THE WOMAN NEXT DOOR

Timaru Herald, Volume XCVIII, Issue 18069, 17 March 1923, Page 3

THE WOMAN NEXT DOOR

STUDY OF PERSONALITIES. I have, always found the “woman next door” an intriguing subject for study and speculation. Only writers, perhaps, realise to the Hill the fascination of other personalities; the allure of other lives than their own. in a life that has seen many changes there have been many women next door. In judging and studying these from time to time I have always tried to keep in mind the wisdom of Bobbie Burns, wise wrote — ... j O wad some pow’r the giftio gie us To see oursels.as ithers see us. It is truly more blessed to condone than to criticise, and this maxim followed out- will enable one to temper the wind of criticism to the shorn lamb who sometimes happens to ho one’s neighbour. In Clielsea once I had a delightful woman next door. She was one of those rare artistic souls iwho appeared capable of a. most unpromising chintz bed valance. IX REAIEAIBRANCE. She had a- inisuand wiiu, near man, vi as iu-ji u iiuxuviciiciiuio imui sue. cme auoicu Him, .mu nun in a- way Ulan cacilou my auninatioii. Noon ot . t-iium panned ueligu dully, iuealisuc waier-eouiurs, winen said slowly, lor a mere jumcuou or wimo t-uey were worth, l Dave one or t-nem oil my wall now. n- came oi.e sunny morning witli a eliarninigiy-eApressed nolo ill a strangely " anguuir nand, “Xn Reinemm unco.j A iragrant jjhrasc that greatly exaggerated tno value of tno sm-nii service vvi.icii liad call on it forth. ! After tins tnere came a woman next door of a. dinereno type. Bho liras all nody (too otner had been all soul; —lurs in winter, and furbelows in summer. I think tnat lier husband had made a. good deal of money on the fcitoek Exchange. To use a Barrie term, money ‘'oozed.” She had a strident voice, and over the wall which separated our inconsiderable gardens one was apt to gam an inside knowledge of domestic affairs that was sometimes amusing, often startling, and not seldom embarrassmg. Then, during the (summer cf a year of sunshine and delight, there was a woman next door,’ in a. tiny bungalow by the sea.. Site was nev/ly-murried and her young husband went away each day to town. vSlie was a charming typo of , the best of modern vdung womanhood. Tall, the picture- of health, and with more than a slight claim to real beauty of face and form, with eyes blue as the sea, and corn-coloured hair tnat would st''av l'cbelliously in every breeze. She was a swimmer, and almost at dawn in those July and August days shemight be seen making her way into the , lazily-lapping sea, over the stretch of shining yellow sand. Every mo mine she stood ai the gate of the. little garden and waved and kissed her hand unblushingly to her husband till he turned the corner of the road. At night she walked along the rone! to meet him, and camo hack smiling and liappy-leoking, her arm linked in his.

A maiden aunt might have been scandalised at their obvious happiness. I was not —only glad that some people bad stumbled across the key to paradise. Just now the woman nex-t.cloor excites mv admiration. We hn.vetgbt to know each other rather well. I bear her singing: in the little garden that- she loves. She possesses one of those bravo hearts whose courage in danger and disaster is of finer quality than that of ■nest :nen. THE GREAT SECRET. She lias known adversity. Ruin, even, has stared her in the eyes. She has soon many of the material things, that most of ns value too highly, swept away. She lias watched with hated breath the struggle of her man “to hold trings together'.” Still she sings, and speaks of the, happiness that is hers. Of her husband she once said, “Nothing matters to mo so long as he can do his work in peace and—-loves me.” That is the secret of this woman next door. It will solve many problems and difficulties for others besides myself. It is the philosopher’s stone, the alchemist’s elixir of eternal youth. Contentment is truly like a freehold in the land of Happiness—By Clive Holland, in the “Daily Chronicle.” , j