WOMAN'S WORLD

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 19, 17 July 1911, Page 6

WOMAN'S WORLD

(Conducted by "Eileen"). REIGN OF BRIDGE OVER Last week (says M.A.P. of May 26), an inquest was held ou a Streatham lady who committed suicide after losing some rubbers at bridge. It was stated that she was, as a rule, a first-rate player, but that on the evening of her death she played very badly, and lost games which she should have won easily. This tragedy is another example of the unsuitability of card games to the feminine temperament. Many women are admirable bridge players, as far as mere skill and knowledge are concerned, but they are nearly all bad losers. They are too emotional, and too easily upset by the outrageous tricks that fortune so often plays. This is really the reason why bridge has lost its popularity, and is so rapidly falling out of fashion. When the game was at the height of its vogue its supporters were mainly women. "Mixed" card clubs, i.e., clubs where men and women could meet for bridge, sprang up all over London. But the ladies could not stand the strain. The game got on their nerves, and th« clubs from being pleasant social gatherings degenerated into nagging and hysterica] institutions. There were no suii cides, but there were minor tragedies in abundance. Husbands complained that their wives returned from their bridge clubs in a state of nervous tension that made conversation impossible. The nagging that was merely exasperating at the card-table became utterly intolerable when transferred to ttie home, in a number of cases, the domestic peace was irretrievably shattered, but the more usual ending was resignation from the club which caused all the mischief. The last couple of years have seen the closing of haJf a dozen clubs in London, and bridge, as a social relaxation, is apparently doomed. At a big private dance given in London last week, there was a room set specially apart bv the hostess for bridge, but it failed 'to attract a single player. The reign of ridge is over.

A REMARKABLE WOMAN PREACHER. DEATH OF MRS. HANNAH WHITALL SMITH. There died last May, at Court Place, Iffley. Oxford, Hannah Wnitall Smith, full of years and honor, one of the most remarkaDle women preachers of our time. Born of a good old Quaker family at Philadelphia in 1832, one of the few old American families that remained faithful to England during the War of Independence, Hannah AVhitall married Robert Pearsall Smith in 1851. Her religious life was remarkable from the beginning. In 1004 she published her autobiography under the quaint title, "The Unselfishness of God." in which she relates her experiences, affording a remarkable picture of the inner life of the Society of Friends, their "plainness" of speech, dress and education.

Both herself and husband underwent a deeper and more spiritual conversion in the sixties, and for a considerable time were the leaders of a great revivalistic religious movement in the States. Shortly afterwards Mrs. Whitall Smith published "The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life." Probably no book, saving only "The Pilgrim's Progress," has so remarkably influenced the religious life and thought of our age. It has passed through more than a hundred editions, has been translated into every European tongue, as well as into Chinese, Hindustani and Japanese.

Mr. and Mrs. Pearsall Smith came to England on an evangelistic mission in 1873-4, holding a series of remarkable religious conferences at Bradlands, the seat of Lord Mount Temple. Andrew Jukes was also among "the prophets" on this occasion. People of all sorts and conditions flocked to these conferences, including French and German pastors from the Continent, many declaring that they formed the most remarkable experience of their lives. These conferences were followed by remarkable meetings at Oxford in 1574, and Brighton in 1875. To the latter town there flocked more than 8000 visitors to hear the great woman preacher. About this time the temperance movement was inaugurated in America. Mrs. Pearsall Smith joined it, as did the late Frances vVillard, and remained one of the most capable and honored leaders of the British Women's Temperance Association until the day of her death.

Both Mrs. Pearsall Smith's daughters, Mrs. Berenson and the Hon. Mrs. B. Russell, married Englishmen, and for this reason the parents removed to London in 1888, where their house became a centre of religious and philantnropic work.

DO MEN STILL PROPOSE? FREEMASOXRY OF MUTUAL AFFECTION. The old conventions are disappearimg out of fashion. As a witness remarked in a breach of promise case reported recently: "People understand these things long before they sepak of them." Young people of both sexes are thrown so much together now that all the old trite, stilted ceremonies that preceded marriage are thrown to the winds. A man and a girl bicyclo together with other members *f their club, boat together, golf together, play tennis, meet at dances, and learn to know each other much more thoroughly than the days when society frowned on anything 60 casual as the intimate acquaintanceship of nowadays. The formal proposal of marriage had its terrors. A man used to be afraid to speak it, and disinclined to write it, first 'because of the awkwardness of the affair, secondly on account of his anxiety to have a speedy reply. As to the long-discontinued haljjt of falling on the knees before asking the great question, any one who should do so nowadays would excite inextinguishable laughter from the lady. Everything is much more casual than it used to be. A man at a dance says to a girl, "Would you like to dance this! waltz with me?" And a man attracted very much says, "Do you think you could care for me?" Proposals have been] made in all sorts of eccentric places. One young man, at tea at a restaurant, said

to the pretty girl who poured it out, "I wish you would pour out my tea for me every day." The day was soon fixed for the beginning of this agreeable arrangement. Another young man, during the absence of a girl on a visit, wrote affectionate letters, in which he repeatedly said ho was longing for her to return. On the day of that return a sympathetic family deputed him to meet her at the station, and in the cab on the way home he said, "May I kiss you, Phyllis?" That was all. Phyllis quite understood. They are now married and happy. There are on record many instances of equally informal methods. A young man has been known to ask a girl he admired: "How much do you think a young couple could live on?" suggestively adding the amount of his own income. It was not a bad way. it worked out in the search of a flat, and its eventual occupation by the happy pair.

In the middle of a waltz an enamored partner whispered into a pink ear: "You are a dear girl! I'm not nearly good enough for you, but if you thought you «ould " The Answer was equally unconventional: "I thought you were beginning to like me. I'm so glad." Compare these vfery casual ways with the prunes and .prisms days of precise and formal etiquette, when the suitor had to approach the giri through a more or less terrible father.

''We drop into it," said the witness before quoted, and it is certainly true that the freemasonry of mutual affection tears away much of the ceremony that used to be regarded as proper to such occasions. Anthony Trollppe had ft prevision of the coming change, when ■ho (made Mary Thome's young lover proposo' in the words: "Will you? Won't you, Mary dear?" Some conventions are necessary, but a multiplication of them is inconvenient, and therefore many of them are gradually disappearing. If men no longer propose, in so many words, asking if girls will accept them as husbands, the change is all in favor of a more cheery and agreeable state of things.

USEFUL HINTS Walnut Stains.—For this, if the fingers are stained, dip them in strong tea, rubbing the nails well with it with a nailbrush, and wash the nails at once in warm water, and the stains will at once disappear. Grass Stains on. Cotton.—Rub the stains with pure alcohol and they will disappear, but this should be done at once. Claret Stains.—Soak the cloth at once in skim milk two or threo times, and wash out in cold water. Grease Balls.—Mix well together iy s oz of powdered French chalk and soz of powdered pipeclay, then work them to a paste with 2oz of spirits of wine; shape this paste into balls, and leave them to dry. To use, moisten the grease stains well with warm water, then rub them thoroughly with the ball; now let it dry, if possible, in the sun; then brush well, and sponge with a little cold water if any stain be left. Discolored Hearthstones (to clean).— Mix whiting to a thin paste with skim milk, adding a drop or two of liquid blue or a morsel of stone blue. Put it on the hearthstones with a paint brush. This does not crack off. White Stains on Furniture. White stains on polished wood caused by upsetting any spirit, or by overhot dishes or plates, may be removed by applying to these spots a feather dipped in spirits of camphor. This must be used very sparingly, and the furniture rubbed well at once with .a cloth .dipped in sweet oil, repeating the process if necessary. When the stain is completely removed, polish well with beeswax and turpentine, or any good furniture polish. Ivory ( (to clean).—First rub the stains with lemon juice, then with whiting made into a soft paste with lemon juice; allow this to dry on, and when perfectlyi dry wipe off with a soft cloui. 1 Mildew Stains.—First of all brush oft any loose mildew, then rub in a little common salt, sprinkle it with powdered French chalk, thoroughly moistening it with clean cold water; after this dry slowly in the open air, and then rinse well. This may require to bo repeated. Mildew on leather may be removed by rubbing the place well with a clean, dry and very soft cloth to remove any fungus that may be on the surface of the leather, then rub over with a rag just moistened with pyroligneoua acid.