LINES ABOUT WOMEN.

Evening Star, Issue 15073, 3 January 1913, Page 5

LINES ABOUT WOMEN.

[By QSACHAEEN.] One of the large centres of fashions for women in New York lias just opened a section where may l>e found everything required by tho woman in mourning. This new department is arranged to supply immediate sartorial assistance to a woman who finds herself suddenly plunged into the deepest grief by the death of someone neav and dear. Instead of concerning herself at such a critical time with the purchase of dresses, hat 6, gloves, and other feminine belongings, she can now leave it all to the professional widow who presides over this unique mourning department. A letter or telephone message will bring the professionally black-dressed woman to the residence of the grief-stricken family. She will arrive quietly in a perfectly-appointed motor ear, with two liveried men on the box. The professional widow weais the latest Parisian creations. Her soft white hair is dressed according to the newest mode, in her ears aro hoops of pearl and jet, at her black swathed throat is an inconspicuous brooch of accepted style, while on the third finger of her left hand is seen the latest novelty in mourning ornaments, a black and jewelled wedding ring. No truly fashionable widow now wears a hoop of yellow gold, or even one of more modern platinum, for only black ornaments are considered suitable with heavy crepe and dull-finished silk costumes.

The women police on the Pacific coast of the United States have just held their first conference at Portland. Oregon. They discussed the best means of reforming dancing saloons, abolishing "joy rides," and investigated the doubtful attractions that beset the paths of all young girls. Proposals dealing with the advisability of shutting the general public out of' the courts where female delinquents are on trial, and the need for the establishment of municipal homes where girls and women. can be taught trades were so cordially received that efforts will now bo made by the policewomen to get them materialised in the localities under their immediate supervision.

The only female stockbroker in' Great Britain is said to be Mrs Brooke-, wife of General G. L. Brooke (retired), late commander of the Con naught Rangers, who distinguished himself in the Boer War. Though the Stock Exchange is closed against women, Mrs Brooke has for some time carried on a successful business in stocks and shares in Bucklersbury. where she is assisted by a secretary. 'She succeeded a Miss Bell, who had' operated in the same premises for 25 years. Mrs Brooke says that the business has just doubled itself in the past two years, and that she has a goodly number of men clients.

One of the most interesting measures soon to be discussed by the Norwegian Parliament is a project "under which" an illegitimate child will not only be allowed to take his father's name, but can claim an equal share of his property with the legitimate children. This measure follows up the law for the protection of mothers, passed in 1892, which obliges the father of an illegitimate child to pay a pension to the mother, in default of which he is deprived of the rights of citzenship. A wave of progressive legislation is passing over the South American Republics. It owes much of its inspiration to the agitations of women's societies in the larger towns. The movement has extended even to Chile, heretofore one of the most stagnant States of all as regards industrial conscience; a Workmen's Compensation Act has been passed here which provides liberal pensions for the wives and children of injured workers. A similar law has also been passed in Bolivia, under which widows are in some cases granted 50 per cent, of their husbands' wages in perpetuity. The Jewish League for Women is among the latest of the English Suffragist organisations. It will cany on propaganda, on educational lines parallel with those of the church, Free Church, and Friends' League. This organisation will be purely non-political, and the principal plank of its platform demands the extension of the franchise on the same terms as it is conceded to men. The league announce that they will " strive to further the improvement of the status of woman in the community and in the State, and the. more active participation of the synagogue in the social movements of the day.'' WHERE WOMEN ARE SLAVES. Mr Keighley Snowden, after paying a personal visit of inspection to the Black Country, writes in the pages of the ' Daily Citizen,' the new organ of the British Labor pally, this terrible indictment of an industry which, while giving to its women workers a miserable wage of from 5s to 8s a week, spells for many of them a ruined constitution. These unfortunate workers recently went out on strike for a 54-hours' week and for a minimum wage of 10s per week. Let Mr Snowden speak for himself, as thus :

"There was a little middle-aged mother with her face tied up. She pressed her fingers on her cheek-bones or held her hand on the top of her head all the while she talked. She is a galvaniser. The effect 0! chemical fumes has been to give her incessant face-ache, but she did not speak of it until 1 asked why she wore the bandage. '•'lt's not so bad as enamelling," she said; "their hair comes off. It comes off nearly as soon as they start.' '•' I can stand it,' said this mother. My girl hero couldn't; it stopped her breathing. Some can't. Their teeth go black, and they can't find an appetite. Vou should come and see what it's like when we are working, so thick sometimes we can hardly see one another. The masters keep out of it, I can tell you.' "'But is there no ventilation? Don't you have fans to keep the air clear!' "' Oh, they never trouble about it, bless you.' "' My chest was raw,' said the girl. 'lt gives you a taste like sugar. That was how I couldn't eat anything.' " I asked them to describe the work. It includes taking out buckets from the acid pickle, drying them off with strong ammoniacal salts, and washing them in water. The women wear a piece of macintosh, but their bodies and legs are often wet with tlie last process. Not one of them knows what good health is. Not one of them escapes painful maladies. Those who do enamelling are sooner through with it, but they do not do enamelling from choice. They do what thev must. _ If it is enamelling they die of plumbic antenna, or, as they say, a decline. Whether they are reduced to skin and bone or swollen up, it comes to the same unmerciful end with them. '"Of course, it's not healthy work,' the suffering woman said, making no fuss of that, 'but we're willing to do it for a proper wage.' She meant 10s a week. I was taken to a house where, a young woman, one of many who do bright tinning, is under medical treatment. ° She is a strong young woman, full of spirit.' Other girls said she was like a man. Her occupation is to dip tinned articles in a cauldron of boiling fat, and this arrests digestion. The dense fumes of Russian fat are as unwholesome in their wav as the so-called 'smoke' of strong acid that fills the galvanising shops. "'Yes, I have to keep playing for a week or a fortnight,' she owned. 'Last year I lost three months altogether. It makes you so as you can't eat anything.' "For all these processes the sweated workers find their own clothes. 'Every three weeks or a month,' a galvaniser told me, 'a girl needs another dress and a pair of shoes. Your clothes dibp off you where you stand.'

" I Said : ' You won't have much monev left?' , '"Money left?' she laughed. 'Why, you're money out of pocket.' "This must be near the truth, at all events. If you have the heart, the wage of 8s or 10s a week is a veiy proper theme for jesting. "I am no politician," says Mr Snowden, "but it seems to me that th°re is something wrjng with the administration of law in England." Does anybody want anything made under such conditions?