandon, with which sho dances! My mother and I were- enchanted ; and the former, whose operatic tours have taken her to Mexico and Luba, says that there, also, Jhe Oriental system lends to a pernicious, commingling of indolence and fire. Let me hasten to add that amongst the Spanish ladies may also be found some of' the noblest of God's creatures. The French ladies are simply captivating, but — their toilette comes first, their studies second. Less liberty for the girls. A properly trained, well-bred Parisian girl i 3 never out of her mother's sight. The absolute rulo is : 'Straight from the mother's care to the husband's.' The Italian system of education is much deeper, more serious, and this gives you a great class, of thoughtful, well'read women, and such good mothers they all are. But, then, so arc the French. I 'ove them all. Theio is good in all. Please rcmeml>ei' that 1 do but speak generally."