WOMAN’S WORLD

Evening Star, Issue 18288, 30 May 1923, Page 3

WOMAN’S WORLD

[Bt VIVA.]

Reports o! social functions will be welcomed for this column. “ Viva " frill also answer all reasonable questions relating to the homo, cookery, domestic economy, and any topic of Interest to her sex. But each letter or report must bear the writer's name and address as a guarantee of genuineness, and questions that do not permit of a public reply cannot be answered. Questions should be concisely put and the writer’s nom de plume clearly written. ' ' '

GIRLS AND COCKTAILS. ■ Last Thursday afternoon (says recent issue of the Melbourne ‘Age’) a ire at crowd of men and women collected In Collins street, just as the offices began to empty. So great was the crush that it seemed as if there must have been a serious accident, and that the general public was showing its usual lack of sense by refusing to give the sufferers air. But presently the throng parted, and the cause of the excitement was made clear. Two young girls, barely in their twenties, beautifully dressed, were hopelessly intoxicated, and were being led sway bv two very shame-faced young men. Tliey had evidently been in one of the cafes at afternoon refreshments, and the cocktail habit had either been too new to them or they had overstepped the bounds altogether. It would be hard to say which of the couples presented the more pitiable spectacle—tho_ helpless girls or tho two young fellows with them. Certainly the young men’s eyes, as they stared straight ahead, told tales that went homo to one’s sympathies. WOMEN AND ~HUMOR. THEIR RETICENCE IN LAUGHTER. Two women, Miss Gertrude Jenuings, playwright, and Miss Athene .Sevier, actress, have just given Loudon something to laugh over in the new Haymarket Theatre play,- ‘lsabel, Edward, nnd Anne.’ Such a combination is rare enough to he remarkable. For, as a rule, women seem to be rather afraid of humor. They are shy about letting themselves go over it. They do not exploit laughter to anything like the extent they might,_ states Gordon Street in the ‘ baily Mail.’ An American once asked Mrs Patrick Campbell : “ Do you know why God withheld the sense of humor from women?” “ So that we may love you instead of laughing at you,” she told him. There is a reason for everything, of course._ But that American was too sweeping. One constantly meets women who have a very real sense of humor, women who talk amusingly and who have amusing original ideas about things. But most of them are too reticent; they keep the brake too guardedly on the wheel of their wit. You can count the “funny” women of the theatre on your fingers. Most of them are no longer very young; and there is no feminine Arthur Wimperis, _no successor to Marie Lloyd, and—to jump to the films —no woman approaches Chaplin. Much the same state of affairs is to_ be found m literature, art, and public life. The humor of the world is left in the hands of men, despite the fact that it is one of the few things for which the demand is in excess of the supply. Where is the woman W. W. Jacobs, the woman Stephen Leacock, the woman Tom Webster? CHILDREN’S BAD HABITS. The bad habits of children (said Dr John Thomson, addressing a meeting held under the auspices of the Edinburgh Montessori Society) did not include certain habitual faults, whether of omission or of commission, which resulted from insufficient training or insufficient control. The class of habits which he dealt with were really to be regarded as psychoses. They involved mental and moral factors, and were performed intentionally By the child because he enjoyed l them. These habits were divided into three classes. The first class comprised the sucking of the thumb or fingers or other objects, sucking the lips and tongue, biting the _nails, biting the hands and other parts, pica or dirt-eating, rumination or chewing the cud, air swallowing or air gulping. The eecond class comprised wetting the hands, breathing into the hands, rubbing the eyes and the ears, stroking velvet or fur. The third class comprised swaying or rocking movements of the body, voluntary shaking or nodding of the head, and head hanging. After referring to the specific habits, the lecturer said that why they should attract children was a question for the psychologist. It seemed to him that_ these bad habits in children were instinctive attempts to find a satisfaction of the lower instincts. Many of these habits passed away harmlessly, but in some cases they were very troublesome, and might even lead to serious disease. They were a lorn of “ infantile dissipation. _ There should, therefore, be careful attention to the promotion of the child’s health and happiness, and every attempt should be made to encourage a wholesome life and to cultivate the intelligence of the child. A LADY WITH A NEEDLE. Girton has just been celebrating its enrichment by the gift of some masterpieces of modem needlecraft.and of a room to contain them, decorated with the best sUll of modern architecture and wood caiwing (says the 'Telegraph’). Such Refactions are of an importance not easily to be ex.geerated. We cannot expect that the women’s colleges will attain in our time to such endowments of art as the past gave to Magdalen or Kings, bub it is possible to ensure that they R some of the best examples of what the art of our own time can produce. The benefaction which Girton has received is due to the generosity of two women —the late Lady Oarew, wnom experts have pronounced the most skilful artist in needlework of our generation; and Lady Cowdray, who gave Sir Edwin Cooper (the architect) and Mr George Haughton (the wood carver) the commission to provide a worthy setting for the pieces of needlecraft which Lady Carew chose as her best. It has added much to the beauty of the college, and therefore to its usefulness. No one who can look back upon years passed at Oxford or Cambridge with any satisfaction is likely to deny the influence of the art which tlie_ men of the past lavished upon their university. To have spent some of the most impressionable years of life among noble design and fine craftsmanship is to acquire a possession for ever. Needlework is assuredly one of the oldest of the arte. In others women may and do excel, but this they have always had mainly, though nob exclusively, to themselves. Was it not in the beginning taught by a goddess? The climax of that great festival of the nanathsmea, to which we owe one of the noblest and most fruitful works of art in the world, the Parthenon frieze, was the procession bearing through the city, on the birthday of Athena, the embroidered saffron-colored cloak whereon for nine months the maidens and matrons of Athens had labored. But we have older needlework from Egypt, for Cairo can display a _ piece of linen which was embroidered with lotus flowers 1,400 years before the birth of Christ, A history of needlecraft would, indeed, be a history of civilisation, though lor our knowledge of how women worked with the needle in the ancient world we have through many centuries to rely upon the evidence of sculpture and painting and literature. But early in the Christian era women were depicting in embroidery scenes from the Gospels, and some of their work can still be seen. Durham Cathedral has fragments stitched in gold thread at a Saxon Queen's order a thousand years ago. The Bayeux tapestry, which is a century younger, is an historical document.

WOMEN’S ACTIVITIES. Nows come from Palestine that the loading women residents have succeeded in co-ordinating their efforts in public work on behalf of the women and children of the country. After Sir Herbert Samuel’s appointment as High Commissioner of Palestine it was proposed that representatives of all the leading Palestinian women’s organisations should, irrespective of creed or nationality, act as members of a Palestine Women’s Council. The plan materialised two years ago, Lady Samuel acting as president of the second assembly. Thus a unifying link between women’s social ideals and the administration has been forged, and a great step forward has been taken. In reply to the council's request that a competent woman might be allowed to look into cases where women’s claims are concerned, the Administration has agreed that whore are woman qualified to apeak on behalf of others presents herself to the court she shall ho allowed to appear and plead their rights. It is interesting to note that before any action is taken a full and accurate inquiry is to bo made into the particular matter under consideration, thus following the method employed with so much success by the London Women’s Industrial Council, of which Lady Samuel was chairwoman while she was at Home. The Matrimonial Causes Bill, which has passed its second reading in the House of Commons, and which establishes the equality- of the sexes in regard to divorce, is described by the 1 Westminster Gazette ’ as “ a measure that will go down to history as one of the greatest pieces of legislation of modern times.” There are, it seems, in Paris 217,000 women in private domestic service. _ Of these 6,000 belong to the Union Libre, which has for its objective the amelioration of the conditions of domestic service generally. Employers of domestic service in the French capital complain bitterly of inaction and laziness; but, compared with the servants of other countries, French men and women work, perhaps, harder and faro worse than any of them. For one thing, the French method of “surveillance” makes work difficult. This is, however, so common, that it is liable only to strike the foreigner. It is chiefly in the housing conditions and the long hours that domestic servants (and only a thirtieth of them at that) find their main ground of complaint. Some interesting details of the “ Feminina Vie Hereuse ” literary prizes are mentioned in, a recent issue of the ‘Woman Journalist.’ It appears that this scheme was instituted wider the auspices of the ‘Vie Hereuse,’ a Paris newspaper, and it proved so successful in bringing to light men and women authors who have had but a small chance of becoming known, that it was decided to place it on a rational basis by founding an annual prize worth 1,000 francs, to be offered to the Allied nations, on the same conditions as those applying to its own country. England gladly took advantage of the generous offer, and formed a committee of well-known women of letters to carry out the necessary arrangements. The committee met at Bedford College, under the presidency of Professor Caroline Spurgeon, followed later by Lady Northcliffe, who offered a Tike prize. Up to the present, strange to relate, the Northcliffe prizes have all gone to men, while women have been the exclusive winners of the French prizes. LONG-SUFFERING MALE. INDICTMENT OF WOMEN. Women are unaware of the numberless small things they do—not willingly, but apparently constitutionally—that annoy the long-suffering male. It being the little things in life that matter, much of sex discord is probably due to those pinpricks (writes a disgruntled male in the ‘ Sunday Chronicle ’). Women cannot read a newspaper without leaving it entirely unfit for a man to peruse afterwards. A woman' will pick up the paper, and in five minutes she will have converted, it into a hopeless tangle. Women cannot sharpen a lead pencil. They will take a man’s carefully, evenly-pointed H.B. and turn it into a mauled stub, offensive both to the eye and to the paper upon which it fails to write. Women cannot understand the ethics of gambling, 'and, moreover, are dishonest with regard to their gambling debts. I recently backed a horse for a woman’s friend. After I had explained the rules of backing she said that she wished to back it to win only—not for a place. The horse came in second, and when I told her that her stake was lost she said doubtfully, and it seemed to me meaningly: “Ob, but I thought that if a hors© got a place one got one’s money back.” Someone had told her so, she said. I felt like a prisoner found not guilty but admonished by the judge nob to do it again. In argument women are quite unable to distinguish the relevant from the irrelevant; nor arc they aware of what constitutes logical sequence. Women’s passion for “tidying up” has wrecked more married happiness than unfaithfulness. Women have no tact. They never seem to be able to await the propitious moment if they want something don© or have illnows to relate; they must insist upon a demand or a recital at the first opportunity. Women are completely lacking in a sense of proportion. Out of a splash they would make an international casus belli, but they would not evince the slightest interest over the fact that, say, Germany threatens to declare herself insolvent.

Women cannot deny themselves the pleasure of uttering that terrible phrase “I told you so.” When a man has come a cropper he can hear no more maddening verdict. Women can never understand that a razor is the most precise and delicate instrument in the world. Most damning of all, women do not seem to realise that if food is not cooked to an absolute nicety it is utterly ruined. I have yet to meet the woman who can grill a piece of bacon properly.

THE SOCIAL SIDE OF SCHOOL. When your child’s school issues an invitation to the parents to attend sports, concert, or prize-giving, it is up to every prudent mother to make a point of attending. Such functions are extremely valuable in teaching the budding boy or girl the duties of hostship and the general etiquette of entertaining. Prior to the occasion you should impress on your youngster that you will expect to be personally conducted, shown the points of interest in the school, and be looked after with consideration in regard to refreshments and introductions. You will find that he or sha will rise well to the occasion; whereas, without this preliminary hint, shyness and awkwardness will reign. The public school boy is well drilled bv his masters, and usually acquits himself with much credit; and other types of school are now following suit, and. looking after their pupils’ social manners with more assiduity than formerly.. It is attention to such points that helps the child to avoid gaucherie later on.