ABOUT WOMEN

Evening Star, Issue 10399, 21 August 1897, Page 1 (Supplement)

ABOUT WOMEN

A widow in her 104 th year took a turn at stripping osiers at Sonning, to show that she could still hold her own with the young people.

Hospital nurses, despite the hardness of their lot, are believed to retain their youthful looks much longer than most girls, and the hard-worked ladies on the stage are likewise noted for their extreme juvenilitv. Eoglish girls, as a rule, retain their youthful looks much longer than their French sisters.

For its grammatical lapses Miss Marie Corelli’s story of ‘The Sorrows of Satan’ has been nicknamed ‘ The Sorrows of Syntax.’ Women dentists have ceased to attract attention as a novelty, there being now over 400 of the sex engaged in the profession in America.

Miss C. H. Lippincotfc, of Minneapolis, has the largest exclusively flower seed business in the United States. She is the pioneer woman in the business, which she entered ten years ago. A school of gardening for girls has been established by a Berlin lady in a suburb of that city. The girls do all the work without outside aid, and grow all sorts of vegetables and many fruits, for which ready sale is found.

Miss Flora Shaw, the responsible head of the Colonial Intelligence Department of ‘The Times,’ may be said to be the only rival of Mrs Crawford, the Paris correspondent of the ‘ Daily News’ and of * Truth,’ as a lady journalist. Miss Shaw is the niece of Sir Byre Massey Shaw, who was for a long time the chief of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade, and she appears to have h-en as much at home in the Colonial Offie- as in Printing-house square. She is a till, froshcomplexioned, and self-possessed lady, and, beyond all question, she has come t rough the ordeal of examination before the Committee with more 6clat than any other witness. Miss Shaw’s colonial experiences are by no means confined to South Africa. She has travelled almost everywhere, and her adventures in Australia alone would fill a book. As to her discreetness and knowledgeot affairs, some notion may be gathered from the fact that Mr Cecil ’Rhodes communicated with her confidentially, and the “ raiders ” made her their confidant. And now that the whole business is over not a few of them have said that if everyone * h a d had as much sense and as a cool a head as Flora the thing would have gone through.” Apropos of the degree question a Cambridge man sends ‘Truth’ the following plan for the settlement of the question, which was put forward some five - andtwenty years ago in the ‘ Light Green,’ a Cambridge periodical of that day : “ Women, on matrimony, will be given the degree of M. A. One year later, on matriculation, they will proceed to tho degree of M A.M.A. Otherwise they may be D—D.” The London correspondent of the ‘ Freeman’s Journal’ states that an action has been entered for trial by a young lady in London society of considerable personal attractions against a well-known baronet for slander. The alleged offence committed by the baronet is the utterance of certain statements about the lady in London and Paris highly prejudicial to her reputation. Jenny Lind’s daughter, Mrs Raymond Maude, of London, has much of her mother’s brilliancy of voice, but has always refused to cultivate it for the stage. “I suppose there was too much music at home,” she explained to a friend. Mrs Maude has three children, not one of whom is at all musical. _ ‘‘Ought women to applaud in the masculine fashion!” was the question incidentally discussed at a recent meeting in London to advocate the claims of the children’s country holiday fund. The ball was opened by Lord Hugh Cecil, M.F., who affirmed that a ladies’ meeting usually lacked animation. •There was frequently (he said) a kind of rustle of approbation, but that was all, and

it was by no' means so inspiriting; as thfl cheering which characterised the gatherings of the other sex,. • Sir: Henry Fowler, M.P., came to the rescue, by declaring that ladies always formed a very, appreciative if not a very applauding audience; and certainly on this occasion. the speeches of the various speakers "were lhtened to with close attentiun. ; '

. U f William Ramsay, Professor of ChemisUniversity College, London, has been giving a | Christian Commonwealth * inter* viewer his opinion of women students, “ Tho women-work harder,” he said, “ bub we have never had a woman as good as the best man. Yet tbs average ability among the women is higher than among the men.” Asked what he thought, of-the recent proceedings at Cam! ridge, the professor said t “I consider it is very unreasonable not to grant degrees to'women if they have qualified for them. But I can quite understand the Cambridge point of view. Cambridge is overcrowded, with men, and to admit women would be overcrowding the University fetill more.” -... In the ‘Union Signal’ Miss Willard writes :—“lf it is not known to ‘ our folks ’ it ought ,lo be that I am a Christian Soria i-st (as are Raskin, Tolstoi, W. D. Howells, and Professor George Herron, only I am heart and soul a Prohibitionist besides). I believe that by evolution, not by revolution, it will come' about some day that the tools of production, transports'ion, etc., will be owned, by the "people, and that everybody will do some physical work each day, which will result, as Ihumbly believe and fervently hope, in I he adequate employment of every body T to_ ihe incalculable improvement of the public health;” .Mrs Garrett. Audtrsoo, M.D., has been elected president of a branch of the British medlcaUprofesaon. She is the. first woman to occupy such apposition. ' A lady Who went to the. front with some Greek nurses acted as war correspondent to an American newspaper. She underwent extraordinary fatigues aud privations, and proved herself a formidable rival to tho male correspondents. Among the changes in fashion which affect ordinary drees, it is said that tho ruffle, so long with us, is doomed. This is supposed to be on account of tho awful fire in Paris when so many women had their necks and faces frightfully burnt because they could not unfasten the gauzy rnfif s which had caught at the first spark. Whether the Princess of Wales’s fidelity to the roohe will keep it in favor here remains to be seen, says the ‘ Lady.’ At present she shows no sign of discarding i t, and has had even some of her priceless antique laces pleated up into ruffles, a practice which seems likely to set a somewhat extravagant-fashion. Miss Ida Steward, of Melbourne, aged thirteen, has passed the examination of the Royal College of Music, London. The “mourning bicycle” has just been started by a smart and pretty widow in Hew York. It is a black machine, unrelieved by any nickel or silver, and followed by a black poodle. The rider wears a black tailor suit and a sailor hat adorned with a crape rosette !

At the new hospital for women in Easton road, London, where all the doctors are women, there have been only two deaths out of ninety major operations. There is a popular idea that June is the favorite month for weddings in England, and that the young woman who loves romance and wishes fortune to smile upon her nuptials in every way must choose this of all months. Cold and unromantic fact, however, shows that the three most popular marriage months in England are October, November, and December. Fifty years’ records show this to be true, and also demonstrate the fact that the most unpopular months for marriage are January, February, and March. Santa Barbara, in California, has a motorwoman cn one of its electric cars. Her name is Hattie K, Miller, aud she says she likes the work.

Miss Florence Klolz fills the office of cmstable at Allegheny (Pa.), and is said to be more successful in the serving of papers than any of her male predecessors. Mrs J. R. Green, the wife of the late historian, has the distinction of being ihe only lady on the Committee of the London library. Canon Ainger, , Austin Dobson, W. S. Lilly, Sir Frederick Pollock, Frederic Harrison, W. H. Lscky, Professor Lewis Campbell, and various other well-known men of letters are members of the Committee.

WOMEN' AUTHORS AT DINNER. On the evening of June U over 100 women writers ate their dinner together at the Criterion Restaurant, London, ** Blow quickly we get through it,” sighed one humorous lady in comic surprise ; * * why men would criticise, discuss, perhaps die. miss, many things ; but we simply eat what, ever is set before us?” When‘Mrs Steel rose to propose the health of the Queen, and in a right gallmt little speech called upon the ladies to “ fill their glasses and drink it like soldiers,” the women writers rose and did their best; but a faint-hearted cheer, a perfunctory sipping of lemonade was all that they achieved. Mrs Steel made an excellent chairwoman, and did her best to make the meeting jocund. But that lack of camaraderie, of homy honest goodfellowship betweeu women, was never more conspicuous than on Monday night. A hundred men or a hundred men and womeu, all of one profession, ’dining together, how jolly they might have been ! There was plenty of individual friendliness, of honest kindliness between neighbors ; 'but it is the esprit de corps— the power of dining and enjoying heartily t >gether—that women lack. Nor were the subjects of the speeches such as to infuse jocularity into it. Mrs Steer spoke on ‘ The Ethics of Literature, ’ and was perhaps as cheerful as ethics will permit; Miss Montressor’s little speech upon * The Fellowship of Writers’ was full of gentle grace ; and Mrs Creighton on * The Pleasures' of Research’ was bright, penetrating, and stirring; but still after dinner one does not want to be ethical, or to consider the advantages of seeking out ancient lore. One docs not want even to theorise about good-fellowship, for where it really exists theories are unnecessary. For the rest, the . women ' writers were “bocnie and weel-buskit.” There were many pretty’ womeu and some pretty frocks. Lillie Mrs Radford, in her (esthetic gown, was an agreeably typical poetess ; Miss M. A. Dickens was as' bright as Charles Dickens’s granddaughter onght to be; “Rita,” hi a very pretty black-and-white gown, looked as blithe as her books; Miss Arabella Kenealy quite too pretty to bo a lady doctor; and Mrs Clifford had a wholesome way of laughing that atoned for the melancholy of some of her stories. Perhaps the , most noticeable face there was Miss Mary Kingsley’s, so full of reticent humor. One becomes to much more individual whon one associates with Nature rather than with men. It was pleasing to sesgood old-fashioned writers, such as Miss C iriatabel Coleridge and Miss S irah Doudney* mixing with the newer-fashioned school. Amongst the more notaliln notibilities present were Mrs Thackeray Ritchie, Mrs J. R. Green, Miss Emma Brooke, Mrs Haweis Beatrice Whitley, Lady Lindsay. Miss Sergeant, Miss Clementina Black, Mrs Meade, Edna Lyall, Annie Swani’-Mra Croker, Theo Gift, etc. The secretnry. Miss Blackburue, put her report into verv deft and dainty rhyme. < St. James’s Gazette.

a duchess’s jewels. The Duchess of Cumberland, who is the youngest sister of the Princess of Wales, possesses the finest pearls in Europe, the set being valued at £200,000. These and other jewels were claimed bv King Ernest of Hanover after the death of William IV. in 1837, but the Government, on behalf of ( ho_ Queen, declined to surrender them. Ultimately a Commission was appointed (Lord Wensleydale, Lord Hatherley, and Sir ..Laurence Peel) to decide as to the ownership of the jewels, and their unanimous Judgment (delivered in 1857) was in favor of the Hanoverian claim, much to the annoyance of the Queen and Prince Albert. It appeared that George 111. had given part t£ the jewels to Queen Charlotte (who died before him), and had confirmed the gift by his will. Queen Charlotte had bequeathed the jewels to her son the Duke of Cumberland, afterwards King of Hanover. The rest of the j9wpls(iueludii!g the famous pearls) had come to George 111. from George 11, and were conclusively proved to have been Hanoverian, as they were brought .to England by George I. The Duke and iDnohcss of Cumberland have also one of the largest and most valuable collections of gold and'silver plate in Europe,