WOMAN'S WORLD

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 181, 30 January 1912, Page 6

WOMAN'S WORLD

1 (Conducted hj "Eileen.") UNHAPPY ON£io,ooo A YEAR A DIVORCE COURT STORY. London, December 15. A friendship formed on the huntingfield, followed by elopement, has led to the divorce of Mrs. Price, the daughter of the late Mr. Peter Robinson, founder of the famous Oxford street drapery business. The petitioner, Mr. Owen Talbot Price, was formerly a solicitor, but he gave up his practise, so he told the Court, at the request of his wife, who had an income of £IO,OOO a year. The co-respondent was Mr. Joseph H. Brooke, whose position in life was not disclosed. Mr. Barnard, K.C., said a claim for damages had been withdrawn. Mrs. Price had a very large fortune of her own, with power of appointment to her children. There was one child—a daughter—and Mr. Price had been informed that his wife had already executed a power of appointment in favor of the , child, or intended to do so, and therefore the claim for damages was not pressed. Counsel related that the marriage took place in 1900, and in 1907 Mr. and Mrs. Price made the acquaintance of Mr. Brooke while hunting. In the following year, Mr. Price received a letter from his vfife, in which she said: "Dear Owen, —You must not expect to see me any more because I have behaved very badly indeed, but I never cared for •you as much as I ought to have done. Now I care for someone else. I am going away and do not try to find me. I do not think you will be able to. It was bound to come, and it is really niy fault. I would much rather you did not write, ,as nothing can make any difference now. If you really care for me, it will be a kindness to divorce me as soob as jw can."

Mr. Price found that his wife had gone with Mr. Brooke to Paris. Pie followed them to get his wife to return, but she refused to see him. He was ready to forgive her, and hoped she would tired of Mr. Brooke, so he waited in the hope that she would return. But she did not do so, and these proceedings were begun. Describing his visit to Paris, Mr. Price said he sent his card asking if she would se6 him, aid she wrote on it, "Certainly not."

There was no defence, and Mr. Justice Bargrave Deane granted a decree nisi, with costs and the custody of the child. The order for costs was made against both respondent and co-respondent.

A CLERGYMAN'S ROMANCE. VANISHED BRIDE RETURNS. London, December 15. Lady Constance Foljambe, half-sister of the Earl of Liverpool, has been married in London to the Rev. H. Hawkins, the bridegroom whom she failed ,to meet on July 3 last. The postponed wedding caused a great sensation at the time. It was only two hours before the ceremony that she disappeared, and, as she left no message, the bridegroom, relatives, and a fashionable congregation waited in the church for an hour after the appointed time. Ushers were sent to the house of Lord Liverpool, where Lady Constance lived, and they returned with the news that the bride had not been seen since the morning, when she left the house on a shopping expedition. Mr. Hawkins was persuaded by sympathetic friends to leave the church, the guests dispersed, and the reception at the house of Lord Liverpool was cancelled. All efforts to trace her whereabouts failed, but about three weeks after the fiasco a communication was received from her, dated from ■ iris, and shortly after Lady Constance .'.me to London. After the treatment he had received ■ t was generally expected that the rev. gentleman would relinquish all aspirations to her ladyship's hand. Consequently a great surprise was occasioned in the village of Whitwell by the news that the couple had been quietly married. The information was convoyed to the housekeeper at the vicarage by a letter bearing the Folkestone postmark. The communication had been written at Charing Cross, and from the postmark it was assumed that the paid had crossed the Channel for the honeymoon. That the secret had been well kept is evident, for only last Sunday the vicar conducted evensong. It seems that he joined the train for York on Sunday night, stating that he was going to Chesterfield, and in the meantime had arranged with a neighboring clergyman to take his duties in his absence.

ASSAULT BY WEDDING GUESTS. CUSTOM OF " DRAGGING THE BRIDE 'HOME " LEADS TO TROUBLE. Strange scenes, witnessed on the road between Killarney and Tralee, were described at Cork Assizes on Monday, December 4, when two brothers, John and James Connors, and James Murphy, were charged- with maliciously wounding Sir Morgan O'Connell, a grandson of Daniel OConnell. Sir Morgan said that the prisoners belonged to a party of the peasantry who m conformity with the old Irish custom of dragging the bride home," were coming along the high road with an extended procession of vehicles. Sir Morgan, who was motoring in the opposite direction, pulled up his car at the side of the road, but the first carriage in the wedding procession bumped into it. Sir Aforgan called out: "What the devil do you mean?" and jumped off the car, and was at once set upon by five of the men, one of the prisoners shouting, Up Kerry!" all the time. Lord O'Brien: I suppose "Up, Kerry " means "Hi! for Kerry." Sir Morgan: It may mean up for Kerry, but is certainly meant down with me. (Laughter). He then described how he was sava»ely beaten about the head and body. hen he regained consciousness he was sitting in a ditch "bleeding like a pig," and a man who stood near him said there was ail English doctor in the "drag," who had come to see what a real Irish wedding was like. The defence was that the assault was provoked by Sir Morgan, who was described by prisoners' counsel as one of the most unpopular men in Kerry. The Connors were sentenced to eighteen months' imprisonment each, and Murphy to two months.

SHOULD CHILDREN EAT SWEETS? A discussion in the British Medical wW n h ?•, , !atcl >' raisfid th e question whether children should be allowed to H l . sH ' oet;s - • Seveli > l specialists, basins; their opinion on careful investigation, have stated their belief that not only W ft ! eth be iD j" red b ' y the ilabi t, put that the consumption of chocolates, jujubes, acid drops, and so forth, often bring about stomach troubles which indirectly affect the whole system. On the other hand, many eminent medical arS°f +u" y - at any llarmful effects alwavV°H f -? ° f Sweets alwajs tha,t tliese be pure. There is 1 1 i'~ r ' f° d ° Ub . t that the continued f it SUgar ln the mouth is favor- \ to i}ie development of microbes Stf r; )(h + i r acid substanc(l s very detrimental to the teeth. Further, any process of fermentation set up in this way

may very well react unfavorably on the stomach. Still there is as yet no proof that the proper care of the mouth, and j the diligent use of the toothbrush will not counteract such effects; certain it is that if the hygiene of the teeth be neglected they will decay despite a rigid abstention from sweets. THE TELEPHONE GIRL Telephone cadettes should procure "The Visioning,' a novel from the pen of Miss Susan Campbell, an American authoress, who has, in all probability, served in an. exchange herself, and has had personal contact with the terrors of the switchboard. At all events, in her novel she devotes an entire chapter to a, new disease which she has given the name of "teleritis." She declares that so severe is the nervous debility of many telephone girls of her acquaintance that they are quite unfitted for marriage. She makes one of her characters say:— "The Teal pleasures were going over the wire. It was my business to make the connection that aranged those pleasures. A little red light would flash—sometimes it would flash straight into my brain—and I'd' say 'Number, please.' Then life would pass through the cords. That was the closest I came to it—operating the cords that it went through. There was a whole city full of it—beautiful, laughing, loving Life. And, oh, I used to get so tired operating the cords for Life. Sometimes when I left my chair the whole world was one big, red light. And at night they danced dances for me—those little red' lights." • Whether or not the telephone girls in this Dominion have been subject to similar experience I know not, but I am acquainted 1 with girls who have served in the exchanges whose physical breakdown has not 'been altogether dissociated from their vocation. The number of cases that 'have come under the professional notice of local physicians would astonish those who may be disposed to pursue the investigation. In America and Canada the telephone companies hope to combat the evil by lessening the strain on their girls, who work much longer hours than ours. In New Zealand in the near fu- ! ture, we shall have the automatic telephones installed, if Mr. Buckley, who went to America to see them in operation in that country, thinks that they are economical and reliable. When that happy day arrives the telephone cadette will probably find her occupation gone. Since tlje above was written a report has appeared of a number of British medical men who investigated the effect of telephone work on girls employed in the exchanges at London, Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow, Newcastle-on-Tyne, and Cardiff. This report was signed by ( 19 doctors, who say that they found no j evidence of injury of any of the special | senses, but slight catarrhal throat afj fections which caused temporary dis&ble- ; ment. No serious or permanent injury J from so-called, shock was notified, but anaemia and' neurotic tendencies were emphasised as rendering applicants unsuitable for the work. Hysterical attacks are not numerous, and no complaint was made of impaired hearing. Limitation of the range of vision in telephone work has a tendency to make manifest defects of the eye. Telephonists, it is pointed out, are continually using three special senses—sight, hearing and speech. There is a constant demand on the operator's attention, accuracy is essential, and she is often the subject of abuse or reproach. Furthermore, the perpetual jumping up and down and reaching induce physical weariness, and the continual wearing of the head and breast gear is unpleasant.