WOMAN AND DAINTINESS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13235, 21 July 1906, Page 6 (Supplement)

WOMAN AND DAINTINESS.

;.-■:■; — _. ■* . ~," THE FEMININE QUALITY DESIRABLE ABOVE MOST OTHERS. . The word "daintiness" is usually held ■ to' refer.entirely to the feminine world.;, ,It is the' accepted theory that all women are gifted with this sense, and that personal daintiness is as much one. of their attri- . butes as is the love of pretty, things and of the ; tasteful arrangement of their houses. . j' No greatest fallacy ever entered into, the soul of man. Personal daintiness is by no means a common feminine attribute. There are very many women who are ■-absolutely, lacking in it.. ; • Theie are women who ■do - not care 'whether they cover their floors with linoleum or with Persian, carpets, , whether their curtains are soiled or clean, whether their rooms harmonise or "are a glaring mixture of. crude colours and;' general untidiness. They hardly know whether their, own clothes are appropriate or .the: reverse, whether ; their skirts are on , straight or , crooked, whether they are crushed or fresh, and whether the ribbon and flowers on their hats are clean or faded and dirty. Some girls, pretty girls, too, 'who on occasions ; could dress themselves skilfully - enough to outshine many of their sex, are known in, their home life to put their muddy boots on their beds. They neither take the ; trouble to brush their hair nor to -put on a clean collar if there is no one in particular to see them.' They care not at all whether .the table-cloth is soiled or clean, or whether the china is .pretty or the reverse, smeared, chipped, or badly put, on, whether they have window curtains.; or bare frames. ■'. . PERSOXAI. ISIJIFFKEEXCE. .'.lt was all a matter of personal indifference. -'-True, if • occasion ■.•.demanded, they could .transform,;, themselves into something 'different, but in -their own. private lives they cared nothing whatever about : the slate of the house, or the rooms in which they lived." ' ,'- . ■'■'< And : there are women who,' even when ; poor, , contrive to ...surround themselves with an atmosphere of freshness - tbnd general daintiness which it, is impossible to explain. ;; Such women, even if cast away on a desert island where there was no human being to see them, would probably do their hair as carefuly as if they were going Ito walk < down Queen-street, and would nianufacture a table-cloth out of a torn sail, or tea-cups out of 'cocoanut shells, and have ■ their solitary, meals with 'as near an approach to a dining-room as they could contrive. : Women of this stamp usually begin to surround: themselves with;their own par- ; ticular; belongings when very young. The ' little girl, -as soon us she is promoted .to a bedroom of her own, will immediately begin to collect china ornaments, will spend her ;;" pocket money' in having her pictures framed or in buying small odds and, ends;,: with which;. -to decorate her room, while her sister across the passage will be satisfied' with bare walls and a wooden-backed hair-brush, and will keep her bicvele cloths on T the mantelpiece and lace her boots on the counterpane, her photographic apparatus being mixed up on the dressing-table among ties, collars, and handkerchiefs. : f ;:,;;' >, - NOT • MERELY 'MONEY. •■ It is fairly safe to say that you can usually tell one class of woman from the i other 'by their use of scent. ~., This commodity,'in fact, gives a woman; away more than anything else. . In her use of scent she betrays the general trend of her mind;in a manner which cannot be evaded. The woman ; who exudes scent with . every ' movement ' of her dress, and who leaves; .behind her a trail "of; perfume, whether of. .an expensive variety or the strong ; smelling . cheaper kind, is the type >of .woman; who could throw orangepeel Mahout; her ;"bedroom; and • put her muddy boots'.on. a satin ;; cushion, who could :'- live with grubby curtains, amd dine at a badly-laid .table: without any feeling of > personal . irritation. - The woman; who wears no perceptible perfume and yet carries about with her a sort of personal fragrance is the one who, even in the simplest amd: most isolated homelife, would never (separate 'herself from this! : particular atmosphere. • ;'.'".;, ■;""' " THE IDEAIi WOMAN. _ ,' • ; 'She.carries it with her, innate in herself, and she contrives to; invest everything about her with the same odour.■'; If' wealthy, her home will be the personification of restful ease and artistic harmony, her servants'''' will . not be . aggressively smart; nor obtrusively.: attentive, ;and her furniture, and her silver; and. everything about her, ; though it may be priceless in value,- will never, appal you with the fact; it. will never be gorgeously,, aggressively valuable; it; will be the perfection of harmony., '-;:"•■• "-.' , ■ -"';;/. .- ■'■.;: If poor, ■ even very poor, she will still contrive to bring the same atmosphere into her surroundings. Even in a tiny flat or a tiny cottage everything ' about her • will breathe it. . This "quality is as different from scrupulous; and ■'-■•'aggressive 'tidiness and cleanliness -as"; possible. The woman 'with a. mania for cleanliness and tidiness is even: more "lacking" in the sense of the artistic than the woman who does not mind how she lives. ;■.".;.';."-.. ' This type of woman usually dispenses with everything either pretty or that may be regarded: as luxury, and exudes yellow soap and the scrubbing brush' in herself and in her rooms in a manlier Which positively makes one ache with the atmosphere of starch and the duster. She is clean, but she is not dainty, ojhd the two differ widely as- the Poles. -The latter is attractive; the former is praiseworthy,: .but not comfortable to live with. ; -_' ' ■■■ The woman who will wear diamonds in the morning and; clothe herself in raiment fit for a garden fete for-'' a wimple'party hf-ongs to the category of the one who is lacking in '■. daintiness in that she has no sense of the appropriate, and does* not ; realise that the wife of the millionaire who possesses untold wealth of jewellery, - but elects' to appear at breakfast .in ' a plain white linen gown with one -simple brooch' as ; an brhaiment; is; the .woman who really ; knows "what is appropriate,'and' who dresses to fit -j the •'■ occasion and "-'not' because * she can afford to be extravagant. ; * v ,;.. : ;'. i