BLACK AND WHITE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2812, 5 February 1908, Page 72

BLACK AND WHITE.

The -Woman of the World : "Yes, let it be black and white. You can't go wrong if you stick to that. Black white is always smart." « The Ingenue : "And grey. Don't you think grey is always sweet aild so simple? I just love- grey, it's so ladylike." The Woman of the Worlfl: "It was 'smart' that I was .talking about, my dear child — not sweet, or ladylike, of simple, though if you! came to that, *far from being" simple, there is no more delicate problem than grey." The Ingenue : "But how can it be? You «an wear anything with grey, relieve it with any colour, or lighten it with -white,

or wear it by itself. - And then it suits everyone, don't you think? Oh, don't smile that slow smile of yours, madame, dear. I always feel such a fool when you look at me like that. You don't like grey?" The Woman: "There are worse' things than being a fool, and I do like grey, you dear little goose, but all the same nothing can be made .more hopelessly dull and commonplace — worse, common and insipid, than grey. It requires an artist to handle it in order to bring out all the delicate possibilities that it holds, whereas a very ordinary individual can knock out a note of smartness from mere black and white. It always seems to me that black and white may be ased in one's wardrobe with the same certainty that the whist players of our mother's days counselled, 'when in doubt play trumps.' When in doubt play black and white, it's a trump card." "Hard luck old man, but I suppose yon have some proof to fall back upon?" ' . "Not a line."' . " You mean- to say you. had, nothing from him Back. and,, white— fining at; all in writing?!'" ... .- "Nothing. You see, it was like this: he came to look at the house- -alone, declared he was* awfully pleased with it; and would take it for a year if I would - make th^ little arrangements he suggested, as his , wife was delicate. ~ She would be , .down from the north next week, and' they would, come in at once. I spent about ten pounds on different things, engaged my own room at the hotel, and heard no more- of the beggar." "My dear chap, you should 'have had the thing in black and * white — verbal agreements are no good, you know." " So it appears." "Heard the news, I suppose?" "What, the 'Great Divide'? Well, yes; we are on the telephone, you know." " Going it all day, haven't they? ' Been out of town myself — heard, it as I came in ; fellows talking in the smoker. How did it happen?" — N " Oh, she's had a detective tracking him for a long time, they say; but he, was too cunning. However, some of the other woman's letters fell into her hands, and she has the thing in-black and white now — run him down at last." "Well, you, can't blame her. He's a bad egg, through and through, and IJiope, she gets her divorce. Lucky her money' was settled. on herself." " Yes, she'll be all right financially, but it's a rotten thing for the children. Remember what a soft; kittenish, yielding little creature she was as a girl?" "She's hard enough now — a -woman does not pass through, the school she has been hi for nothing. Yet I suppose} she has counted "the cost many a time — waiting for the chance to free" herself." "Anyway, he, must haye been a,foolletters are the dcvil — there's no getting over black and white!" He: "Quite the most original dress there — not a woman in the room could hold a candle- to her." She: "Dear me! What was this wonderful dress, pray?" " » He: "Magpie, I believe. Anyway it was the most artful combination of black and white I ever saw, and the most fascinating." • * She: "But how did it go? Can't you describe it?" He: "I could, but I prefer not. If I described how th© black of her eyes and' hail threw up the white of her complexion you would cay I was in love with her ; if I described the charming effect of her black silk-stockinged ankles above her white satin-shod feet yqu would say I was improper. This is an occasion for eloquent silence on my part; feminine intuit jon on yours!" She : "Really, lam not so interested as you think. I expect the dress was ordinary enoucrh. Men are such idiots about women's clothes. Of course, I have always maintained that nothing is go smart as black and white. Think of that hat, the big .soft blue one," 'etc., etc.

¥et^ as a matter of fact, how rarely our everyday life- touches the intensities- of black and wbit,e — how often, and -how long we live_in,an atmosphere -of ' grey. "Aid the woman of the world was right when (die said that "grey requires an artist to handle.it in order J» bring out all the -delicate possibilities, it holds." She spoke -only of the^toilette,- b.ut what she sajd i» dually true of life; and that is why there are so few people who impress us with a sense of cheerfulness, so few people who soothe us with the, neglected peace of their own content ; they have not found the delicate possibilities of grey. Our hearts go out to their black days of sorrow, jusfc as we cannot see a funeral pass unmoved because of ihe mourners who are left alone ; our hearts go out to their white days if radiant joy,' juet as we cannot see the smalff** or humblest weddinsr party clattering -gfeAly along the crowded street, without offering the unasked incense of our good wishes. But what do we know of the grey days — the every days? The^ supreme joys and sorrows of our liveST'the great tragedies, the fine rare jo-vs, find even in the dullest of us something of hidden nobility which responds, lifting ua above all our ordinary limitations.' The sympathy of our friends, the excitement of novelty, the sense of .-personal distinction carries us through the supreme moments of