Ladies' Column.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 347, 5 October 1878, Page 3

Ladies' Column.

NOBLE WOMEN. (From the Contemporary Review.) The student of the history of woman is continually reminded of the fact that when men lose their dignity and.eminence woman disappears from the scene, but when they rise into worth she again comes on the stage in all her power and tenderness. We have an instance before us. Sparta became degenerate. Her name almost vanishes from. the pages of the historian. But she was not. to die without a final struggle. In the middle of the third century before Christ two Kiugs of Sparta in succession dreamt of putting down luxury, and reviving the old Spartan discipline, and the old Lycurgan laws. And in the midst of their vigorous and heroic efforts to effect this great change womer. again play their part with energy and devotion. The earliest of the two Kings was the young and gentle Agis, and almost the first person whom he consulted on his projected reforms was his mother Agesistrata, a woman of great wealth and influence. She was at first utterly taken aback, for the project included the surrender of all her wealth. But at length she admired her son's noble ambition, and set her mind, with the aid of some other like-minded women, on procuring the support of the women of Sparta. The importance of such support could not be overestimated. "They well knew," says Plutarch, that the " Lacedtemonian men were always obedient to their wives, and that they allowed them to meddle in public matters more than they allowed themselves to meddle in private affairs." Besides, the women had a great deal of property. Would they surrender their wealth? Would they give up their -luxurious . habits ? Would they return to thV,old Spartan simplicity? No, the ru 'vement seemed to have come too late. Some were willing to sacrifice everything, but othera would yield nothing, and a strong party was formed against Agis. At first this party was put down with a high hand. Leonidas, the deader, was driven into exile. '-The daughter of this man, Chelonis,' is one of the great characters that emerged during these troublesome times. She had been married to Cleombrotus, who took the side of Agis. Chelonis was ia straits what to

do, but she chose to follow the path where gentleness and . tenderness were required. She left her husband and tended , her father in distress, relieving his wants, soothing his troubles, and supplicating the victorious party in his behalf. At length the wheel of fortune turned round, JJeouidas became master of the situation. Agis and Cleombrotus were in his hands. Chelonis at once fled from her father and took her place beside her husband. In the wretched robes which she had worn when pleading for her father she pleaded for her husband. After much entreaty she prevailed, and the life of her husband was spared, but he was condemned to exilei Chelonis had again to make her choice. Her father urged her to stay with him, reminding her of the kindness he showed her in sparing her husband, and promising every comfort. But Chelonis did not hesitate. As Cleombrotus rose to go, she gave him one of her children, and, taking the other in her arms and kissing the altar of the goddess, she walked out with him to degradation and poverty. Justly does Plutarch add the remark that if Cleombrotus had not been entirely corrupted by vainglory, he would have deemed exile with such a woman a greater blessing than any kingdom. The fate of pure-minded Agis was worse than than of Cleombrotus. No mercy was shown him, and he was put to death by strangulation. His mother, Agesistrata, waited to hear what was to become of him. The officer, who knew that Agis was dead, delusively told her that no violence would be done him. She wished to see him, and take her old mother with her. Permission was granted. The two women entered the prison. The doors were shut. The grandmother was requested to go into the chamber where Agis was. She went in and was strangled. Then Agesistrata entered, and saw her son lying on the ground, and her mother hanging by a rope. She calmly helped to take the dead body down, and stretching her alongside of Agis. laid both the bodies out and covered them ; and falling upon her son and kissing him she said "Oh, my son, it is your gentleness and goodness that have ruined you." "If that is your opinion," said the officer, " you had better go the same way." She bravely held out her neck and said " May this turn out for the good of Sparta !" And thus was stamped out the first effort for the reformation of Sparta.

THE LADIES OP CYPRUS. Next to inquiring what are the natural features of his new territory, the modern Briton exercises his mind on the great question of what are the larlies like ? The Pall Mall shall reply:—"The Cyprian woman is a curious compound of fascinations and oddities. Seen at her best, on one of those innumerable saints' days when she does not work beyond tricking herself out in fine clothes, and assisting her mother to dispense hospitality, she looks like a masquerade heroine, whatever her station. She weaves up her hair with gold coins, twists it, plaits it, and contrives, with a red and yellow kerchief, a head-dress, which looks like a turban, but is made top heavy by being surmounted with an embroidered muffin cap and tassel. She wears baggy breeches, sky blue or pink, which descend to the knee, the rest of the legs and feet being bare, except when, to honor, company, she reluctantly dons a pair of cabouches, in which phe feels uncomfortable. She is generally fat. and wears a short jacket, profusely braided, which does not reach to her waist; she rouges and whitens her creamy complexion till it looks like the face of a wax image; aud paints her eyebrows deep and, by some cunning pencil touches at the corners of her eyes,- contrives to make them twice their size. Then she feels hap;>y, aud giggles when complimented. She cannot read or write, but she can sing, play on a triangular guitar, and spin, round in a fantastic dance, which takes her breath away, and makes her cry ' Hoo !' while: the stranger who watches her turns giddy from! sympathy. . ; -. On working days the Cyprian girl dresses loosely, in cotton breeches and chemise, and lets her hair fall down her back, tying it just below the neck with a- string of beads." She is surprisingly active, despite her plumpness, and races about after goats, pigs, and fowls with a fleetness which would do credit to a boy. If of a marriageable age, she will not beg, but at sight of a stranger halloos to her younger sisters to come forth and claim backsheesh, the which having been duly obtained (for those little Greeks are wonderful coaxers), she levies her share, which is expended in buying finery off the pedlar."

BOXES ON THE EAR. (From the Lancet of .July 6.) The blindness of the late King of Hanover was occasioned, it is understood, by an accidental, but by no means violent, blow upon the eye. Scarcely a day passes, we believe, without some schoolmaster (or schoolfellow in natural imitation of his master) giving a lad a smart " box" upon the ear. Few persons would be bold enough to choose the eye as a part upon which it was expedient to inflict a violent blow by way of moral education, but - there is apparently no end to the numbers who select an organ upon which violence is liable to be attended with much more dangerous results. For not only is deafness caused by " boxes" which rupture (as they commonly do) the drum of the ear, but the inflammation of the internal cavity which is so frequent a result, may be followed, years afterwards, perhaps, by disease of the bone, giving rise to abscess of the brain, and having a fatal termination. Medical men alone can be fully aware how fruitful a source of suffering and danger is represented by thebox upon the ear. We are informed, for example, of two cases under observation at the present moment, in which schoolboys have been the victims of such an assault. Surely schoolmasters ought to have learned, long ere this, the danger of a mode of personal chastisement that has apparently usurped the place of others, which, if .more disgusting,, were not;.,. attended with an equal amount of peril 1