LADIES’ GOSSIP.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCIII, Issue 10652, 13 May 1895, Page 2

LADIES’ GOSSIP.

Canterbury Times.) _ 1 There con be no excuse of ignorance in j those days £or thooa woman who persist in j ruining their health by a slavish obedience 1 to the decrees of the fashionable drossmaker. Women’s magazines, and even the daily prints themselves, are unanimous in declaring against this evil. Among other sources of trustworthy infer- | mation on thia subject are the useful littlo pamphlets emanating from the National Health Society, giving brief and simple hints ou sensible clothing for women and girls. They insist on the imperative necessity for weaving i clothes that are light in weight, warm, and ; ■loose. Aa to worm clothes, moot of uu are alive by thia time to this want, and woven underwear is being so generally adopted that I need say little on the subject. Weight of clothing- is, however, another fcaing, and now that velveteen ia to bo the fashionable material for the coming winter, perhaps a word or two on the subject may happen to be in season. Thia fabric is so heavy that it should never be worn by delicate girls, or when intending to take a long walk, and if it hi worn, the other clothing should be lighter than usual. Imagine a shirt weighing some five or six pounds for a growing and slender girl ■with a delicate spine ! It is not wonderful by any means that ao many fashionably dressed women complain of weariness if they walk a abort distance, tbs wonder ia that they can walk at all beneath the load of velvet, bugles, and furs that they must carry if they are quits <1 la mode. Spinal disease and worse, are sooner or later the reward of such. Doctors themselves are bosoming alarm 3d at the ravages 1 committed by the costumier on the health of their victims. Ia his book oa tha “Evolution of Woman’s Diseusea,” recently published by Dr Dalla-Hoadiey, or London, he comments very strongly on thia widespread evil. With laudable plainness he exposes the folly of those women who inflict immense injury upon themselves by their blind submission to “that deformed thief, fashion.” If the harm touched ao one but themselves then oao might ho content to leave those fanatical worshippers at Fashion’s shrine to work out their salvation ia suffering. But the evil does not end in them j it affects the generations to come, and for their sake, it not for teat of self. Dr Ball-Hoadley’a book ought to be studied by all women, especially by ail mother*. The doctor emphasises once more a matter that cannot be too often preached, so long as the corset obtains atuosg the majority of civilised woman. It it that the most vital and delicate organs cf the human body are subjected by certain absurdities of our dress to a compression that displaces them, and impairs their natural functions. A whole train of diseases are thus induced, while the figure becomes fearfully and wonderfully deformed. Such awful results following on fashionable dressing should be sufficient to make women calculate whether the game is worth the candle. Surely they will decide that it is not !

We are Ter y apt to regard our eyes aa

being quite apart from the rest of our anatomy, and having no relation with it. This ia entirely a mistake, says a specialist, and it would bo well if those who suffer with their eyes would look first to their, general health before flying to the oculist Sufficient rest, together witn open-air exercise, often work wonders m strengthening tho eyss. Above all things, refilling hi bed should be given at ones, lor the strain on fcho eyes ia _ accentuated by a reclining, or semi-reclining, position. Again, it should bo remembered that to stop reading or writing and engage ia a brain-stimulating conversation keeps up tho strain on tho optic nerve. _ BtroagEighted persons often abuse their eyes most culpably by working in a cross light, which should always be mom behind if possible, or from the left shlo alone, A g.tesn shade helps materially in persistenfc, doss work, and cold water syringed over tha closed lids is a useful tonic. ■ . AS last we are on tha eva of the inevitable* reaction against elaborate dressing. Hot that the fashion papers say so ; they tell us that skirts end bodices arc to bo more richly ornamented than ever, but newspapers toll a different tale, and simplicity in dross is largely obtaining among tb.e smart brigade in London* It is to on white muslin and a single rose once more, and a very pretty simple and becoming fashion it ia. At a recent important •• first night” at a theatre many of the smart sot present wore a single pink rose iu the bail', and though the gowns wero nob white muslin, they wore more simple in character than baa lately been the -rule. On the stage, one of the chief actresses wore in a d rossy scene a white gown with a spray of blush, rosso at tho waist. -Lot ua hope that this will be quite enough to make simplicity in dross our watchword for tho next season or two. In one respect the Euesian is a long way ahead of tir. "Wo aro apt to think that tha admission of women to servo ob school boards is very American and progressive. But benighted Kiusie, on tho contrary, has women not only on her school boards, but they are serving, too, aa principals and poor law guardians. In one small province last year there wore forty-five in office as superintendents or workhouses, 125 as poor law guardians, and 283 as members of school boards.

Apparently tho New Woman of to-day ia another example of tho way in which hiefcory repeats itself. Wa are led to form this conclusion on Mndicg in aa English papac the account of a lecture on Greek Educational Theories by Professor Mehaffy. From this it would Beam that there were Now Women in ancient Greece, women who went in for high education ia the island of Lesbos in tho days of tho poetess Sappho, and whoso writings showed tho very highest art. It ia certain, too, that there were associations of young women for tho purpose of study, and that these young ladies affected a freedom of speech and action that caused much scandal among tho Greek Societies favouring the seclusion of women. And further, Xenophon, in his famous tract upon tho training of a young woman to he the efficient mistress of her house, assumed that she came to her husband ignorant of all arts, aava those of

dyeing her hair, painting her face and otherwise improving lice app&RrßKce. _ lu this rcwoot, however, tboro is a vast ttilierenco between tho Greek new woman and he? of the* uineteuatb century, for if; is the lather's exceeding pride that she is an all* round woman, aad as well aW® to grill a heafate&k. make her own drosses, and play a game of cricket, as fco construe Homer or write » book. Mothers will be interested in a recent utterance of Dr Fall:: Oswald concerning the relation in children of plsy and rest. “ For city children,” nsya ho, ‘‘the rough-and-tumble play is the main thing; it will strengthen their limbs, lungs and livers, su'd prevent jnoso ailaionta than all the medicines that could bo given them.” Brides this, it will keep tha youngsters quiet in tho wlacss where they axe apt to in restless—tho homo and school. School teachers have noticed that tha country boy is more quiet ia tho classroom than his city brother, and argue that it is because ha has had all tha exercise fee MBfi'ie,.aud .ia emtoivi; to nit still. "After.an hoarjw two of Swedish gymnastics," goes cn I)r ; Oswald, ** aombiae'd with wood chopping and water carrying, if yon like, tho wlWeao hoy will prefer a chair to a flying trapeze, for, if the tonic development of tho organism is not grossly neglected, sedentary employments arc by no means contrary to Sahara. Is their interval of pisy, tho young o! froiiceome animals will nit motionless foe hours; even kittens And young monkey. s , not to mention colts, have their off days, when they won’t stir a foot if they can help it.*’ this w« may infer that tho child who in rfsfelosa and fretful indoors, ie the child who hm not been well treated in the matter of osssciso, and mothers and Burcoa should note this and act accordingly. For city children one -of tb» beds savofcy va’rcß for stored upeaorgy is pillow fight!Kg. All children delight in it, arid is •ihoald always ba pomitted in the tospi or oa wot dnyc when ohildcaa are confined to tho house.* Plain pillows in strong car-ioga should ba given them, and! they will soon became proficients, while the exercise sa oro tu ija commended oa account of its bringing into play every nerve and muscle ■in tiro 'Wly, 'selling tho blood tingling from head to hcvl.

U-American women corfcsialy know howto organise,'and the pretence of three"of their groat national organisatloas in Washington at osco ia a noteworthy event in the history of women's work. Tho White Ribbon Army of tha Wostea’s Christian Temperance Bn ion, with their polyglot petition, had not closed tho week’s session when the second triennial meeting of tho National Council o’? Women was called to order for a fortnight’s sea don, and on tho following day tho joarih Continental Congress of eho‘Danghtcj s of tho Rsvolusioa wft'i convened. Those rro all cuctiactly separate bodies, though the members find expression ia the National Council, and to prove how great has been tho increase of members and work sines tho first triennial moating,'wo aro told that while tho first lasted only three days, had eight sessions end comprised nine national organisations, the ono that baa just met eat- for a fortnight, had thirty-two saasiona, and comprised twenty national organisations, w Each of them twenty sends a president and two delegates to tha Council, besides these are fraternal delegates from as many more bodies not yet in the Council, thus making up nearly four hundred delegates joining in tho proceedings and representing a membership of between-4,000,090 ar.d 5,000,000 women! In addition, there are about sixty persons who by the payment of .020 become life patrons, and include man and women distinguished ia the Uterary. scientific and educational world. All kiads' of work aiming at tee highest pood of all are' represented ia this great Council; for the crgnnisaHoias represented by tho different delegatee include those occupied v, ith educational, religious, philanthropic, economic, political, patriotic and aati-vivisectioual work. An a contemporary oaya, if is a great council of women, and nr.y‘with equal truthfulness be formed a council of great women. ■

Hrs Mary Wright Sewell, of Indianapolis, tho president cf the Council, ia a nobis woman, whore grey hair and stately mien make her a striking figure. Har ability and tact, her thorough knowledge of parliamentary law, and hearty, wholesouled 1 manners make her an almost perfect presiding officer. Mrs Susan ‘B. Anthony; tho leader of tho National Woman Suffrage Association, has but recently celebrated her seventy-fifth birthday, but her hair is Bet gray nor her eye dim, nor ia her natural force abated. A kind motherly heart, dear ringing wise* and sweet face with an expression of and Bweofc serenity, show that she has passed over tha rough places, and that, though the promised land is nob bars, it may be seen from the mounlain_ tope. Than there are Miss Francos B. Willard and Lady Henry Somerset, tha _ great leaders of the temperance forces in two worlds. Miss Willard scored a point at thia meeting by proposing tho names of Mrs Francos Cleveland, wife of tha President of the United States, and Mrs Carlisle, vriCe of tho Secretory of tha United States Treasury, for membership. Both these ladies are total abstainers, and it iu a wail known fact that tho latter allows ho wine on her table oa tha occasion of State or Cahinat dinners oven. She nets cold water before her guests, aud makes no apology for doing so, ,