LADIES’ GOSSIP.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCIX, Issue 11556, 18 April 1898, Page 7

LADIES’ GOSSIP.

“ Canterbury Times.” The land that produced Mark Twain is fertile in surprises, and the latest one emanating from that country is calculated to rouse a good deal of amusement. Following the brilliant example of the Alabama .Assembly in bringing-forward a Bill against the wearing of bloomers, jerseys and shirt waists, the grave and reverend law-makers of Virginia have brought forward a Bill to do away with flirting on the part of men. It is called “A Bill for the Protection of Boarding Schools and Colleges, for Females, and the Principals and Inmates Thereof,” and its provisions are described as “ drastic.” If it passes it will he unlawful for any male person in the State of Virginia to “ wilfully and unnecessarily interfere with, disturb or in any way disquiet” the ; pupils of any “ schools or, colleges lor females ” while on any public road or street, or in any building or structure. -It will be equally unlawful to “.disquiet” or teachers in charge of the afbresaid ma&i&SA Asyperson who Bo far forgets, himself as to loiter, wander or sit upon the public roads or “ sidewalks,” with intent to annoy, vex or disturb thp occupants, teachers or pupils of any girls’ school, will be liable to a penalty. For the first offence he may be fined not less than five or more than fifty dollars, but for the second he may be sent to prison for . any period from ten to thirty days. This - Bill, which is drafted by a certain Senator M’Cune —whose name, by the way, will be banded down to posterity as that of a-senatorial wit, if nothing ; else—is totally one-sided. It is aimed, with true Southern gallantry, against the men alone. For the fair inciter to wrong-doing, if flirting merits so important a name, there is no penalty whatever. She may test a man’s endurance to the utmost by means of a lovely face and a bewitching gown, hut not even by a quiver of the eyelid must he give sign that he notices any differgnee between her and the very plainest of her sex. Surely a Lind whose legislators Can indulge their clumsy humour in inanities, -of- this.... kind must find time hang very heavily on their hands. If .Virginia and Alabama were already inpdel.,States, if injustice and crime had disappeared from within their boundaries, if their prisons were razed to the ground or converted into free libraries and picture galleries, their beershops into coffee palaces, and their lunatic asylums into Colleges and seminaries, then perhaps one could pardon the introduction of such a Bill as that for the repression of flirting. As; however, vice and crime are apparently as rampant in these two States as they are in any other part of the civilised world, Such a lapse from common sense is absolutely unpardonable in legislators. Unless further accounts contradict the report of this absurd piece of legislation, I very much fear that the stock of wisdom possessed by American statesmen has become practically til, and that it is . time women took their place in the halls of legislation. / It is a mistake for a woman to attempt to do too much, especially if she is earning money outside her home. Yet nine women but of every ten are doing it, or attempting to doit, for the effort soon culminates in break-down, either physical or mental, or both. For instance, the girl type-writer, clerk or shop-assistant considers that ■he must make her own clothing, and a multitude of other things besides in evenings after her day’s work is done. Teachers are the worst sinners in, this respect. No matter how fagged eyes and brain may be, she would be considered idle indeed who would sit with her fingers still in the evening, or read a light and amusing story.. I know of several who think it a duty to go on straining their energy to its utmost by sewing, and when their own wardrobe is replenished actually let to work making presents for other people. Very good and generous and proper if they had ample leisure; but as they have not, such an expenditure of strength can only be considered foolish, if not actually wicked. Of all the cases of so-called break-down, I never knew of one that resulted from the mere work done outside [the home. In every case there was as much, and often more work super-added after the wage-earning hours were over. Men are wiser. They spend the evenings in recreation, and as much as possible in the open air. Imagine a man sitting at home making a waistcoat or a shirt to economise in his expenses! He economises somewhere else, and lets the tradesman do his sewing for him. And working women will do the same when they have learned wisdom. American journalism is notorious for its decorative effects, but for utter and absolute rubbish it would be hard to find anything in worse taste than what is served cat to women in what is called the woman’s page of some of the leading weeklies. Here is a sample of the literature that is considered good enough to entertain the American girl in her home, and surely no one can consider it flattering to her intelligence., “There was a symphony in colour,” runs the extract, “ in one of the up-town streets the other day, where two little Hing Charles spaniels were out for an airing. The little fellows, with their silky black coats, the soft tan showing below the blankets, one of which

was black velvet and the other sealskin, were entirely in harmony with their conductor, a very dark negro girl, wearing a tan brown hat, and holding each of the dogs with a long ribbon.” Of course, this may be highly entertaining as well as interesting news. It may even be instructive, but I fear that the ordinary reader must fail to catch the point. I am quite certain that the intelligent of colonial women has not yet been educated up to the level of comprehending anything so esoteric in its meaning as is containedin the above. Meanwhile we take comfort, in, the fact that, although pe : all love to see our names and, description of our dresses figuring in the Ladies' pages, we have not yet risen to an appreciation of self-advertisement combined with' -flowery language such as is contained in the following piece de risistance, entitled "Champion bean baker of Maine —" Mrs B. Grant, of Lewiston, is thejbest cook in Maine when it comes fco baked beans and brown bread. She practices putting a deep shade of burnt amber on about sixteen quarts dry or thirty-two quarts of baked beans every Saturday. And when it’s warm enough to HI housewives with a desire to take their Saturday mending to the lawn and give the kitchen fire an afternoon out, then Mrs Grant doubles the amount, and puts thirty-two quarts of dry beans to parboil. This amount, when cooked, dishes out an wen sixty-four quarts. And when some local secret order wants a real old-timer they order a bushel or so of Mrs Grant's baked beans, with a proportionate supply )f brown bread.” One would have thought it was the easiest thing in the world to put i “ deep shade of burnt umber on a pan of beans,” as the newspaper poet puts it, but svidently this is altogether a wrong idea. The transmutation of iron into gold is the mly process worthy of being put on a level frith cookery of so high an order. “ Is seventeen sweet.?” asks some sceptic, tnd it must be confessed that the maiden ii seventeen is no longer the ideal of a fiianning woman that she used to be when fink cheeks and blue eyes were considered mfficient inducement for a man to brave (very consideration of prudence and elope irith the owner to Gretna Green forthwith. • The old order changethand the girl of eventeen is a rather difficult person to get m with. She is, as someone has truly said, dther a veryunmanageable young person, rith the immaturity of the child and the sill and obstinacy of the woman, or she is i tender creature with “feelings” who ndulges herself in morbid introspections, ad believes herself to be misunderstood. Ihe is generally ready to take offence at I ;he slightest thing, and receives slights’ rhere none are intended. She has tho ■oat exaggerated ideas of heroism, and is frequently a kind of feminine Don Quixote, f one could imagine such a person. With toys this stage comes later, usually about wynty, and then they are unmitigated, lorw; fortunately for other folks, most Oja are kept so busy at their cricket ■id ' football that . this foolishness is ' 1 *—J 1 -■ U ■* **

trospeotiveness from developing too strongly. With the girl >t is different. At seventeen she has just been emancipated from the schoolroom. The book world is not the world of men and women. Things do not seem to fit in, and the girl feels more or less lonely amid her new surroundings. The readjustment takes place slowly, and meanwhile the period is one of mental suffering. The girl finds herself snubbed and criticised. She does not know bow to think or speak or act; she only knows how to be unhappy, and unhappy she accordingly becomes, so much so that-if not interfered with she actually begins to enjoy being supremely miserable. In most cases this habit wears off after a few years, in a very few it becomes a second nature, and embitters a woman’s whole life. Perhaps one of the best antidotes is abundance of employment, with, of course, openair exerdisb, ,r> cycling, ■ walking, riding, tennis and swimming.’ Above all things; girls need a great deal of- home appreciation at this period,- otherwise they are liable to form deep, and often-' foolish, affections outside their homes. The wise mother, who has all along been her daughter's best friend, will enter into her feell ings and endeavour to check over-indul-gence in them by the tactfulness that every woman worthy of being a mother knows so well how to use. There is balm in Gilead for the plain woman, or rather, shall we say, for her whoso looking-glass tells her she is plain. She may take comfort from the thought that she is not as plain as she looks to herself. for the mirror cannot give back an accurate likeness as far as colour is concerned. The hair is wrong in tone, the eyes are not correct in colour, and the complexion is hopelessly libelled by even the best mirror that was ever manufactured. The fact is, says a scientist, and who ought to know better, tbat any fair skin looks grey and pallid in a glass. This, I suppose, explains why so many women, who have really good skins, ruin them with cosmetics and deleterious powders. . Expression is another thing which the mirror cannot show, for expression depends upon the eyes. These Emerson has aptly called “ the windows of the ‘soul,” but what expression can be found in the eyes as reflected in the mirror save that of seeking or, at any rate, of' examination ? A glass may tell us if our i hats are put 'on . straight, but as for our faces, we may be quite sure that we are better-looking than our deceitful mirror makes out, how much better is mercifully left to our imagination. Among the embarras de richesse provided for us in the world of books it is frequently helpful to get a recommendation of something really good. For an idle half-hour I know of nothing better in tbatkindof litera- • sure than some of Barry Pain’s books, whose lecture on “ Women’s Humour,” or want of humour, was' recently received with so much genuine appreciation by a famous women’s club in London. Most people have enjoyed a quiet smile over his “In a Canadian Canoe,” but his “Stories and Interludes” is, I think, even funnier, though perhaps more full of pathos of a light aud graceful kind. His humour is so deliciously spontaneous and refreshing that no one can lay the book down without feeling "rested,” and we busy women have much need of such a form of recreation. Barry Pain’s pathos is never maudlin, and his occasional drop into the grotesque “ holds the mirror up to Nature,” since laughter and tears are rarely far from each other. It would be difficult to find a tedious page in the whole book, but many readers will turn again and again to “The Glass of Supreme Moments a curious mingling of drollery, serious thought and poetic fancy that cannot fail to please. Not every woman is able to afford the luxury of a long evening wrap, with cosy fur-lined sleeves, when she goes to a party in a decollete dress. Unless some sleeved garment is worn it is impossible to prevent feeling chilled, but an inventive woman.; has solyed the problem. She wears stockings on her bare arms when going and returning, and the device is perfectly satisfactory, thd arms being kept quite warm under the wrap or mantle. By using stockings in this way many women are enabled to economise in cab fares and patronise the trams instead. An improvement on this idea would he to have special sleeves knitted for each gown in a thick soft wool, and these, finished with rosette, or bows of pretty ribbon at the wrists, would be less suggestive than the leg of a mere stocking with the foot cut off.