WOMAN'S WORLD.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4715, 5 August 1893, Page 3

WOMAN'S WORLD.

What has become of the good oldfashioned women who used to cut her husband's hair by placing a bowl on his bead ahd trimming around the edge P— askß the Washington News. A case of eczema of the hands iB reported in London, provoked entirely by the use of dogskin gloves, coloured red to imitate Bussian leather. On inquiry it was found that many of the men employed in the dye works had been attaoked in the same way. The women of Zurich, Switzerland, have achieved a viotory. They have scoured the suppression of the Thierbuih, a publication which ;' revealed their ages, oooupations, descendants, &o. It was issued annually, and; as may be supposed, was frequently COUBUltdd. Chinese filial devotion is as keen now as in less civilised days. A Ohinaman who recently undertook to watch by his mothers grave for three years has just died at his post after several months' vigil. He was completely worn out by the continuous exposure. Hatching fish by hens is a curious Chinese industry. A new-laid egg is freed from its proper contents, filled with fish spawn, and replaced under the unsuspecting hen. At the proper time the shell is broken in tepid water, where the young fish at once find them selves at home. I suppose (flays a writer in Woman) that nothing in the way of jewellery gives a woman more pleasure to wear than beautiful rings. The thing just now is to acquire three half hoop rings— one in diamonds, one in rubieß, and one in sapphires or emeralds, and wear them ail on the same finger. j It sounds somewhat odd that the young Eing of Servia has appointed his mother Honorary Colonel of the Eleventh Infantry | Regiment, but Queen Viotoria occupies a similar post of honour in the ' German Army. If Queens are to be Colonels at j all, it seems only fitting that they should command infantry regiment-?. The ladies who go to Synagogue, like the ladies who go to the House of Commons, are objecting to being shut xip by themselves. The former ait in a gallery set apart for them far from the worshippers of the male kind, while the lattar bave a more serious grievance in that they are actually caged. The Jewish women, moreover, insist tbat they should be eligible for election on the Synagogue Councils. "Do many of the women who pass the medical examination practice ?" a journalist asked a well-known medioal woinan. ;" Most certainly," was the reply; f.' there

are over forty women practising in London alone, and on the medioal register there are nearly 160, Some of the women who are practising abroad are rapidly making fortunes, and I know one in India whose income last year amounted to over JB4OOO —she had one present of over JB500." Dr Mary Walker, although she has made her home in Great Britain, was born at Oswego, in the United States, and took the degree of M.D. in New York some, thirty-five years ago. Her ability was so marked, that General Sherman had her appointed Contraot Surgeon to the United Stateß army. Dr Mary Walker is especially strong on dresa reform, and for years wore the bloomer costume, long before divided skirts were thought of. She is said to be one of the best women platform speakers in the world. The American girl is clever, but is she polite P (asks a Boston paver). Not but what she is well versed in the latest nioeties of salutation and hand-shakes, Bhe may tear her lettuce leaves and ignore the teaspoon, but all this is crackly varnish ; yet the only polish wbioh improves with years is not applied as a finishing touch, but is rubbed in by the mothera. It is continuous home ttaining, and itis j hard work for the mothers ; too hard work apparently, or. we would see fewer hoyI denish, forward young girls in publio | places.^ Over a million pieces of raw silk are being manufactured in the- Imperial factories of Nankin, Sutsohan, ahd Hangsohan on purpose to decorate the streets of Pekin upon tbe occasion of the Empress-Mother's sixtieth birthday. The stroets will be covered for a distance of about six miles with the silken carpet. " It is to be hoped," writes a correspondent, •'that they will : firßt be cleaned, as the roads of Pekin are kept in the most filthy state, and would certainly benefit more by being washed with simple water thanbeing covered with silk." In China there is a profession for ladies, strange, because openly and handsomely remunerated in the current coin of the realm. It is carried on by elderly ladies, who go from house to house of rioh people announcing their coming by beating a drum and offering their services to amnse the lady of the house. This offer accepted, they sit. down a,ud tell the latest soandal and the newest stories and and ondits are rewarded at the rate of one half-crown an hour, besides a handsome present should Borne portion of their. goßsip have proved particularly acceptable. A mischievous American "girl was recently in Dresden, when the stolidity of the sentinels pacing. up and down like | automatons attracted her notica. She was ' seized with a Budden desire to test this cast-iron rigidity, and, waiting until the sentry had turned his back, she slipped ' into his box. When he came back, she popped out her head and said "Boo!" J The soldier dropped his musket and bolted, while the proud American girl, having routed a portion of the German army, j demurely rejoined her friends. The Emperor heard of the incident, and expressed a deeiro to see the young woman, but she declined to enter into an amnesty with a conquered power. It was a woman who ran the first train over the World's Fair grounds. Miss Ida Hewitt, daughter of Biohard Hewitt, of West Virginia, waß the favoured one, being bo beoauße she is probably the only woman locomotive engineer in the United States, and, perhapß, the world. She follows the profession from choice, as her father is a man of great wealth, and she is not com- J polled to pursue any profession or employment for self-support. The answer sent by her to the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, in reply to their request that Bhe should become a member of their organization, was that though she could not be a brother, she would at least be a sistar to them. Miss Hewitt was dressed on her first " run" as a Spanish girl in the time of Columbus.