LADIES GOSSIP.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCVI, Issue 11122, 23 November 1896, Page 2

LADIES GOSSIP.

[“ Canterbury Times.”]

Is it immoral for a woman to work for pocket-money ? It is time we had an outspoken opinion on this subject, for the proportion of women who possess comfortable homes, yet persist in competing with those to whom the struggle for a livelihood is keen, and often almost hopeless, is very large. Women poach on almost every profession with unblushing effrontery. We see examples of this on every hand. The young woman who plays the piano takes a few pupils “ just to make a little pocket money, you know.” It matters little to her whether she takes them from the trained and conscientious music teacher. Nor does she consider whether she is herself competent. She generally charges less than a professional instructor, and there are always plenty of short-sighted parents who consider economy a matter of importance where their children’s education is concerned. Then we have the woman who sings at concerts without a fee because she does not need the money, while the trained professional is passed by because she would charge for, her services. Men are not faultless in this respect, but women are the greatest offenders. They do not yet see the disloyalty of which they are guilty. This practice of taking work out of the hands of others who have real need of it, as well as the still more culpable offence of lowering the average wages of women, is one that merits the condemnation of every loyally minded woman. If the comfortably circumstanced woman feels it to be her mission to become a hospital nurse or a badly paid governess, let her question the morality of her conduct and change her tactics. If she is firmly convinced that in work outside her home alone lies salvation, then let her take up something that will hot disturb the normal supply and demand for women workers. Let her take up district nursing and visiting ; there is work enough in the homes of the poor, sympathy to be given and plenty of loving care—work that is not always pleasant, but is nevertheless its own reward. It is helpful to others as well as the doer, and it injures no one. We have heard far too much of the vilification of one sex and the extolment of the other. Happily for both men and women the balance is beginning to adjust itself, and as the days go by we hear much less about the faults and vices of men, Jess, too, about the surpassingly angelic nature of women. That meretricious art which made one sex black to serve as a backgroundfor the other sex, is running the gauntlet of a deservedly merciless criticism, and the pleasant prospect is held out to us of seeing all real or imaginary friction between men and women disappear before very long. Mrs Lynn Linton, whose pen, though sharp and at times unjust, has written much and well on the sex question, has just taken up a brief for the men. She does not think that men are perfect any more tlian women; both have their faults; both, too, their good points. “ We know,” she says, “ what we should feel were a man to blaspheme his mother and rail against his wife and daughters. What is the difference between this and a woman’s blasphemy against her father, her vilification of her sons, her husband, her

brothers ? ” There must be tolerance and forbearance on both rides, but we rarely hear this doctrine preached by the reforming party either in print or on the platform.

This is the age of the microscope and the magnifying glass. We turn the lens on our friends, ostensibly in a scientific spirit, but really it seems to the looter-on, in a spirit of intrusive curiosity. There is no question of making allowances; on the contrary, we magnify the fault into a crime, and then talk loudly of degeneration. If we took the trouble to magnify the good qualities in the same way the result would be very different, and more encouraging. We want more charity, not indifference or satisfaction with things as they are, but a large-hearted generosity that sees good and evil side by side, and is not discouraged or surprised into pessimistic wails that accomplish no good but rather more evil. Mrs Linton is, perhaps, too much disposed to decry the new order of things, an order she can by no means comprehend, but her words are a much needed corrective of the notion that the old-fashioned woman was altogether the unreasoning creature she has been represented to be. It is absolutely restful to contemplate her portrait. “They have,” she writes, “that sweet desire to please, which is so delightful in either men or women, that innate selfabnegation which is part of the highest discipline of life. * * # They are women content to be women; content to know differences, and to recognise limitations ; content to leave the organisation of large things in the hands of men, while they perfect the details and help on the smooth working of the completed scheme ; content to be loved and cared for, if not by the merely material means of good and gear, yet by the thousand and one courtesies which men give to the women who neither spurn here nor demand as their right there, the v/omen who are women.” And this is what woihen have to do. They must “ know differences and recognise limitations” before they see that their work in the world must be co-operative, not selfish. We have had enough of selfseeking, enough of selfishness in either sex. Let one sex work out the co-operative idea in its dealings with the other, and peace and harmony must inevitably result.

We have been so accustomed to hear England called the home of fair women that it is a little startling to hear Mrs Crawford place Continental loveliness before that of her countrywomen. It is just possible that during her long residence abroad, this talented lady may have become prejudiced in favour of the more expressive countenance of the Parisienne. At any rate she finds little beauty in English eyes, those of the women at any rate.- She says that the first thing that strikes her on landing in England is the small, expressionless eyes, most of them wanting in perception. “ One very much notices the difference ” (she says in Truth) “ between English and French physiognomies in the different British settlements dotted over France. The English eye, when sunny and straightforward, is very beautiful, but it is generally a man’s eye. The best eyes that I saw in English heads in Brittany were sailors’. I have seen there charming English girls, and many who would have been pretty were it not for the stereotyped smile they cultivate. The smile should be fleeting as a pleasant impression. Once it gets fixed, it disfigures.” The moral of this all is that we should cultivate the faculty of perception and quickness of feeling, so that our eyes may have more of the sparkle and life in them that Mrs Crawford considers so attractive in a woman’s face.

There is a young Amei’ican girl who has invented the profession of a lullaby singer. That is to say she undertakes, for a remuneration, to visit the nurseries of her clients every evening, and lull the babies to sleep with cradle songs, which their mothers are too busy or too unmusical to supply themselves. Doubtless the children’s ear for music is cultivated, but one can scarcely imagine a large demand arising for the services of the professional lullaby singer. And now a Home paper descants at some length on the desirability of having “ lady packers,” professional of course, who would come and pack all one’s boxes when a journey was in contemplation. Most travellers, one would imagine, would prefer to pack their portmanteaux themselves if they did not wish to find their toothbrush or favourite shoes left behind. Besides, no one would care to trust their belongings to a perfect stranger who should have the free run of one’s wardrobe and chest of drawers. No; Ido not think the “packing” profession is likely to be a success, unless we practice it solely for our own benefit. Packing is like taking exercise, and a great many other things. You cannot get it done by proxy, you must do it yourself. The tendency to rely more upon suitable food than upon medicine for certain com-

plaints is a growing one. The grape cure which is much in vogue among European doctors is said to be specially effective for ancemia, dyspepsia and consumption, but particularly so in diseases of the liver and in gout. In following this cure the patient is not allowed to eat anything but grapes He begins with about one or two pounds a day, with a gradual increase to eight or ten pounds. After a few days of this diet there is usually an improvement in the health, the appetite increases, digestion,' becomes easy and rapid, and there is also an increased capacity for bearing the fatigue of outdoor exercise. Dr Dupoury, writing in a Paris Journal, has a good deal to say in favour of the hygienic value of fruits. He divides them into classes, each one having a special value from a health point of view. Cherries, strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries, peaches, apples, lemons and oranges he considers extremely useful. Those who are bilious, plethoric, or of gouty temperament should feast on strawberries and raspberries, but eases of diabetes should avoid them altogether. Among sweet fruits the plum is warmly recommended as a preventive of gout and rheumatism of tha Joints. It must be noted, however, that Dr Dupoury does not consider these fresh, fruits nutritive, and does not recommend anyone to attempt to live exclusively oa them. He holds that every meal should contain a large proportion of fruit. It is not a dainty to be kept for festive occasions, it is an absolute necessity. A delightful colour scheme for a bedroom is white and cream, and the effect i 3 at once cool and restful. The floor has a square of white China matting, the surrounding boards being painted white, a fas more suitable colour for a sleeping room than the sombre brown so often seen. Tha curtains, short ones, by the way, are of cream Madras muslin with deep hems, shirred on very light brass poles. The washstand and table are painted in white enamel, the ware being cream and gold. The walls are prepared in creamy paper with a frieze of trailing vines and pink roses. White crape of Japanese make and flecked with gold, drapes the mantel, which has a few dainty ornaments or photographs for adornment. Such a room is exquisitely pretty and fresh looking, and if a white goatskin rug is added its comfort is increased. The white and cream tones blend in harmony and there is a perfect absence of sudden contrasts, making a charming bower that cannot fail to please.