LADIES OF YESTERDAY

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 96, 27 April 1929, Page 20

LADIES OF YESTERDAY

CURVES OR ANGULARITIES

"But,'' Mary and Pamela exclaim, "think of our athletics! .Where would grandmother have been in a cross-coun-try run or a tennis tournament?" The answer, my dears, is that: grandmother never had a chance to try.cross-country running in a sweater ;and . shorts (writes P. E. Bailey, in. the "Royal Magazine"), On the other hand, she walked, she could walk miles and miles aiid miles, long skirts, petticoats, and all. She would have walked you ofi your feet any day of the week, and don't you forget it. Yet perhaps, Mary and Pamela, you consider your esteemed sex more influential now than of old? I doubt it. Did you ever I hear tell of Lady Palmerston, who continued the wife and sweetheart of the greatest Foreign Minister we ever shad till an advanced age, and ruled the man who more or less ruled England iby. sheer affection and charm? Have you forgotten Mrs. Gladstone, whom 'her husband consulted constantly; or Florence Nightingale, or Dorothea ;Beale, the pioneer of modern education for women; or Elizabeth Garrett. Anderson, who fought medical vested interests, and Mrs. Grundy, so that there might bo women doctors? Need I describe the long Hue of political hostesses and reigning beauties, who made history from Queen Victoria's accession onward, and will you kindly jtell me the name of. one reigning beauty, other than a nightclub rushlight, who-flour-ishes to-day? And, lastly, what about, being more attractive? Give me handfuls of lilies, as Virgil. observed, so that with these at least l! may strew the graves of departed, Victorian and Edwardian women. How restful, how intelligent, they were! HoW the leggy legions of to-day fade before tho skirted squadrons of yesteryear! They know how to move, how to manage draperies, and how to bo still. Contrast those adorable evening frocks of Victoria's era, hooped, panniered, or whatovor they were, their little sleeves just off tho shouldor, and low-cut bodices, with the tube-liko atrocities of to-day. Contrast curves with angularities,, geometry with beauty, and weep for this angular geometrical age. '•