NOT SO PARTICULAR.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XL, Issue 7536, 9 May 1903, Page 3

NOT SO PARTICULAR.

With every evidence of foar the American rai way official clung to his seat. Iho Pullman train was making about a mile- a mmutc and the road was rough Conductor," ho said at last, "is it necessary to run as fast as this?" "It's according to your orders, sir," answered the conductor. "My orders?" "Yes, sir. It's a mighty rough stretch of road, but tiie stations :u«o few and far between, and you have frequently given us. orders to mike up lost time here." "I have?" : "Yes, sir." "Well," returned the official, thoughtfully, "on the occasions when I have piven you thoso orders I was seated in a comfortable chair in my ofiico, .communicating with you by wire, while now 1 am on the train." "Yes. sir." ''And it makes a difio-enec. conductor— a Teat difietence. To-day I'm not so particular about getting this train in on time. I am a good deal more interested in making sure that our destination is not tho pearly gates." When you feel like grumbling at the advancement of women in 2N'ew Zealand and their ovid&nt determination to stand on an equal footing with men. do not imagine that you havo discovered something now. In a corner of Europe the subject was thrashed out years ago and settled. In Finland, while the women cannot vote, no I other door is barred to them. Behind tha counter at the bank you will i often find a woman. Women attendants only are found on sleeping cars; t/hercr aro msny vromon street car conductors. In married life husband and. vrife sharo each other's property. Infidelity is n.in for a man as much as for a woman; divorce is rare, and the righteous paity invariably holds tho children and the property, while society closes its doors to the doer of evil. No, bci equality has not made of Finland a second Eden. Tho country, in tho grip of Russia, is anything but. that. But it is a fact that the rise of women ha<s .not harmed men, nor has it coarsened women.

They lovo and bear children as they did before. They neck education, and find it, but it has not made them the worse mothers. Almost universal education has advanced the tj'pe of Finnish women. I-n colleges they stand shoulder to shoulder -with the males. Thoir brains are as kecn_ or keener, thv.ir irits ns fine, and their steadiness in the pursnit of knowledge something to admire and emulate. Among 212 fellows that compose the organisation of fir.a minds, the Royal Geographical Society of Finland, 73 are women. Don't prato about a woman's sphere being tha homo. Nine times otifc of 10 sho has brains to discover her own sphere. And the thifitf has been already worked out in Finland to tho advantage of all concerned.

Tho remarkable rate at which the Gaelic revival is progressing in Ireland is shown by frome official figures published at Dublin. Two years ago tho Gnclio Lcngue administered funds amounting to about £1200. Tho total of ite receipts in the turren>. financial year is expecte-f to lie £10.000. Two years ago there was scarcely 200 branches of tho league; now there are 500. lii tho same perio.J tho number of national schools giving tuition in Gaelic has increased from 113 to about 30G0. Tho tatter total i'j being addol to .iTmo*t daily. Last year tho Leacruo sold 213.0C0 copies of books in Irish, and vsued 40,000 pamphlets ;vn.i miim r books put on the market by the ordinary publishing bouses obtained a largs circulation. The league claims that the workers in the Gaelic cause, who- are now reornited from all -political and religious caiips in Ireland, "have preached most effectively against treating, drinking, gambling, against immorality and vulgarity in tho. theatre, music hall, and concert hall, and against insanity rail vulgarity in literature."