WOMAN'S WORLD

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 28, 27 July 1911, Page 6

WOMAN'S WORLD

(Conducted by "Eileen"). HIGH SCHOOL OLD GIRLS. The annual meeting of tiie New Plymouth High School Old Oirls* Association win held last evening on the Town Hall. Miss Grant in the chair. There was a t;ood attendance. The election of officers resulted as follows: President, Mr. Pridhain; vice-presidents, Miss Grant, Miss Drew; secretaries, Misses Arthur and Andrews; committee, all Old Girls present at meeting. It was decided to take the necessary steps for the production and publication of the next number of the Magazine. A vote of thanks and appreciation to the outgoing secretaries and committees was passed, and the meeting adjourned with the customary vote of thanks to the chair.

A NEW YORK SCANDAL A STRANGE STORY. New York, June 7. American society was greatly scandalised to-day to learn that one of their; numb»r, William. Earl Stokes, a well-' known clubman and millionaire, had] been shot last evening by two girls and was to-day the inmate of a hospital. Lilian Graham, aged 22, and Ethel Conrad, aged JS, both claim to have fired the bullets which struck Stokes last night, when he entered their apartment to secure certain letters whiMi they alleged he had written. Stokes says it is a clear case of blackmail, and. pending a full enquiry, the defendants, both goodlooking girls, and both connected with the stage in minor capacities, have been imprisoned without bail. One of the girls once lived in a big hotel, owned by Stokes, and (he other, till a year ago, was a shop-girl. They occupied handsome apartments, hut, unlike most of the tenants, did not keep motor-cars. A good deal of mystery surrounds the case; but Stokes, interviewed to-day, seems cheerful, and hopes to secure the conviction of his assailants.

Several bullets struck his legs, and one in the thigh is still embedded there. The doctors say his recovery is certain unless blood-poisoning supervenes. ,Miss Graham says that Stokes called up her apartment by telephone yesterday, asking for the letters. She pretended to be the colored maid answering the telephone. Stokes said that ne would come to the apartments later. When he arrived Miss Graham says he was surprised to see her and Miss Conrad. In the discussion that ensued about the alleged letters, Miss Graham says that Stokes tried to choke her, and to defend themselves the girls fired their I revolver's, not meaning to hurt him. Varying stories are given, of the shooting. During the scene three Japanese i servants in a neighboring fiat entered, | and, thinking that Stokes was the ag-l gressor, gave him some striking illustrations o f jiu-jitsu. Stokes did not com-J plain of the Japs, who, he says, thought they were acting for the best, and he refused to prosecute them. Several scraps of verse, dedicated to "a long-lost friend," were found by the police in Miss Graham's trunk, including the following:

Oh, butterfly, when you flew away And I thought my live was over, A voice in my heart seemed to say, "Cheer up, find another lover." And rain drops fell on my fevered soul, And the evening breeze brought peace; And I lifted my head of shimmering gold, As the moonbeams bade me cease.

Stokes has been twice married and twice divorced. According to the New York directory, "The Stokes family is of Norman blood, having gone to England with William the Conqueror. The emigrant ancestor to this country was Thomas Stokes, who came here in 1798." Stokes is 65 years old. TROUSER-SKIRT TRAGEDY

Bucharest, June 2. A trouser-skirt caused a terrible tragedy here yesterday. A pretty young girl named Vassilix Monrol appeared in the streets wearing the much-decried garment. It was her first venture, and she did it in a spirit of defiance, after a heated discussion on the subject with Ignal Jovanesco, her fiance.

Unfortunately for the girl, she met the young man, and when he beheld her he was so overcome with rage and indignation that he shot her through the head.

The murderer, who was arrested, declared that he did not regret his deed, as he could never have married a woman who deliberately opposed him, while, on the other hand to live without his sweetheart was impossible. He hopes to be sentenced to death.

GENERAL. The announcement was made in Paris on the Bth inst. that the marriage of Prince George of Greece with Prince Elizabeth of Roumania will take place in September. On her father's side the Prince's fiancee is related to the Kaiser, while on the maternal side she claims relationship with King George, being the grand-daughter of the late Duke of Edinbugh. A finishing school has been opened' in the Moneeau Park district of Paris for the daughters of the "newly-rich families." The course includes instruction in such important details as to how to enter a room properly, how to shake hands, how to partake of light refreshments without removing the gloves, and how to alight gracefully from a carriage.

Mr. Gibson, the creator of the "Gibson girl," thinks that the woman of America has reached a higher type of beauty, just as she has undoubtedly reached a higher mental plane, than any other'woman in the world. "The Englishman (adds Mr. Gibson) and the American—more notably, of course, the American—see that women are the biggest and best part of life, and treat them with regard and wonder. It is this appreciation that has-helped our art more than any other one thing has. The men

who harness women up with dogs will not advance much in their art; the men who place them where they rightfully belong will really progress." Here is a true and delightful story of the Queen Consort. She sent (says the club window gossip of the Liverpool Post) for a noted dressmaker, and gave her instructions somewhat as follows: "I will not have my waist pinched, nor my skirt; and my day sleeves are to come right down to my wrist, and my dress must be high in the neck. If you mind those things, you can make me a couple of frocks according to your own ideas." So pleased was her Majesty with these that she ordered another dozen dresses from the same firm. A tale all over society is that a male costumier ventured to submit to her that she really need not wear so many petticoats. "All right," was the answer, "I do not mind dropping a couple so long as I keep i my red flannel one." This story was related almost within Royal hearing at the Duchess of Devonshire's Derby night function. Here is an interesting, glimpse ,of a Finland adult school, given in Miss vers' "Letters from finland."—''Oho of some thirty or more scattered over Fi'n : land for the general education and' culture of the hand-workers during the four winter months. They are State assisted, but not State supported, and they appear j to be in the..working, something bntween Ruskin College and Toynbee Hall. For 25s a month any working man or women who is over eighteen can be boarded, lodged, and instructed here for the season. Living and working together, these young men and women receive a kind of humanising education, a broad and very general culture, which is neither practical nor examinational, but directed to the general improvement of the pupil. Half the day is spent in technical work, the other half is easy-going conversational instruction in history, ethics, ]x>etry, elementry science and hygiene, folk lore, singing, dancing, and gymnastice—singing aihove all, The whole school appear to know thousands of songs by heart, and upon the merest hint they jglre them voice!