LADIES’ GOSSIP.

Lyttelton Times, Volume C, Issue 11760, 12 December 1898, Page 2

LADIES’ GOSSIP.

(“ Canterbury Times. ’)

The- verdict of the jury at the. inquest upon, a boarded-out infant recently, might lead to -the belief that the woman inspector of infants 1 ’ boarding-out establishments had neglected her duty. This would be altogether unfair to her, for an overworked official cannot be charged with neglect, and there can be no doubt that the prison matron of Christchurch, who is also the inspector of these homes, is most assiduous in the performance of her multitudinous duties, so far as she possibly can overtake them. But as it is impossible for anyone to be in more places than one at the same time, she cannot do so. She cannot, for instance, accompany the women prisoners in her charge to the Magistrate’s Court, and afterwards take them to Lyttelton, spend several hours daily in her office, and ,at the same time personally inspect a hundred or more infants’ homes, located in the various suburbs. It would be absurd to expect her to do it single-handed ; with the help of an assistant, however, tire case would be quite different. What is really needed, then, is the appointment of an assistant inspector, who would visit the, infants’ homes, and be under the direction and supervision of the present inspector. Some intelligent young woman, living in her own home, and with a taste for work of this kind, could easily be found, one would think, to take up such work, at a small salary, since it would not occupy her whole time. It is certain, that with the best intentions in the world, one woman cannot cope with the various duties at present expected from our very capable prison matron. Women know how difficult it is to keep one’s, gowns and hats in nice order unless they are properly laid away when not in use. In most small bedrooms this is by no means an easy matter to accomplish unless ingenuity is brought- to bear upon the matter. A lady who had been staying on a houseboat at Henley recently was so struck by a device adopted by her hostess that she has told ail her friends about it. The plan adopted was to have two large and roomy drawers fitted underneath the bed. These were so capacious as to allow dress skirts to be laid full length therein, with hats beside them, without any fear whatever of being crushed and spoiled. It should be an easy matter for any carpenter to fix up a bed drawer, or even a couple of drawers in a similar way; experience shows that two drawers of fair size are better than one large one, which may prove terribly heavy when filled. The houseboat drawer is usually attached to a wooden bedstead, and runs into grooves' fixed top and bottom. As this cannot be done with an iron bedstead, the drawer or box, for that is what it really is, should have castors affixed, so that it may com© forward, and can be pushed back quite as easily. A flak lid is made to protect the contents of each drawer from dust, while a strong handle must be fastened to the front. A small brass rod should be fixed along the side of the bed, and on this the valance or frill can be hung, so that all can be neatly covered when the drawer is rot in use.

•' Kuciisb y»-i i ; li.',rHtkvp^.-ed hv a w i\o)lv burden ot s-cntuneii-/V.r,;-v •*" v/-. !■;.<■» Miss K‘H Hepworth. l)-w in De '• ' rf~ 5 -’ r\ " i br- thn.?. sue omy :.uv I <rood -v rea->cu lor saying so- rke.senwimmtnJ | woman, she implies, nr-isi go U> t-ixe .w»b< j arif’i onlv the unsentimental woman has any chauoe at all in the battle ior existence. Miss Dixon blames the mid-Victorian novel, with its false ideals, its sham psychology ard its happy - ever - after ending as having •worked an incalculable amount of mischief. “The love interest of a Dickens’ nnrel, says Miss Dixon, “or of one by Anthony Trollope, or by tlhoda Broughton—what is it but a wholly conventional affair in which, though the heroine usually goes thiough some vicissitudes before she reaches the goal of matrimony, the young lady is always rewarded, in the nick of time, by the precise man of her heart? Now, if we look round with an observant and strictly impartial eye, we shall notice that most of the marches we see being made are more the result of propinquity, chance, and solid 1 material masons than of faithful love. It was the -eternal waiting for the precise man which has (riven us so many fretful spinster ladies, it would be well if the alert modern maiden should at least not risk her chance of reasonable happiness by reading the mid-Victorian novelists.” It is exceedingly interesting to. learn, thanks to an article entitled “Women m Science,” written by Miss Henrietta Irving Beaton,’ that such an “old” woman as Miriam, the sister of Moses, was in reality a new woman of an advanced type. What elso can be said of a woman who was an accomplished musician and poetess, and who dared to assert herself so far as to lead the Israelites with timbrels and with dances in their songs of triumph upon the overthrow of Pharoah and Ids horsemen in the Red Sea'. She was, tradition tells us, well versed in the sciences, and actually was tire inventor of the-double-boiler, or bain-marie used in our kitchens to-day. She was an authoress, also, and wrote -a treatise oh alchemy, which is said to be still extant. In addition to this she was a great gossip, as we know from her receiving severe punishment for “ evil speaking, lying and slandering when she and Aaron so far. forgot themselves as to speak slightingly j of their sister-in-law. i There are many signs abroad that the ! pretty and neat coiffure ou the top of the j head" has at length begun to descend towards the neck. We still wave our hair, the ondule ” is much too becoming to be wiven up, aud it forms such a pretty setting to the face that it.will probably remain long in favour. With the hair worn low, tluMloppy hat is coming in again, and thk beuas so low' bsliind that tlxe liair is brought almost to the nape of the neck to accommodalc U Doubtless many women will obto a fashion which by no means tends to tidhieas or neatness. Some people seem

lismk ihai chignons are about to return, I.■ i a js to be liojiid iha-we 'shall be -spared a fashion so graceless and inartistic.

It is some time since the fact that women's brain power is equal hv strength, or nearly so, with that of men, has been acknowledged, and now a writer in “Ludgate” goes so far as to maintain that, “ given opportunities and training absolutely equal, women would soon rival men in their physical powers when in normal health.” This is an assumption that few physiologists will support, and the writer certainly fails to prove the coiTectness of his theory when he draws attention to the athletic performances of a few women, who piobably neglected-everything else in order to see their names published abroad as century riders and record-breakers. Fortunately, those of our sisters who thirst, for notoriety of this kind are few. Wo wish they were fewer still. The writer of the above-mentioned article says “ that in shooting and fishing women outdo average men wherever they take up the sport. This, of course, proves nothing as to the possession of great physical strength. It is a very easy matter to walk about a moor and climb a hill or two to find victims for gun or hook. We arc told that women are coming forward as sailors, and that the late Lady Brassey could manage her yacht, the sunbeam, as a master. Similarly, Lady Brudenell Bruoe recently asked leave to undergo tbe examination for a yacht-master’s certificate, so that she might be qualified to command her own yacbt. It is'difficult to underDuchess of Fife is one of the most successful stand how those facts prove that women are

of equal strength with men. They are interesting, but - that is ail; and even if the fly fishers in Scotland, and the Duchess, of Bedford one of the best shots, nothing to the point is proved. There certainly iscausd for grief that a woman so prominent in society as the last-mentioned lady should tot the bad example to her sister-women of practising a form of “sport” that is utterly abhorrent to womanly women. The endurance and power of resource shown by such women as Lady Samuel Baker, Lady Burton, Mrs Bishop and Miss Kingsley are shared by hundreds of other women, who may have had no opportunity of stepping out of their daily round of usefulness; but even these four ladies were by no means physically robust. There are physiological reasons why modem women cannot attain equal strength with the-other sex, and though their present average health and strength may be increased with benefit to themselves and the race, yet Tennyson’s “ huge women, blowsed with wind and rain and sun,” will never be an ideal of the race, nor, let us hope, a possibility even.