MAINLY FOR WOMEN

Greymouth Evening Star, 7 December 1929, Page 9

MAINLY FOR WOMEN

ITEMS OF INTEREST

(Notes by

Marjorie)

TRAMP, MALE OR FEMALE. MANY WOMEN ON THE ROAD. For centuries the word “tramp” had a masculine meaning, but now it may apply with equal ease to either of the sexes. The Rev. Frank Jennings, known as the tramps’ parson, who recently completed a Long holiday as an ordinary English tramp, admitted on his return that he was surprised to find the large nurnbei’ of women “on the road.’ The hedgerow and the haystack seems often to offer a more welcome shelter to these women—the victims of industrial struggles—than the roof of the workhouse. It is frankly stated among them that whereas none are refused admittance into charitable institutions, many prefer to starve in freedom. ....,* In official circles the opinion .is that some women are as much professional tramps as the men themselves. The total admissions in the casual wards of London for the month of September was 210. i At the beginning of the recent British summer the number of tramps accounted for in returns made to the Ministry of Health was 11,353, but since then the total has diminished by more than 2000.

HANKOW’S PURITANICAL WAVE. BANS ALL “OUTDOOR KISSING.” The wave of puritanism which has struck Hankow has resulted in the enactment of a new city law to the effect that “outdoor kissing,” even be tween husbands and wives, is- a “crime” and that those caught at such “immoral practices” shall be fined. The first victims have been Mr and Mrs Chen Chang-hang, a newly-mar-ried pair. They were driving in an open carriage when a policeman saw Mr Chen kiss his bride. Both were arrested. Mr Chen was fined £6/1/-, and he and his wife were forced to furnish bondsmen who guaranteed that the newlyweds would not again offend the proprieties. The new morality crusade is also being directed against many Ameri-can-made motion pictures, and an effort is being made to force the Russian girl dancers in the cabaret to wear more clothing.

EVANGELIST’S BEAUTY BILL. New disciples gained by Mrs Aimee Semple McPherson, the Los Angeles revivalist- who visited England last year, have been sadly shocked by the discovery that she spent more than £8 on beauty treatment during a recent 15-days “revival” at Detroit. The Rev..- Dawson MacCullough, former superintendent in Michigan for the Four Square Gospel, of which Mrs McPherson is high priestess, has disclosed that her visit cost nearly £4OOO, leaving her followers in Michigan State with a deficit of £lB3O to meet. When they complained to him he told them that her bills included hotel expenses of £135, flow, ers costing £lO, personal payments £36, and unexplained miscellaneous items £199. , CIGARETTE BRIDE. “I am terribly nervous. Would you mind if I smoked a cigarette during ilicx r.nvr»mnnv tn sdnadv HIV nei'VeS?”

.This was the unique request made to the registrar at a London register office by a bride of 26, an, attractive, vivacious brunette. The bridegroom then turned to the registrar and remarked, “I do not mind. I know just how nervous she is.” As the ceremony began he lighted the cigarette for his bride, and in a quiet, modulated voice she gave her vows to him between puffs at the cigarette. “Never in my long experience have I had such an unusual request,” said the registrar later. “Nowadays it is a common occurrence for a bride to smoke a cigarette immediately after the ceremony when signing the register. It was the more extraordinary when it 'was realised that the bride was dressed in green. Certainly, she could not have been superstitious,” he concluded.

BRAVE WOMAN DOCTOR. IN A GAS-FILLED MINE. A pretty young woman doctor walked half a mile in a gas-filled mine in Lanarkshire, Scotland, without an?’ protection recently to attend to men who were overcome by gas at the Cadzow Colliery. > Three men were killed by the gas, which-had been released by a shot. Workmen wearing gas helmets found their bodies after another man. had collapsed in a rescue attempt. Dr Norah MacKenzie Steele, of Ardmuir, Hamilton, had rushed to the scene when she heard of the accident. She went down the pit to attend to the men wearing a leather motoring coat and light shoes and stockings. She stayed down the mine for about two hours. One of the helpers said to me, “It was one of the bravest things I have seen.” Dr Steele went on with her ordinary day’s work afterward, doubly heavy at the moment because her partner was on holiday. She raid: — “Anybody would have done as much for those brave miners. I was no't prepared for going down the mine when I left home, but immediately I heard tht injured men were still down there, of course I had to go. I was down about two hours altogether and I had to walk a long way from the bottom of the shaft. Ido not think it was particularly brave.”

GRANDMOTHER MANNEQUINS. Three ambitious women of 60 are studying to be mannequins at a fashionable West End school. All are married, and two are grandmothers. There are also women, nearly 60 years of age, who are studying for versespeaking competitions. They will compete with college girls and boys. Miss Edith Evans is one of the judges. Three grandmothers between the ages of 56 and 60 were the most admired mannequins at a recent dress parade. They had been trained at a West End academy and were finding plenty of work. “The woman whose family has left home finds life rather dull,” one of them explained. “I only began my work as a mannequin eighteen months ago, after my sixtieth birthday, and I find that I am better in health and much happier.”

FORTUNE TO A NURSE. A sick man’s gratitude to his nurse is given expression to in the will of Mr Walter Douglas Trickett, of Lench House, Waterfoot, Lancashire, who died leaving £15,549, with net personalty £15,462. Mr Trickett gave £5500, his dogs, kennels, and motor ear, and the income for life from £6OOO to Nurse Margaret Geraldine Leeming, if in his employment at the time of his death. A relative of Mr Trickett said that Miss Leeming nursed her late employer during illhealth for about 19 years up to his death. She afterwards, it is believed, went to Blackpool. MATRIMONIAL GO-GETTER. An extraordinary story comes from Brussels where a certain Adrienne Guyat has been accused of having gone through the marriage ceremony with 50 men and to have been engaged no fewer than 652 times. According to this almost incredible story she only lived with each “husband” as long as his money lasted.

SIX HOURS TO CHOOSE A COAT. Girl shop assistants in an Oxford Street, London store claim to have discovered (and suffered) the worst woman philanderer in clothes. This philanderer took hours before she finally chose a coat. This means that she spent almost as much time in the shop as the girl assistants in *their daily duties, for she went out for an hour’s lunch and then came back to resume her task of choosing. Threequarters of an hour seems to be the average time taken by a woman when choosing a gown or coat, according to a salesman, but she usually takes twice as long over a hat. In the exclusive .shops 'where certain customers are privileged, the client, in leisurely style, chooses gowns, coats and hats until at last the correct ensemble is attained. This slow procedure sometimes goes on for days, the client spending perhaps an hour to two hours daily in the salon. The worst dress phiflanderers are the women who simply pass the time by trying on clothes they have no intention of buying. ’ i