MAINLY FOR WOMEN

Greymouth Evening Star, 17 June 1930, Page 8

MAINLY FOR WOMEN

ITEMS OF' INTEREST

(Notes by

Marjorie)

BORN FOR THE AGE. WOMEN WITH WILL.

How is the rising generation of girls going to affect the race? If their rich promise is developed in the best way they may be at the beginning of a new and greater England, states a London'writer. Great Britain arose from the vision of one woman who inspired a few men to found an Empire. There are thousands of potential Elizabeths ccpiipped to inspire a nation of men. They have courage, ideals and initiative, mental and bodily strength, and the power of endurance —the essentials of a. fine race and Empire-builders. They will marry and have sons. It is their husbands and sons who will take over the management of the British Empire from old men who mean well but are floundering in a morass of past mistakes and present compromises, lhe old spirit of adventure is still there, but the precariousness of living in the peace and the general tiredness of the nation are soothing' it away. It needs impetus. The modern young girl is going to give that impetus. She scorns every thine; that i> second-rate or’ that betrays weakness and a half-and-half spiiii. She is as keen as a razor. And her men folk will have to live up to her. She will stand no ‘putting up with’’ tilings for the wan!, of energy io overcome them, no slacking. I-rom her key position in the home a woman has endless power. The modern girl has the will to use that power and the brains to use it well. She can put an end to lounging because she does not have to stop at the rather futile “Do something.’’ • She can say, “Do this particular' thing” and shows them how to do it. If that were not enough she could shame them .into activity by doing it herself. She is going to be a “terror” to the half-hearted—for she is a born fighter. There is no easy-going amiability about her. If there were she would be more charming as a. woman, but she would not be 'ideal for the age she has been born into. It is her job to infuse vigour into the race, to send strong, healthy, intelligent sons and daughters to the ends of the earth, fired with the will to win; to keep the men in authority at home alive and alert; to make the young men eager, disciplined, and enterprising.

We are fortunate people if only we know it. We are going to sec the Second Renaissance, the start of the Second Period of the British Empire, and we are living in daily t contact with beauty that will live for ever.

ON SAVING GAS From an experienced housekeepc in Sydney come the following bint . for keeping down the gas bill: —“A! 1 that is needed.” she said, “is a. lift! careful thought before planning tin meal. For instance, if 1 cook a roas dinner. 1 serve a, baked pudding also If boiled meat, I cook vegetables auk pudding on top of the stove by steam ing or boiling. Thu oven is not then needed. An excellent idea is to pu: a sheet, of tin, say the top of a. kerosnee tin on top of the stove. Three saucepans instead of one may then bo heated, with only one jet. I find tin better than asbestos. This, besides saving heat, prevents burning.” This housewife extols the virtues of the casserole and the roaster. Both preserve the natural juices of the meat instead, of allowing it to evaporate in steam. “A joint cooked in a covered roaster actually swells in the cooking, and is much juicier than an ordinary roast. No fat is needed either. The meat is simply placed on a stand in the roaster and water poured in—half a. pint for a 61b roast. It. will cook in any part of the oven. The potatoes are roasted in a dish by themselves.” This is what she says about puddings: — Making one boiled pudding is no more trouble ami uses no more gas than the making of a batch of three or four, each wrapped in its individual cloth. If only takes a small gas to keep anything boiling or steaming. A fruit pudding keeps a month wrapped in the cloth it. is cooked in. A batch may bo hung on a, rod in a cool spot, and when the unexpected guest or the extra, busy day arrives, may be heated readj' for serving in about, half an hour. Tiny puddings make excellent. gifts for one’s friends.

WOMEN IN RUSSIA. sex equality coming. It is proving difficult to educate manv millions of the older generation of Russian women, to their new and neihaps only partially understood and juke-warmly-welcomed freedom. . 'I hey would he lost without the chafing of their yoke. But a new generation is o-.’owing up, girls just reaching vothm age. to whom this present Russia only Russia, writes Vernon M'Kcnzie, in the “Cape Times.” If they remember the war and the October revolution it is only as a vague dream. They are taught as tots, these girls to-day. to have a. pride in tiio" equality of their sex. Brothers are neither inferior nor superior be-

111 Two or three of us, all newspaper men, met several girls between 18 and 20 at a sectional social gathering in one of the school houses. One girl was very outspoken in regard to her belief of the state of equality of the sexes in Russia.

“There is nothing that a man can do that 1. cannot do,” she told us, waving her hand towards the other.; in the group, who vigorously nodded their assent. “I can just barely remember tlio war. My parents and grandparents have told me what Russian women, and men. 100, were like a, generation ago, serfs, slaves, a little better than animals. The men fought for and won their freedom. We must go along hand-in-hand with them. “Some of the girls get the idea that they are superior to their broth'ers. I don’t feel that way, though. I want equality and freedom of action; I equality; I want freedom of action; I want to work and love and live —with all the freedom and opportunity granted my brother. And.” she concluded, with a fiery flash of her eyes, “one of ’the great things about this marvellous movement in which we are participating to-day is that there is no jealousy between the sexes, and the men are willing, not only to grant us this equality, but to aid us in our attempts!” Girls are taking part in games, literally hundreds of thousands of them. This is the more remarkable when it. is considered that, organised athletics was rare even for Russian men a decade and a half ago. In swimwing, on the track, on the rifle range, and in other departments of sport the erstwhile “weaker” sex are even competing against their brothers, and oc casionally scoring victories. Russia is planning to be strongly represented in women’s events on the next Olympic programme. London and New York have then policewomen. Moscow has also its squads of policewomen. They are sturdy but comely. There are several qualified women pilots in the Russian air force, and charming, happy-looking, competent damsels they are, too. In fact, the equality of rights even extends, since last August, to the army. The demand of the Slav feminists for equal Tights in military service was then partially granted, and is expected later to be extended. The chief difference at present is that military training for women is not compulsory. But early last August it was announced that a limited number of women would be admitted to technical military schools, it was specified, in the official announcement, that such women would bo subject, io exactly lhe same military discipline as men.

MATERNITY LAWS. In all branches of activity women are, by law, granted a long, free period. with pay, before and after childbirth. The" Russian maternity protection laws in industry, are more extensive and more generous than those of any other country. During Hie Great War, as well as in the Polish war and other minor emhroglios, many Russian women fought side by side with the men. There are said to be some still in the ranks. But they are granted no special privileges, not. even separate quarters, and most of them enlisted in disguise. Russia is sdi'l overwhelmingly illiterate, but this condition is being speedily remedied. Women are now granted an equal opportunity for education, higher as well as lower, technical as well as cultural. In Moscow, thousands of young students marry before graduation, some of them several years before. Divorces are easy to proeme, but this liberty does not >ecm to have endangered license. Prolessor AJbnrt Johnson, an American staiistician ami economist, recently working in Moscow, showed me figures to prove that there is a. higher percentage of divorces in New York than in Moscow.

NO WEDDING RING. A BRIDE EXPLAINS. An unusual incident, which considerably surprised a. registrar of marriages. occurred at the encl of the ceremony between a young couple at a West End register oilice. The bride and bridegroom had just completed their vows to take each other as lawful husband and wife, when the official asked the bridegroom to place-the ring on the finger of his wife. “But I have no ring,” said the bridegroom to the astonished official. “You see, my wife wants to be without one.” As the registrar glanced from one to the other the bride exclaimed: “Yes, you see. we are modern, and wedding rings are so old-fashioned. Discussing the incident with a. “Sunday Dispatch” representative the official said: “The fact, that no ring was placed on the finger of the bride in no way invalidates the marriage.”