MAINLY FOR WOMEN

Greymouth Evening Star, 30 July 1929, Page 8

MAINLY FOR WOMEN

ITEMS OE INTEREST

(Notes by

Marjorie)

SIR OLIVER LODGE ON WOMEN.

THE NEW STATUS.

In his book, “The War and After,” the great scientist, Sir Oliver Lodge, discourses thus on the position of women, as follows: — One more of the welcome changes which must follow the war is that women will surely not have to revert to their old unrecognised political position. We have had quite enough of a nation which systematically underrates and suppresses its own womenfolk, making them take a merely subservient position, and treating all other women with disrespect and barbarity. The exclusion of women from due recognition and the mean estimation in which they have been held is responsible for much evil. It is perhaps a curious outcome of war that women should come more to the front, but so it is—in every department their help and influence are more and more gratefully recognised —indeed, the one bright spot in the hideous blunder of the Crimea was the emergence of Florence Nightingale. Women have once more shown that they can take their share in war preparation,, and in national labour and suffering and achievement, and in services, near the front; whilg they were already engaged usefully in civic and municipal enterprises. War does not spare women vicariously—it does not even spare them personally, as we may have thought and hoped that it did —and they are entitled to a voice in the affairs which lead to or avoid war. Some 'of them in a too recent past have been terribly irri-' tating, but the wisdom of the best must be trusted to hold in check, or at least to counter-balance the impudence and folly of the worst. Besides, they have made some amends by wise and patriotic counsel and activity in face of real danger. Clamour _ and violence, in ’ past frivolous times, have done their cause much harm; but in spite of the antics of a minority, the wise instincts of womanhood can no longer be ignored or treated as 'a negligible asset in the government of a state. Daughter nations of the Empire and independent States of America have tried experiments from which we can well learn; and surely the present time will not be allowed to pass until artificial and unnatural disabilities are removed and opportunity be given to all properly qualified citizens to take a recognised and official part in work which already, they share* and often largely influence.

It has for some time been noteworthy how far more eagerly women put themselves under educational influence than do men. Of the few who enter professions or become scholars, it would be impertinent to speak; I speak only of the average. They form the majority of an audience at any lecture or at a not immediately professional or too technical opportunity for receiving education. Their minds are developing and their spirit rising to an unprecedented looked for training in its youth; to them it will be looking also for training in its age. The faults of emancipation and the exuberance of political youth inay be upon them just now, but they are striving for light, they are pressing towards the dawn, and their loud and sometimes discordant utterances are but the birth-pangs of a sane and noble future.

The simplest of dance frocks may well be the most becoming, as this dainty little model proves. It is expressed in lime coloured satin beaute, and the draperies are held over the hip by a semi-circular topaz ornament.

THE BATHING NECKLACE. Bdthing costumes are going to be so smart for the coming season that it is hardly surprising there will be necklaces to wear with them. Made in coloured rubber and wound many times round the neck, so as to hang in varied lengths, they are certainly most attractive, and are shown to the best advantage when they match the costume. One example of red and white rubber was worn with a checked red and white cloak to match, and a speckled red and white cap. -

HOGS I MEET.

A NEW VARIETY.

I have been provoked, and I feel I must indulge in a “morning hate” (writes G.S. in the Sydney Morning Herald). I have just met with a new variety of hog. I have suffered at the hands of the road hog, the bath hog, the sleep-wrecking hog, and the table hog, but the discovery of the mirrorhog has revealed further possibilities in this obnoxious breed. Serenity is a pleasant quality to cultivate, but how is one to achieve it when people persist in showing such a lack of consideration that one is enraged in spite of all good resolutions to remain unruffled? Road hogs are so common that it is superfluous to call attention to the numerous ways in which they can disturb the would-be tranquil spirit. The driver who obstinately sticks to the middle of the road in spite of bootings from behind; the driver who gives one heart failure by tearing past at racing speed on a narrow bridge; or he who chooses the squelchiest puddle to splash into just as he is passing a trimly-attired pedestrian—these we meet daily. Then there are the sleep-wrecking hogs, who leave a suburban party towards the small hours and shriek farewells, shout out final messages, start up their cars with the greatest possible amount of noise, toot their horns, and generally wreck the piece of a quiet street when the wage-earners are trying to get their meed of sleep. Most of us have silently cursed these callous rest-wreckers.

Bath hogs in boarding houses are equally poisonous, and are responsible for possibly more concentrated fury than any other minor evil. Minutes are so precious in the early-mornings, and to stand shivering in a passage, consumed with rage and impatience, while some selfish brute scrubs himself, surely forty times over, shaves lingeringly, or if it is a woman, even washes gloves and stockings—this makes one see red. When the criminal carols blithely while carrying on his evil deeds, the injury is magnified.

Some boarding-houses have a table hog. This species surrounds himself at the breakfast table with salt, pepper, mustard, butter, sugar, marmalade, and settles down to a meal as if he were the only person in the world. He props his paper on the milk jug, and then has the inconsistency to scowl ferociously when anyone timidly ventures to require milk. I have seen a table full of normal non-aggres-sive boarders so cowed by such a hog that they were almost reduced to starvation, eating saltless eggs, butterless toast and drinking sugarless coffee.

I thought I knew of most hogs, but 1 .have just encountered another, the mirror hog.» So fair-seeming is she that one can hardly believe she conceals any hoggishness under her delightful exterior. Yet it is she who calls out the most vindictive feelings in any feminine gathering. She monopolises the mirror in the dressing room, and it is owing to her that guests are forced to appear with wind-blown locks, and misplaced powder, and a general feeling of sketchiness about their finish. For the modern finish is a delicate matter of trim adjustment and the well-turned out woman craves for the last-minute reassurance of the mirror that she is completely soignee before facing the party.

At a big Polo Week party a fair guest planted herself squarely before a mirror in the crowded cloakroom, and held her advantage for a quarter of an hour, timed by a wrist watch. What she did in that time was a mystery. She looked, when she entered, clean and well-groomed. When she left after fifteen minutes’ gazing into the mirror, putting on powder here, taking it off there, brushing down a lock here, and combing one of there, outlining her lips with lipstick, and smoothing it off again—after all this performance she looked clean and well-groomed, no more and no less than when she first appeared. Yet she had held at bay a horde of women anxious for a glimpse at the glass to convince themselves that the journey from their suburb had left no trace of dishevelment. Entirely unconcerned she remained, never budging by a hairsbreadth from her position square in front of the glass. Women with less placid husbands than hers abandoned hope of dislodging her, gave their hair a hasty pat and hoped for the best as they rejoined their waiting cavaliers. But still the mirror hog remained, her docile husband waiting with apparent equanimity while later and later arrivals entered the cloakroom, and emerged again in a constant stream. Perhaps no man can appreciate her crime. But women will agree that,the mirror hog ranks high on the list of the better banished.

NEEDLEWORK WALL PANELS. Much beautiful needlework that is done to-day finds a new outlet in the ornamental panel. The French have always liked tapestry on the walls. South Americans hark back to the habits, of -their grandmothers and do wdol work for chair seats and wall panels. Wall panels are being made to-day by the professional designer, and also by families for the beautification of their walls. Designs can of course be bought. It. is preferable where possible that the design should bear some relation to the people who are doing it. It may be a panel of flowers taken from the garden and perhaps emulated in a vase. It may be a quaint design suggestive of lattice windows and oak beams. Sometimes quaint Noah’s Ark trees and houses make a charming design for the nursery. The new wool work is done with the ordinary, plain stitch on canvas, or it may be carried out in filet-like squares on unbleached calico. When finished, it is stretched and put upon the wall with wooden picture framing nailed round it to give it the panel effect. This is a most charming method of decoration over a bed-head, a mantelpiece, or any other prominent spot in a room.