Untitled

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 54, 1 September 1913, Page 9

Women in Women in Print

I counsel ttaee it thou hast a trusty friend, go and see him often; because a road which is seldom trod gets choked with bramble and light grass.— Confucius.

Surprise parties, which' nowadays by the way are never a surprise to anyone at all, are always jolly little gatherings, especially when, organised by such a merry band of young people ac that which took possession of the Rev. Mr. Chapman's residence last Friday evening. Games of various kinds, recitations, songs, and dancing made the evening go wfth a fine swing, and the time for "good-nighte" arrived much too quickly. Among those who gave items were : The Miesas Alice Montgomery, Kathleen Clark, Dorrit Eastham, Nita Clark, Dorothy Montgomery, Doris Chapman, Connie Kircher, etc. and Messrs. Saxton, Eastham, Shorney, Evans, Harrison, Axlidge, Lloyd, etc. On 18th and 19th September "The Rivals" is to be produced in the Sydneystreet Schoolroom, in aid of the funds of the Richmond Free Kindergartens. It is under the patronage of Their Excellencies the Governor and the Countess of Liverpool, who will be present on the first evening. The caste is as follows : — Sir Anthony Absolute, Mr. Nicholls; Captain Absolute, Dr. N. Hales; Faulkland, .Mr. Godfrey; Acres, Dr. Isaacs; Sir Lucius O'Trigger, Mr. P. Broad; Fag, Mr. W. Glynne; David, Mr. Pag©; Thomas, Mr. S. Natusch ; Mrs. Malaprop, Mrs. Fell; Lydia Languish, Miss B. Blake; Julia, Mrs. Leonard Tripp; Lucy, Misa Margaret Fell. ' Another interesting instalment of news from the seat of war, written by Mrs. 'Palmer : — "We have been living, so to speak, for the last few dayel, at the cannon's mouth. The first battle, after war was declared between the Bulgars and the Greeks, was fought in the town of Salonika, only about threequarters of a mile from our hospital. We knew war might be declared, but many scouted the idea, as the Bulgars did not really want to fight, but at last the Greeks sent an ultimatum to the Bulgars in Salonika, stating that if they did not surrender by 6 p.m. on 30th June war would be declared. There wero 2000 of them here, and at 6.30 p.m. the firing began. I have never had such a fright. The firing struck terror into my heart, for we were so near, and fully realised if the Bulgars won, we should all be massacred, as that is what they have been doing in every town they have taken. Even the prisoners they killed, as they did not want to give them food, and required it for. their own soldiers. I could not describe our feelings as the furious firing, so close to us, went on continually for twelve hours, with a few short intervals in which the Greeks asked the Bulgars to surrender. Finally 700 of them were made prisoners, and sent by ship to Athens. We felt easier, bnt later on we heard cannon a^ the frontier, and the doctor told us that we were in grave danger, and that we should all be killed if the Buigars captured Salonika. We spent an awful night, my daughter and- 1 staying up, but the doctors and Greek nurses went to bed and slept ' We made preparations for the wounded. The first two that were brought in had not been in the battle., but had been struck, close to our hospital, by a stray shot. We found it better to be busy. The soldiers guarding us were lying down all along the corridor, their loaded guns beside them, ready for the attack, and we could scarcely get along without stepping on them. The doctors, too/ were officers, and ready. There were five large camps in the open spaces there. Twice we went over and had a talk with the officers and men, as many- speak English. A number, 8000 I believe, came from America to fight for their country. Many are now dead, for it is a bloody war, and both sides are fighting like maniacs. The King — whom they love — is with them, encouraging them. This is the fifth day, and the enemy is retreating, and for days we have nbt heard the firing. One clever thing the Bulgars did was this : They were retreating, tho Greeks pursuing, and they began firing. The Greeks thought another division of the Greek Army was also in pursuit, and did not go on, and the Bulgars got away. ' One large hospital' here — St. Sofia/ — is being used for the poor refugees. Among them — we went to see them — are Jews and Jewesses, and Turkish women." Miss Sinclair, who has been 6taying with her sister, Mrs. Reading, left for Christcjhurch on Saturday. Miss Marion Wilson returned on Friday from a visit to the Wairarapa. Miss Sim has gone on a visit to' Palmeraton North. Mrs. Macarthy is staying at the Hutt. Mrs. George Seymour, of Picton, was in Wellington for a few days last week, and returned home on Saturday. The engagement has, been announced of Miss Noeline P. Cruicksbank, eldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. H. CruickshaiLk, of Masterton, to Mr. Guy Mace, eldest eon of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Mace, of "BrammeTton," Taueru. Owing to some dissatisfaction at the appointment of a chaperone to accompany the Hawkes Bay ladies to the Wanganui hockey tournament, it seemed quite possible that the team would not compete. < Feeling between Hastings and Napier members of the team had been running pretty high, and it was stated that at least five members of the team would refuse to travel under the chaperone appointed last week (telegraphs our "Special" at Napier). The association made all endeavours to re medy matters and finally left the question to the girls themselves to settle. The girls held a prolonged meeting on Saturday night, and there seemed little possibility oT a settlement being. arrived at owing to the difficulty of replacing the_ five girls mentioned. However, a satisfactory settlement was reached at a late hour. At present a praiseworthy attempt is being made to smooth the path of foreign visitors vto England (writes a London correspondent.) The interest ing experiment is being made at the London University of a holiday course of lectures on conversation and English etiquette for a paifty of 250 foreigners of seventeen different nationalities ivho are now on a visit to this country. Besides being taught not to say "The ghost is willing but the meat is, weak" for " The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak," they are being instructed in the niceties of English etiquette. As these are often thorny enough for many of our own race, it is evident that they need explaining to a foreigner. Miss Violet Partingtan, one of the instructors at the London University, has some quaint experiences to relate. One German girl was greatly surprised when told that she must make the first sign of recognition whon meeting a man acquaintance in the street. " I think it most immodest," she said. "The man always bows first in my country." Hero are some of the naive questions asked, with tho answers thereto : — "Should you take soup from the end of the spoon, as we d 9 in Germany?" "No, you must take it from tho middle." •^'Should you leavo your hat and stick

in the hall, or take them into the room with you?" l "Never leave your hat and stick in the hall. It is too familiar, and suggests that you have the run of the House." "Is ifc polite to call after dining?" j "It is very polite." "After dinner do you thank your hostess by saying, ' The Blessed Meal Time,' as in Germany. "You do not thank anybody." "Who rises first after dinner —the men or the women, or do they both leave together, as in Germany?" "The women always leave first, the men remaining in the dining room." "Do women take off their hate when they go to afternoon tea, as in Germany f' "Never at afternoon tea, but you may for luncheon." The etiquette of paying calls provided a talk full of interest to students from Germany, France, Norway, Sweden, Austria. Hungary, Italy, Russia, Holland, Belgium, Denmark, and Switzerland. They were gravely told by the 'lecturer that if at an "at home" you are introduced to a woman you do not shake hands or say you are pleased to make her acquaintance; you just say, "How do you do?" and talk about the weather or the latest opera. If you should meet the woman in the street afterwards, you wait for her to bow first. A German girl student made the comment, " Not very pleasant for the man!" only to be told that it was the English way, with the added explanation, "It is for the woman to show whether she wishes the acquaintance to continue.. It is the same after a dance." A good evidence of the pathetic side of uncertainty to which our English con- i ventions reduce foreigners was to be found in the fact that all the students wanted to know" the correct thing to say at the dinner table when somebody passeß the potatoes. They were still more perturbed to know what was th© polite response to make when potatoes wero not wanted. Ella Wheeler Wilcox, in "Good Housekeeping," writes of- surgical hysteria:—"During the v pa#t fifteen years a surgical hysteria has seized upon the civilised world. Just as the leading men of the seventeenth century in Holland took pride in collecting the largest and rarest number of tulips, so our present-day surgeons delight in recording the greatest number of operations on the human body, and collecting vital organs for their laboratories,. It is uplifting and encouraging to the normal mind to read of the success made in skin-grafting, in bone-growing, iv the cure of spinal curvature, of hip disease, of club feet, and of almost every other phase of deformity or accidental mutilation. And every year the operating mania has grown. All the newspapers and scientific magazines give large space to the successful operations of surgeons, and equal space to the failures of all experimenters, or healers of any kind outside the regular school, whose patients die under their treatmeht. But there is i no newspaper or magazine which gives ] space to the surgeons who cause death or lifelong invalidism for men and women through scores of unnecessary operations. In absolute calmness, and with no rancour or ill-will, I here do arl-aign the surgeons of America for needlessly removing the appendix i in more than half the cases presented to them The woman with whose life I have been most closely associated since early childhood suffered a slight discomfort and some pain. The 'head pi a prominent hospital, after a few "days of treating tlw case, calmly stated that the knife Bhould be used. > 'Do you mean to say,' asked the horrified woman, ' that you would mutilate me in this terrible manner, with no more signs of any serious malady than I display? 1 Then the doctor answered, 'My dear madam, we are operating upon women every day who have no more visible evidence than you of the malady. It is really a very simple matter, - and not one to be dreaded at all!' The woman vof used to be ' chopped and mutilated,' and the surgeon washed his hands of the case. That was three years ago. The woman is in the best of health and i vigour to-day. Consulting an eminent j English physician a year after the statement, she was told that not one vestige existed of the malignant malady intimated —a malady which would have ended her life in a year's time at the most if it had existed at all. An emancipated physician, relating cases of his own, said to me i ' The greatest menace and crime against womanhood toeday is the'surgeon's knife," wielded haphazardly with his limited power over life and death, acting alone in the majority of cases as judge and jury over the fate of these shocked and halfcrazed victims, the horrors of the result being hidden in the consulting room and protected by professional ethics.' "

Dobbins— l say, old fellow, you are getting thin since you retired from! business. Tobbins (ox coal dealer)— That's right. You see, I don't weigh as much as I did. He— My dear girl, you spend all your monoy in Rotting your hand read. Sho — And you spend all yours, old boy, in getting yonr nose red.